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+Project Gutenberg's Etext of Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes
+#1 in our series by Cervantes
+Translated by John Ormsby
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+Don Quixote
+
+by Miqeul de Cervantes [Saavedra]
+
+Translated by John Ormsby
+
+July, 1997  [Etext #996]
+
+
+Project Gutenberg's Etext of Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes
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+
+
+DON QUIXOTE
+by Miguel de Cervantes
+Translated by John Ormsby
+
+
+
+
+TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
+
+
+I: ABOUT THIS TRANSLATION
+
+
+It was with considerable reluctance that I abandoned in favour of
+the present undertaking what had long been a favourite project: that
+of a new edition of Shelton's "Don Quixote," which has now become a
+somewhat scarce book. There are some- and I confess myself to be
+one- for whom Shelton's racy old version, with all its defects, has
+a charm that no modern translation, however skilful or correct,
+could possess. Shelton had the inestimable advantage of belonging to
+the same generation as Cervantes; "Don Quixote" had to him a
+vitality that only a contemporary could feel; it cost him no
+dramatic effort to see things as Cervantes saw them; there is no
+anachronism in his language; he put the Spanish of Cervantes into
+the English of Shakespeare. Shakespeare himself most likely knew the
+book; he may have carried it home with him in his saddle-bags to
+Stratford on one of his last journeys, and under the mulberry tree
+at New Place joined hands with a kindred genius in its pages.
+
+But it was soon made plain to me that to hope for even a moderate
+popularity for Shelton was vain. His fine old crusted English would,
+no doubt, be relished by a minority, but it would be only by a
+minority. His warmest admirers must admit that he is not a
+satisfactory representative of Cervantes. His translation of the First
+Part was very hastily made and was never revised by him. It has all
+the freshness and vigour, but also a full measure of the faults, of
+a hasty production. It is often very literal- barbarously literal
+frequently- but just as often very loose. He had evidently a good
+colloquial knowledge of Spanish, but apparently not much more. It
+never seems to occur to him that the same translation of a word will
+not suit in every case.
+
+It is often said that we have no satisfactory translation of "Don
+Quixote." To those who are familiar with the original, it savours of
+truism or platitude to say so, for in truth there can be no thoroughly
+satisfactory translation of "Don Quixote" into English or any other
+language. It is not that the Spanish idioms are so utterly
+unmanageable, or that the untranslatable words, numerous enough no
+doubt, are so superabundant, but rather that the sententious terseness
+to which the humour of the book owes its flavour is peculiar to
+Spanish, and can at best be only distantly imitated in any other
+tongue.
+
+The history of our English translations of "Don Quixote" is
+instructive. Shelton's, the first in any language, was made,
+apparently, about 1608, but not published till 1612. This of course
+was only the First Part. It has been asserted that the Second,
+published in 1620, is not the work of Shelton, but there is nothing to
+support the assertion save the fact that it has less spirit, less of
+what we generally understand by "go," about it than the first, which
+would be only natural if the first were the work of a young man
+writing currente calamo, and the second that of a middle-aged man
+writing for a bookseller. On the other hand, it is closer and more
+literal, the style is the same, the very same translations, or
+mistranslations, occur in it, and it is extremely unlikely that a
+new translator would, by suppressing his name, have allowed Shelton to
+carry off the credit.
+
+In 1687 John Phillips, Milton's nephew, produced a "Don Quixote"
+"made English," he says, "according to the humour of our modern
+language." His "Quixote" is not so much a translation as a travesty,
+and a travesty that for coarseness, vulgarity, and buffoonery is
+almost unexampled even in the literature of that day.
+
+Ned Ward's "Life and Notable Adventures of Don Quixote, merrily
+translated into Hudibrastic Verse" (1700), can scarcely be reckoned
+a translation, but it serves to show the light in which "Don
+Quixote" was regarded at the time.
+
+A further illustration may be found in the version published in 1712
+by Peter Motteux, who had then recently combined tea-dealing with
+literature. It is described as "translated from the original by
+several hands," but if so all Spanish flavour has entirely
+evaporated under the manipulation of the several hands. The flavour
+that it has, on the other hand, is distinctly Franco-cockney. Anyone
+who compares it carefully with the original will have little doubt
+that it is a concoction from Shelton and the French of Filleau de
+Saint Martin, eked out by borrowings from Phillips, whose mode of
+treatment it adopts. It is, to be sure, more decent and decorous,
+but it treats "Don Quixote" in the same fashion as a comic book that
+cannot be made too comic.
+
+To attempt to improve the humour of "Don Quixote" by an infusion
+of cockney flippancy and facetiousness, as Motteux's operators did, is
+not merely an impertinence like larding a sirloin of prize beef, but
+an absolute falsification of the spirit of the book, and it is a proof
+of the uncritical way in which "Don Quixote" is generally read that
+this worse than worthless translation -worthless as failing to
+represent, worse than worthless as misrepresenting- should have been
+favoured as it has been.
+
+It had the effect, however, of bringing out a translation undertaken
+and executed in a very different spirit, that of Charles Jervas, the
+portrait painter, and friend of Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, and Gay.
+Jervas has been allowed little credit for his work, indeed it may be
+said none, for it is known to the world in general as Jarvis's. It was
+not published until after his death, and the printers gave the name
+according to the current pronunciation of the day. It has been the
+most freely used and the most freely abused of all the translations.
+It has seen far more editions than any other, it is admitted on all
+hands to be by far the most faithful, and yet nobody seems to have a
+good word to say for it or for its author. Jervas no doubt
+prejudiced readers against himself in his preface, where among many
+true words about Shelton, Stevens, and Motteux, he rashly and unjustly
+charges Shelton with having translated not from the Spanish, but
+from the Italian version of Franciosini, which did not appear until
+ten years after Shelton's first volume. A suspicion of incompetence,
+too, seems to have attached to him because he was by profession a
+painter and a mediocre one (though he has given us the best portrait
+we have of Swift), and this may have been strengthened by Pope's
+remark that he "translated 'Don Quixote' without understanding
+Spanish." He has been also charged with borrowing from Shelton, whom
+he disparaged. It is true that in a few difficult or obscure
+passages he has followed Shelton, and gone astray with him; but for
+one case of this sort, there are fifty where he is right and Shelton
+wrong. As for Pope's dictum, anyone who examines Jervas's version
+carefully, side by side with the original, will see that he was a
+sound Spanish scholar, incomparably a better one than Shelton,
+except perhaps in mere colloquial Spanish. He was, in fact, an honest,
+faithful, and painstaking translator, and he has left a version which,
+whatever its shortcomings may be, is singularly free from errors and
+mistranslations.
+
+The charge against it is that it is stiff, dry- "wooden" in a word,-
+and no one can deny that there is a foundation for it. But it may be
+pleaded for Jervas that a good deal of this rigidity is due to his
+abhorrence of the light, flippant, jocose style of his predecessors.
+He was one of the few, very few, translators that have shown any
+apprehension of the unsmiling gravity which is the essence of Quixotic
+humour; it seemed to him a crime to bring Cervantes forward smirking
+and grinning at his own good things, and to this may be attributed
+in a great measure the ascetic abstinence from everything savouring of
+liveliness which is the characteristic of his translation. In most
+modern editions, it should be observed, his style has been smoothed
+and smartened, but without any reference to the original Spanish, so
+that if he has been made to read more agreeably he has also been
+robbed of his chief merit of fidelity.
+
+Smollett's version, published in 1755, may be almost counted as
+one of these. At any rate it is plain that in its construction
+Jervas's translation was very freely drawn upon, and very little or
+probably no heed given to the original Spanish.
+
+The later translations may be dismissed in a few words. George
+Kelly's, which appeared in 1769, "printed for the Translator," was
+an impudent imposture, being nothing more than Motteux's version
+with a few of the words, here and there, artfully transposed;
+Charles Wilmot's (1774) was only an abridgment like Florian's, but not
+so skilfully executed; and the version published by Miss Smirke in
+1818, to accompany her brother's plates, was merely a patchwork
+production made out of former translations. On the latest, Mr. A. J.
+Duffield's, it would be in every sense of the word impertinent in me
+to offer an opinion here. I had not even seen it when the present
+undertaking was proposed to me, and since then I may say vidi
+tantum, having for obvious reasons resisted the temptation which Mr.
+Duffield's reputation and comely volumes hold out to every lover of
+Cervantes.
+
+From the foregoing history of our translations of "Don Quixote,"
+it will be seen that there are a good many people who, provided they
+get the mere narrative with its full complement of facts, incidents,
+and adventures served up to them in a form that amuses them, care very
+little whether that form is the one in which Cervantes originally
+shaped his ideas. On the other hand, it is clear that there are many
+who desire to have not merely the story he tells, but the story as
+he tells it, so far at least as differences of idiom and circumstances
+permit, and who will give a preference to the conscientious
+translator, even though he may have acquitted himself somewhat
+awkwardly.
+
+But after all there is no real antagonism between the two classes;
+there is no reason why what pleases the one should not please the
+other, or why a translator who makes it his aim to treat "Don Quixote"
+with the respect due to a great classic, should not be as acceptable
+even to the careless reader as the one who treats it as a famous old
+jest-book. It is not a question of caviare to the general, or, if it
+is, the fault rests with him who makes so. The method by which
+Cervantes won the ear of the Spanish people ought, mutatis mutandis,
+to be equally effective with the great majority of English readers. At
+any rate, even if there are readers to whom it is a matter of
+indifference, fidelity to the method is as much a part of the
+translator's duty as fidelity to the matter. If he can please all
+parties, so much the better; but his first duty is to those who look
+to him for as faithful a representation of his author as it is in
+his power to give them, faithful to the letter so long as fidelity
+is practicable, faithful to the spirit so far as he can make it.
+
+My purpose here is not to dogmatise on the rules of translation, but
+to indicate those I have followed, or at least tried to the best of my
+ability to follow, in the present instance. One which, it seems to me,
+cannot be too rigidly followed in translating "Don Quixote," is to
+avoid everything that savours of affectation. The book itself is,
+indeed, in one sense a protest against it, and no man abhorred it more
+than Cervantes. For this reason, I think, any temptation to use
+antiquated or obsolete language should be resisted. It is after all an
+affectation, and one for which there is no warrant or excuse.
+Spanish has probably undergone less change since the seventeenth
+century than any language in Europe, and by far the greater and
+certainly the best part of "Don Quixote" differs but little in
+language from the colloquial Spanish of the present day. Except in the
+tales and Don Quixote's speeches, the translator who uses the simplest
+and plainest everyday language will almost always be the one who
+approaches nearest to the original.
+
+Seeing that the story of "Don Quixote" and all its characters and
+incidents have now been for more than two centuries and a half
+familiar as household words in English mouths, it seems to me that the
+old familiar names and phrases should not be changed without good
+reason. Of course a translator who holds that "Don Quixote" should
+receive the treatment a great classic deserves, will feel himself
+bound by the injunction laid upon the Morisco in Chap. IX not to
+omit or add anything.
+
+
+II: ABOUT CERVANTES AND DON QUIXOTE
+
+
+Four generations had laughed over "Don Quixote" before it occurred
+to anyone to ask, who and what manner of man was this Miguel de
+Cervantes Saavedra whose name is on the title-page; and it was too
+late for a satisfactory answer to the question when it was proposed to
+add a life of the author to the London edition published at Lord
+Carteret's instance in 1738. All traces of the personality of
+Cervantes had by that time disappeared. Any floating traditions that
+may once have existed, transmitted from men who had known him, had
+long since died out, and of other record there was none; for the
+sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were incurious as to "the men of
+the time," a reproach against which the nineteenth has, at any rate,
+secured itself, if it has produced no Shakespeare or Cervantes. All
+that Mayans y Siscar, to whom the task was entrusted, or any of
+those who followed him, Rios, Pellicer, or Navarrete, could do was
+to eke out the few allusions Cervantes makes to himself in his various
+prefaces with such pieces of documentary evidence bearing upon his
+life as they could find.
+
+This, however, has been done by the last-named biographer to such
+good purpose that he has superseded all predecessors. Thoroughness
+is the chief characteristic of Navarrete's work. Besides sifting,
+testing, and methodising with rare patience and judgment what had been
+previously brought to light, he left, as the saying is, no stone
+unturned under which anything to illustrate his subject might possibly
+be found. Navarrete has done all that industry and acumen could do,
+and it is no fault of his if he has not given us what we want. What
+Hallam says of Shakespeare may be applied to the almost parallel
+case of Cervantes: "It is not the register of his baptism, or the
+draft of his will, or the orthography of his name that we seek; no
+letter of his writing, no record of his conversation, no character
+of him drawn ... by a contemporary has been produced."
+
+It is only natural, therefore, that the biographers of Cervantes,
+forced to make brick without straw, should have recourse largely to
+conjecture, and that conjecture should in some instances come by
+degrees to take the place of established fact. All that I propose to
+do here is to separate what is matter of fact from what is matter of
+conjecture, and leave it to the reader's judgment to decide whether
+the data justify the inference or not.
+
+The men whose names by common consent stand in the front rank of
+Spanish literature, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Calderon,
+Garcilaso de la Vega, the Mendozas, Gongora, were all men of ancient
+families, and, curiously, all, except the last, of families that
+traced their origin to the same mountain district in the North of
+Spain. The family of Cervantes is commonly said to have been of
+Galician origin, and unquestionably it was in possession of lands in
+Galicia at a very early date; but I think the balance of the
+evidence tends to show that the "solar," the original site of the
+family, was at Cervatos in the north-west corner of Old Castile, close
+to the junction of Castile, Leon, and the Asturias. As it happens,
+there is a complete history of the Cervantes family from the tenth
+century down to the seventeenth extant under the title of "Illustrious
+Ancestry, Glorious Deeds, and Noble Posterity of the Famous Nuno
+Alfonso, Alcaide of Toledo," written in 1648 by the industrious
+genealogist Rodrigo Mendez Silva, who availed himself of a
+manuscript genealogy by Juan de Mena, the poet laureate and
+historiographer of John II.
+
+The origin of the name Cervantes is curious. Nuno Alfonso was almost
+as distinguished in the struggle against the Moors in the reign of
+Alfonso VII as the Cid had been half a century before in that of
+Alfonso VI, and was rewarded by divers grants of land in the
+neighbourhood of Toledo. On one of his acquisitions, about two leagues
+from the city, he built himself a castle which he called Cervatos,
+because "he was lord of the solar of Cervatos in the Montana," as
+the mountain region extending from the Basque Provinces to Leon was
+always called. At his death in battle in 1143, the castle passed by
+his will to his son Alfonso Munio, who, as territorial or local
+surnames were then coming into vogue in place of the simple
+patronymic, took the additional name of Cervatos. His eldest son Pedro
+succeeded him in the possession of the castle, and followed his
+example in adopting the name, an assumption at which the younger
+son, Gonzalo, seems to have taken umbrage.
+
+Everyone who has paid even a flying visit to Toledo will remember
+the ruined castle that crowns the hill above the spot where the bridge
+of Alcantara spans the gorge of the Tagus, and with its broken outline
+and crumbling walls makes such an admirable pendant to the square
+solid Alcazar towering over the city roofs on the opposite side. It
+was built, or as some say restored, by Alfonso VI shortly after his
+occupation of Toledo in 1085, and called by him San Servando after a
+Spanish martyr, a name subsequently modified into San Servan (in which
+form it appears in the "Poem of the Cid"), San Servantes, and San
+Cervantes: with regard to which last the "Handbook for Spain" warns
+its readers against the supposition that it has anything to do with
+the author of "Don Quixote." Ford, as all know who have taken him
+for a companion and counsellor on the roads of Spain, is seldom
+wrong in matters of literature or history. In this instance,
+however, he is in error. It has everything to do with the author of
+"Don Quixote," for it is in fact these old walls that have given to
+Spain the name she is proudest of to-day. Gonzalo, above mentioned, it
+may be readily conceived, did not relish the appropriation by his
+brother of a name to which he himself had an equal right, for though
+nominally taken from the castle, it was in reality derived from the
+ancient territorial possession of the family, and as a set-off, and to
+distinguish himself (diferenciarse) from his brother, he took as a
+surname the name of the castle on the bank of the Tagus, in the
+building of which, according to a family tradition, his
+great-grandfather had a share.
+
+Both brothers founded families. The Cervantes branch had more
+tenacity; it sent offshoots in various directions, Andalusia,
+Estremadura, Galicia, and Portugal, and produced a goodly line of
+men distinguished in the service of Church and State. Gonzalo himself,
+and apparently a son of his, followed Ferdinand III in the great
+campaign of 1236-48 that gave Cordova and Seville to Christian Spain
+and penned up the Moors in the kingdom of Granada, and his descendants
+intermarried with some of the noblest families of the Peninsula and
+numbered among them soldiers, magistrates, and Church dignitaries,
+including at least two cardinal-archbishops.
+
+ Of the line that settled in Andalusia, Deigo de Cervantes,
+Commander of the Order of Santiago, married Juana Avellaneda, daughter
+of Juan Arias de Saavedra, and had several sons, of whom one was
+Gonzalo Gomez, Corregidor of Jerez and ancestor of the Mexican and
+Columbian branches of the family; and another, Juan, whose son Rodrigo
+married Dona Leonor de Cortinas, and by her had four children,
+Rodrigo, Andrea, Luisa, and Miguel, our author.
+
+The pedigree of Cervantes is not without its bearing on "Don
+Quixote." A man who could look back upon an ancestry of genuine
+knights-errant extending from well-nigh the time of Pelayo to the
+siege of Granada was likely to have a strong feeling on the subject of
+the sham chivalry of the romances. It gives a point, too, to what he
+says in more than one place about families that have once been great
+and have tapered away until they have come to nothing, like a pyramid.
+It was the case of his own.
+
+He was born at Alcala de Henares and baptised in the church of Santa
+Maria Mayor on the 9th of October, 1547. Of his boyhood and youth we
+know nothing, unless it be from the glimpse he gives us in the preface
+to his "Comedies" of himself as a boy looking on with delight while
+Lope de Rueda and his company set up their rude plank stage in the
+plaza and acted the rustic farces which he himself afterwards took
+as the model of his interludes. This first glimpse, however, is a
+significant one, for it shows the early development of that love of
+the drama which exercised such an influence on his life and seems to
+have grown stronger as he grew older, and of which this very
+preface, written only a few months before his death, is such a
+striking proof. He gives us to understand, too, that he was a great
+reader in his youth; but of this no assurance was needed, for the
+First Part of "Don Quixote" alone proves a vast amount of
+miscellaneous reading, romances of chivalry, ballads, popular
+poetry, chronicles, for which he had no time or opportunity except
+in the first twenty years of his life; and his misquotations and
+mistakes in matters of detail are always, it may be noticed, those
+of a man recalling the reading of his boyhood.
+
+Other things besides the drama were in their infancy when
+Cervantes was a boy. The period of his boyhood was in every way a
+transition period for Spain. The old chivalrous Spain had passed away.
+The new Spain was the mightiest power the world had seen since the
+Roman Empire and it had not yet been called upon to pay the price of
+its greatness. By the policy of Ferdinand and Ximenez the sovereign
+had been made absolute, and the Church and Inquisition adroitly
+adjusted to keep him so. The nobles, who had always resisted
+absolutism as strenuously as they had fought the Moors, had been
+divested of all political power, a like fate had befallen the
+cities, the free constitutions of Castile and Aragon had been swept
+away, and the only function that remained to the Cortes was that of
+granting money at the King's dictation.
+
+The transition extended to literature. Men who, like Garcilaso de la
+Vega and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, followed the Italian wars, had
+brought back from Italy the products of the post-Renaissance
+literature, which took root and flourished and even threatened to
+extinguish the native growths. Damon and Thyrsis, Phyllis and Chloe
+had been fairly naturalised in Spain, together with all the devices of
+pastoral poetry for investing with an air of novelty the idea of a
+dispairing shepherd and inflexible shepherdess. As a set-off against
+this, the old historical and traditional ballads, and the true
+pastorals, the songs and ballads of peasant life, were being collected
+assiduously and printed in the cancioneros that succeeded one
+another with increasing rapidity. But the most notable consequence,
+perhaps, of the spread of printing was the flood of romances of
+chivalry that had continued to pour from the press ever since Garci
+Ordonez de Montalvo had resuscitated "Amadis of Gaul" at the beginning
+of the century.
+
+For a youth fond of reading, solid or light, there could have been
+no better spot in Spain than Alcala de Henares in the middle of the
+sixteenth century. It was then a busy, populous university town,
+something more than the enterprising rival of Salamanca, and
+altogether a very different place from the melancholy, silent,
+deserted Alcala the traveller sees now as he goes from Madrid to
+Saragossa. Theology and medicine may have been the strong points of
+the university, but the town itself seems to have inclined rather to
+the humanities and light literature, and as a producer of books Alcala
+was already beginning to compete with the older presses of Toledo,
+Burgos, Salamanca and Seville.
+
+A pendant to the picture Cervantes has given us of his first
+playgoings might, no doubt, have been often seen in the streets of
+Alcala at that time; a bright, eager, tawny-haired boy peering into
+a book-shop where the latest volumes lay open to tempt the public,
+wondering, it may be, what that little book with the woodcut of the
+blind beggar and his boy, that called itself "Vida de Lazarillo de
+Tormes, segunda impresion," could be about; or with eyes brimming over
+with merriment gazing at one of those preposterous portraits of a
+knight-errant in outrageous panoply and plumes with which the
+publishers of chivalry romances loved to embellish the title-pages
+of their folios. If the boy was the father of the man, the sense of
+the incongruous that was strong at fifty was lively at ten, and some
+such reflections as these may have been the true genesis of "Don
+Quixote."
+
+For his more solid education, we are told, he went to Salamanca. But
+why Rodrigo de Cervantes, who was very poor, should have sent his
+son to a university a hundred and fifty miles away when he had one
+at his own door, would be a puzzle, if we had any reason for supposing
+that he did so. The only evidence is a vague statement by Professor
+Tomas Gonzalez, that he once saw an old entry of the matriculation
+of a Miguel de Cervantes. This does not appear to have been ever
+seen again; but even if it had, and if the date corresponded, it would
+prove nothing, as there were at least two other Miguels born about the
+middle of the century; one of them, moreover, a Cervantes Saavedra,
+a cousin, no doubt, who was a source of great embarrassment to the
+biographers.
+
+That he was a student neither at Salamanca nor at Alcala is best
+proved by his own works. No man drew more largely upon experience than
+he did, and he has nowhere left a single reminiscence of student life-
+for the "Tia Fingida," if it be his, is not one- nothing, not even
+"a college joke," to show that he remembered days that most men
+remember best. All that we know positively about his education is that
+Juan Lopez de Hoyos, a professor of humanities and belles-lettres of
+some eminence, calls him his "dear and beloved pupil." This was in a
+little collection of verses by different hands on the death of
+Isabel de Valois, second queen of Philip II, published by the
+professor in 1569, to which Cervantes contributed four pieces,
+including an elegy, and an epitaph in the form of a sonnet. It is only
+by a rare chance that a "Lycidas" finds its way into a volume of
+this sort, and Cervantes was no Milton. His verses are no worse than
+such things usually are; so much, at least, may be said for them.
+
+By the time the book appeared he had left Spain, and, as fate
+ordered it, for twelve years, the most eventful ones of his life.
+Giulio, afterwards Cardinal, Acquaviva had been sent at the end of
+1568 to Philip II by the Pope on a mission, partly of condolence,
+partly political, and on his return to Rome, which was somewhat
+brusquely expedited by the King, he took Cervantes with him as his
+camarero (chamberlain), the office he himself held in the Pope's
+household. The post would no doubt have led to advancement at the
+Papal Court had Cervantes retained it, but in the summer of 1570 he
+resigned it and enlisted as a private soldier in Captain Diego
+Urbina's company, belonging to Don Miguel de Moncada's regiment, but
+at that time forming a part of the command of Marc Antony Colonna.
+What impelled him to this step we know not, whether it was distaste
+for the career before him, or purely military enthusiasm. It may
+well have been the latter, for it was a stirring time; the events,
+however, which led to the alliance between Spain, Venice, and the
+Pope, against the common enemy, the Porte, and to the victory of the
+combined fleets at Lepanto, belong rather to the history of Europe
+than to the life of Cervantes. He was one of those that sailed from
+Messina, in September 1571, under the command of Don John of
+Austria; but on the morning of the 7th of October, when the Turkish
+fleet was sighted, he was lying below ill with fever. At the news that
+the enemy was in sight he rose, and, in spite of the remonstrances
+of his comrades and superiors, insisted on taking his post, saying
+he preferred death in the service of God and the King to health. His
+galley, the Marquesa, was in the thick of the fight, and before it was
+over he had received three gunshot wounds, two in the breast and one
+in the left hand or arm. On the morning after the battle, according to
+Navarrete, he had an interview with the commander-in-chief, Don
+John, who was making a personal inspection of the wounded, one
+result of which was an addition of three crowns to his pay, and
+another, apparently, the friendship of his general.
+
+How severely Cervantes was wounded may be inferred from the fact,
+that with youth, a vigorous frame, and as cheerful and buoyant a
+temperament as ever invalid had, he was seven months in hospital at
+Messina before he was discharged. He came out with his left hand
+permanently disabled; he had lost the use of it, as Mercury told him
+in the "Viaje del Parnaso" for the greater glory of the right. This,
+however, did not absolutely unfit him for service, and in April 1572
+he joined Manuel Ponce de Leon's company of Lope de Figueroa's
+regiment, in which, it seems probable, his brother Rodrigo was
+serving, and shared in the operations of the next three years,
+including the capture of the Goletta and Tunis. Taking advantage of
+the lull which followed the recapture of these places by the Turks, he
+obtained leave to return to Spain, and sailed from Naples in September
+1575 on board the Sun galley, in company with his brother Rodrigo,
+Pedro Carrillo de Quesada, late Governor of the Goletta, and some
+others, and furnished with letters from Don John of Austria and the
+Duke of Sesa, the Viceroy of Sicily, recommending him to the King
+for the command of a company, on account of his services; a dono
+infelice as events proved. On the 26th they fell in with a squadron of
+Algerine galleys, and after a stout resistance were overpowered and
+carried into Algiers.
+
+By means of a ransomed fellow-captive the brothers contrived to
+inform their family of their condition, and the poor people at
+Alcala at once strove to raise the ransom money, the father
+disposing of all he possessed, and the two sisters giving up their
+marriage portions. But Dali Mami had found on Cervantes the letters
+addressed to the King by Don John and the Duke of Sesa, and,
+concluding that his prize must be a person of great consequence,
+when the money came he refused it scornfully as being altogether
+insufficient. The owner of Rodrigo, however, was more easily
+satisfied; ransom was accepted in his case, and it was arranged
+between the brothers that he should return to Spain and procure a
+vessel in which he was to come back to Algiers and take off Miguel and
+as many of their comrades as possible. This was not the first
+attempt to escape that Cervantes had made. Soon after the commencement
+of his captivity he induced several of his companions to join him in
+trying to reach Oran, then a Spanish post, on foot; but after the
+first day's journey, the Moor who had agreed to act as their guide
+deserted them, and they had no choice but to return. The second
+attempt was more disastrous. In a garden outside the city on the
+sea-shore, he constructed, with the help of the gardener, a
+Spaniard, a hiding-place, to which he brought, one by one, fourteen of
+his fellow-captives, keeping them there in secrecy for several months,
+and supplying them with food through a renegade known as El Dorador,
+"the Gilder." How he, a captive himself, contrived to do all this,
+is one of the mysteries of the story. Wild as the project may
+appear, it was very nearly successful. The vessel procured by
+Rodrigo made its appearance off the coast, and under cover of night
+was proceeding to take off the refugees, when the crew were alarmed by
+a passing fishing boat, and beat a hasty retreat. On renewing the
+attempt shortly afterwards, they, or a portion of them at least,
+were taken prisoners, and just as the poor fellows in the garden
+were exulting in the thought that in a few moments more freedom
+would be within their grasp, they found themselves surrounded by
+Turkish troops, horse and foot. The Dorador had revealed the whole
+scheme to the Dey Hassan.
+
+When Cervantes saw what had befallen them, he charged his companions
+to lay all the blame upon him, and as they were being bound he
+declared aloud that the whole plot was of his contriving, and that
+nobody else had any share in it. Brought before the Dey, he said the
+same. He was threatened with impalement and with torture; and as
+cutting off ears and noses were playful freaks with the Algerines,
+it may be conceived what their tortures were like; but nothing could
+make him swerve from his original statement that he and he alone was
+responsible. The upshot was that the unhappy gardener was hanged by
+his master, and the prisoners taken possession of by the Dey, who,
+however, afterwards restored most of them to their masters, but kept
+Cervantes, paying Dali Mami 500 crowns for him. He felt, no doubt,
+that a man of such resource, energy, and daring, was too dangerous a
+piece of property to be left in private hands; and he had him
+heavily ironed and lodged in his own prison. If he thought that by
+these means he could break the spirit or shake the resolution of his
+prisoner, he was soon undeceived, for Cervantes contrived before
+long to despatch a letter to the Governor of Oran, entreating him to
+send him some one that could be trusted, to enable him and three other
+gentlemen, fellow-captives of his, to make their escape; intending
+evidently to renew his first attempt with a more trustworthy guide.
+Unfortunately the Moor who carried the letter was stopped just outside
+Oran, and the letter being found upon him, he was sent back to
+Algiers, where by the order of the Dey he was promptly impaled as a
+warning to others, while Cervantes was condemned to receive two
+thousand blows of the stick, a number which most likely would have
+deprived the world of "Don Quixote," had not some persons, who they
+were we know not, interceded on his behalf.
+
+After this he seems to have been kept in still closer confinement
+than before, for nearly two years passed before he made another
+attempt. This time his plan was to purchase, by the aid of a Spanish
+renegade and two Valencian merchants resident in Algiers, an armed
+vessel in which he and about sixty of the leading captives were to
+make their escape; but just as they were about to put it into
+execution one Doctor Juan Blanco de Paz, an ecclesiastic and a
+compatriot, informed the Dey of the plot. Cervantes by force of
+character, by his self-devotion, by his untiring energy and his
+exertions to lighten the lot of his companions in misery, had endeared
+himself to all, and become the leading spirit in the captive colony,
+and, incredible as it may seem, jealousy of his influence and the
+esteem in which he was held, moved this man to compass his destruction
+by a cruel death. The merchants finding that the Dey knew all, and
+fearing that Cervantes under torture might make disclosures that would
+imperil their own lives, tried to persuade him to slip away on board a
+vessel that was on the point of sailing for Spain; but he told them
+they had nothing to fear, for no tortures would make him compromise
+anybody, and he went at once and gave himself up to the Dey.
+
+As before, the Dey tried to force him to name his accomplices.
+Everything was made ready for his immediate execution; the halter
+was put round his neck and his hands tied behind him, but all that
+could be got from him was that he himself, with the help of four
+gentlemen who had since left Algiers, had arranged the whole, and that
+the sixty who were to accompany him were not to know anything of it
+until the last moment. Finding he could make nothing of him, the Dey
+sent him back to prison more heavily ironed than before.
+
+The poverty-stricken Cervantes family had been all this time
+trying once more to raise the ransom money, and at last a sum of three
+hundred ducats was got together and entrusted to the Redemptorist
+Father Juan Gil, who was about to sail for Algiers. The Dey,
+however, demanded more than double the sum offered, and as his term of
+office had expired and he was about to sail for Constantinople, taking
+all his slaves with him, the case of Cervantes was critical. He was
+already on board heavily ironed, when the Dey at length agreed to
+reduce his demand by one-half, and Father Gil by borrowing was able to
+make up the amount, and on September 19, 1580, after a captivity of
+five years all but a week, Cervantes was at last set free. Before long
+he discovered that Blanco de Paz, who claimed to be an officer of
+the Inquisition, was now concocting on false evidence a charge of
+misconduct to be brought against him on his return to Spain. To
+checkmate him Cervantes drew up a series of twenty-five questions,
+covering the whole period of his captivity, upon which he requested
+Father Gil to take the depositions of credible witnesses before a
+notary. Eleven witnesses taken from among the principal captives in
+Algiers deposed to all the facts above stated and to a great deal more
+besides. There is something touching in the admiration, love, and
+gratitude we see struggling to find expression in the formal
+language of the notary, as they testify one after another to the
+good deeds of Cervantes, how he comforted and helped the weak-hearted,
+how he kept up their drooping courage, how he shared his poor purse
+with this deponent, and how "in him this deponent found father and
+mother."
+
+On his return to Spain he found his old regiment about to march
+for Portugal to support Philip's claim to the crown, and utterly
+penniless now, had no choice but to rejoin it. He was in the
+expeditions to the Azores in 1582 and the following year, and on the
+conclusion of the war returned to Spain in the autumn of 1583,
+bringing with him the manuscript of his pastoral romance, the
+"Galatea," and probably also, to judge by internal evidence, that of
+the first portion of "Persiles and Sigismunda." He also brought back
+with him, his biographers assert, an infant daughter, the offspring of
+an amour, as some of them with great circumstantiality inform us, with
+a Lisbon lady of noble birth, whose name, however, as well as that
+of the street she lived in, they omit to mention. The sole
+foundation for all this is that in 1605 there certainly was living
+in the family of Cervantes a Dona Isabel de Saavedra, who is described
+in an official document as his natural daughter, and then twenty years
+of age.
+
+With his crippled left hand promotion in the army was hopeless,
+now that Don John was dead and he had no one to press his claims and
+services, and for a man drawing on to forty life in the ranks was a
+dismal prospect; he had already a certain reputation as a poet; he
+made up his mind, therefore, to cast his lot with literature, and
+for a first venture committed his "Galatea" to the press. It was
+published, as Salva y Mallen shows conclusively, at Alcala, his own
+birth-place, in 1585 and no doubt helped to make his name more
+widely known, but certainly did not do him much good in any other way.
+
+While it was going through the press, he married Dona Catalina de
+Palacios Salazar y Vozmediano, a lady of Esquivias near Madrid, and
+apparently a friend of the family, who brought him a fortune which may
+possibly have served to keep the wolf from the door, but if so, that
+was all. The drama had by this time outgrown market-place stages and
+strolling companies, and with his old love for it he naturally
+turned to it for a congenial employment. In about three years he wrote
+twenty or thirty plays, which he tells us were performed without any
+throwing of cucumbers or other missiles, and ran their course
+without any hisses, outcries, or disturbance. In other words, his
+plays were not bad enough to be hissed off the stage, but not good
+enough to hold their own upon it. Only two of them have been
+preserved, but as they happen to be two of the seven or eight he
+mentions with complacency, we may assume they are favourable
+specimens, and no one who reads the "Numancia" and the "Trato de
+Argel" will feel any surprise that they failed as acting dramas.
+Whatever merits they may have, whatever occasional they may show, they
+are, as regards construction, incurably clumsy. How completely they
+failed is manifest from the fact that with all his sanguine
+temperament and indomitable perseverance he was unable to maintain the
+struggle to gain a livelihood as a dramatist for more than three
+years; nor was the rising popularity of Lope the cause, as is often
+said, notwithstanding his own words to the contrary. When Lope began
+to write for the stage is uncertain, but it was certainly after
+Cervantes went to Seville.
+
+Among the "Nuevos Documentos" printed by Senor Asensio y Toledo is
+one dated 1592, and curiously characteristic of Cervantes. It is an
+agreement with one Rodrigo Osorio, a manager, who was to accept six
+comedies at fifty ducats (about 6l.) apiece, not to be paid in any
+case unless it appeared on representation that the said comedy was one
+of the best that had ever been represented in Spain. The test does not
+seem to have been ever applied; perhaps it was sufficiently apparent
+to Rodrigo Osorio that the comedies were not among the best that had
+ever been represented. Among the correspondence of Cervantes there
+might have been found, no doubt, more than one letter like that we see
+in the "Rake's Progress," "Sir, I have read your play, and it will not
+doo."
+
+He was more successful in a literary contest at Saragossa in 1595 in
+honour of the canonisation of St. Jacinto, when his composition won
+the first prize, three silver spoons. The year before this he had been
+appointed a collector of revenues for the kingdom of Granada. In order
+to remit the money he had collected more conveniently to the treasury,
+he entrusted it to a merchant, who failed and absconded; and as the
+bankrupt's assets were insufficient to cover the whole, he was sent to
+prison at Seville in September 1597. The balance against him, however,
+was a small one, about 26l., and on giving security for it he was
+released at the end of the year.
+
+It was as he journeyed from town to town collecting the king's
+taxes, that he noted down those bits of inn and wayside life and
+character that abound in the pages of "Don Quixote:" the Benedictine
+monks with spectacles and sunshades, mounted on their tall mules;
+the strollers in costume bound for the next village; the barber with
+his basin on his head, on his way to bleed a patient; the recruit with
+his breeches in his bundle, tramping along the road singing; the
+reapers gathered in the venta gateway listening to "Felixmarte of
+Hircania" read out to them; and those little Hogarthian touches that
+he so well knew how to bring in, the ox-tail hanging up with the
+landlord's comb stuck in it, the wine-skins at the bed-head, and those
+notable examples of hostelry art, Helen going off in high spirits on
+Paris's arm, and Dido on the tower dropping tears as big as walnuts.
+Nay, it may well be that on those journeys into remote regions he came
+across now and then a specimen of the pauper gentleman, with his
+lean hack and his greyhound and his books of chivalry, dreaming away
+his life in happy ignorance that the world had changed since his
+great-grandfather's old helmet was new. But it was in Seville that
+he found out his true vocation, though he himself would not by any
+means have admitted it to be so. It was there, in Triana, that he
+was first tempted to try his hand at drawing from life, and first
+brought his humour into play in the exquisite little sketch of
+"Rinconete y Cortadillo," the germ, in more ways than one, of "Don
+Quixote."
+
+Where and when that was written, we cannot tell. After his
+imprisonment all trace of Cervantes in his official capacity
+disappears, from which it may be inferred that he was not
+reinstated. That he was still in Seville in November 1598 appears from
+a satirical sonnet of his on the elaborate catafalque erected to
+testify the grief of the city at the death of Philip II, but from this
+up to 1603 we have no clue to his movements. The words in the
+preface to the First Part of "Don Quixote" are generally held to be
+conclusive that he conceived the idea of the book, and wrote the
+beginning of it at least, in a prison, and that he may have done so is
+extremely likely.
+
+There is a tradition that Cervantes read some portions of his work
+to a select audience at the Duke of Bejar's, which may have helped
+to make the book known; but the obvious conclusion is that the First
+Part of "Don Quixote" lay on his hands some time before he could
+find a publisher bold enough to undertake a venture of so novel a
+character; and so little faith in it had Francisco Robles of Madrid,
+to whom at last he sold it, that he did not care to incur the
+expense of securing the copyright for Aragon or Portugal, contenting
+himself with that for Castile. The printing was finished in
+December, and the book came out with the new year, 1605. It is often
+said that "Don Quixote" was at first received coldly. The facts show
+just the contrary. No sooner was it in the hands of the public than
+preparations were made to issue pirated editions at Lisbon and
+Valencia, and to bring out a second edition with the additional
+copyrights for Aragon and Portugal, which he secured in February.
+
+No doubt it was received with something more than coldness by
+certain sections of the community. Men of wit, taste, and
+discrimination among the aristocracy gave it a hearty welcome, but the
+aristocracy in general were not likely to relish a book that turned
+their favourite reading into ridicule and laughed at so many of
+their favourite ideas. The dramatists who gathered round Lope as their
+leader regarded Cervantes as their common enemy, and it is plain
+that he was equally obnoxious to the other clique, the culto poets who
+had Gongora for their chief. Navarrete, who knew nothing of the letter
+above mentioned, tries hard to show that the relations between
+Cervantes and Lope were of a very friendly sort, as indeed they were
+until "Don Quixote" was written. Cervantes, indeed, to the last
+generously and manfully declared his admiration of Lope's powers,
+his unfailing invention, and his marvellous fertility; but in the
+preface of the First Part of "Don Quixote" and in the verses of
+"Urganda the Unknown," and one or two other places, there are, if we
+read between the lines, sly hits at Lope's vanities and affectations
+that argue no personal good-will; and Lope openly sneers at "Don
+Quixote" and Cervantes, and fourteen years after his death gives him
+only a few lines of cold commonplace in the "Laurel de Apolo," that
+seem all the colder for the eulogies of a host of nonentities whose
+names are found nowhere else.
+
+In 1601 Valladolid was made the seat of the Court, and at the
+beginning of 1603 Cervantes had been summoned thither in connection
+with the balance due by him to the Treasury, which was still
+outstanding. He remained at Valladolid, apparently supporting
+himself by agencies and scrivener's work of some sort; probably
+drafting petitions and drawing up statements of claims to be presented
+to the Council, and the like. So, at least, we gather from the
+depositions taken on the occasion of the death of a gentleman, the
+victim of a street brawl, who had been carried into the house in which
+he lived. In these he himself is described as a man who wrote and
+transacted business, and it appears that his household then
+consisted of his wife, the natural daughter Isabel de Saavedra already
+mentioned, his sister Andrea, now a widow, her daughter Constanza, a
+mysterious Magdalena de Sotomayor calling herself his sister, for whom
+his biographers cannot account, and a servant-maid.
+
+Meanwhile "Don Quixote" had been growing in favour, and its author's
+name was now known beyond the Pyrenees. In 1607 an edition was printed
+at Brussels. Robles, the Madrid publisher, found it necessary to
+meet the demand by a third edition, the seventh in all, in 1608. The
+popularity of the book in Italy was such that a Milan bookseller was
+led to bring out an edition in 1610; and another was called for in
+Brussels in 1611. It might naturally have been expected that, with
+such proofs before him that he had hit the taste of the public,
+Cervantes would have at once set about redeeming his rather vague
+promise of a second volume.
+
+But, to all appearance, nothing was farther from his thoughts. He
+had still by him one or two short tales of the same vintage as those
+he had inserted in "Don Quixote" and instead of continuing the
+adventures of Don Quixote, he set to work to write more of these
+"Novelas Exemplares" as he afterwards called them, with a view to
+making a book of them.
+
+The novels were published in the summer of 1613, with a dedication
+to the Conde de Lemos, the Maecenas of the day, and with one of
+those chatty confidential prefaces Cervantes was so fond of. In
+this, eight years and a half after the First Part of "Don Quixote" had
+appeared, we get the first hint of a forthcoming Second Part. "You
+shall see shortly," he says, "the further exploits of Don Quixote
+and humours of Sancho Panza." His idea of "shortly" was a somewhat
+elastic one, for, as we know by the date to Sancho's letter, he had
+barely one-half of the book completed that time twelvemonth.
+
+But more than poems, or pastorals, or novels, it was his dramatic
+ambition that engrossed his thoughts. The same indomitable spirit that
+kept him from despair in the bagnios of Algiers, and prompted him to
+attempt the escape of himself and his comrades again and again, made
+him persevere in spite of failure and discouragement in his efforts to
+win the ear of the public as a dramatist. The temperament of Cervantes
+was essentially sanguine. The portrait he draws in the preface to
+the novels, with the aquiline features, chestnut hair, smooth
+untroubled forehead, and bright cheerful eyes, is the very portrait of
+a sanguine man. Nothing that the managers might say could persuade him
+that the merits of his plays would not be recognised at last if they
+were only given a fair chance. The old soldier of the Spanish
+Salamis was bent on being the Aeschylus of Spain. He was to found a
+great national drama, based on the true principles of art, that was to
+be the envy of all nations; he was to drive from the stage the
+silly, childish plays, the "mirrors of nonsense and models of folly"
+that were in vogue through the cupidity of the managers and
+shortsightedness of the authors; he was to correct and educate the
+public taste until it was ripe for tragedies on the model of the Greek
+drama- like the "Numancia" for instance- and comedies that would not
+only amuse but improve and instruct. All this he was to do, could he
+once get a hearing: there was the initial difficulty.
+
+He shows plainly enough, too, that "Don Quixote" and the
+demolition of the chivalry romances was not the work that lay next his
+heart. He was, indeed, as he says himself in his preface, more a
+stepfather than a father to "Don Quixote." Never was great work so
+neglected by its author. That it was written carelessly, hastily,
+and by fits and starts, was not always his fault, but it seems clear
+he never read what he sent to the press. He knew how the printers
+had blundered, but he never took the trouble to correct them when
+the third edition was in progress, as a man who really cared for the
+child of his brain would have done. He appears to have regarded the
+book as little more than a mere libro de entretenimiento, an amusing
+book, a thing, as he says in the "Viaje," "to divert the melancholy
+moody heart at any time or season." No doubt he had an affection for
+his hero, and was very proud of Sancho Panza. It would have been
+strange indeed if he had not been proud of the most humorous
+creation in all fiction. He was proud, too, of the popularity and
+success of the book, and beyond measure delightful is the naivete with
+which he shows his pride in a dozen passages in the Second Part. But
+it was not the success he coveted. In all probability he would have
+given all the success of "Don Quixote," nay, would have seen every
+copy of "Don Quixote" burned in the Plaza Mayor, for one such
+success as Lope de Vega was enjoying on an average once a week.
+
+ And so he went on, dawdling over "Don Quixote," adding a chapter
+now and again, and putting it aside to turn to "Persiles and
+Sigismunda" -which, as we know, was to be the most entertaining book
+in the language, and the rival of "Theagenes and Chariclea"- or
+finishing off one of his darling comedies; and if Robles asked when
+"Don Quixote" would be ready, the answer no doubt was: En breve-
+shortly, there was time enough for that. At sixty-eight he was as full
+of life and hope and plans for the future as a boy of eighteen.
+
+Nemesis was coming, however. He had got as far as Chapter LIX, which
+at his leisurely pace he could hardly have reached before October or
+November 1614, when there was put into his hand a small octave
+lately printed at Tarragona, and calling itself "Second Volume of
+the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha: by the Licentiate
+Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda of Tordesillas." The last half of
+Chapter LIX and most of the following chapters of the Second Part give
+us some idea of the effect produced upon him, and his irritation was
+not likely to be lessened by the reflection that he had no one to
+blame but himself. Had Avellaneda, in fact, been content with merely
+bringing out a continuation to "Don Quixote," Cervantes would have had
+no reasonable grievance. His own intentions were expressed in the very
+vaguest language at the end of the book; nay, in his last words,
+"forse altro cantera con miglior plettro," he seems actually to invite
+some one else to continue the work, and he made no sign until eight
+years and a half had gone by; by which time Avellaneda's volume was no
+doubt written.
+
+In fact Cervantes had no case, or a very bad one, as far as the mere
+continuation was concerned. But Avellaneda chose to write a preface to
+it, full of such coarse personal abuse as only an ill-conditioned
+man could pour out. He taunts Cervantes with being old, with having
+lost his hand, with having been in prison, with being poor, with being
+friendless, accuses him of envy of Lope's success, of petulance and
+querulousness, and so on; and it was in this that the sting lay.
+Avellaneda's reason for this personal attack is obvious enough.
+Whoever he may have been, it is clear that he was one of the
+dramatists of Lope's school, for he has the impudence to charge
+Cervantes with attacking him as well as Lope in his criticism on the
+drama. His identification has exercised the best critics and baffled
+all the ingenuity and research that has been brought to bear on it.
+Navarrete and Ticknor both incline to the belief that Cervantes knew
+who he was; but I must say I think the anger he shows suggests an
+invisible assailant; it is like the irritation of a man stung by a
+mosquito in the dark. Cervantes from certain solecisms of language
+pronounces him to be an Aragonese, and Pellicer, an Aragonese himself,
+supports this view and believes him, moreover, to have been an
+ecclesiastic, a Dominican probably.
+
+Any merit Avellaneda has is reflected from Cervantes, and he is
+too dull to reflect much. "Dull and dirty" will always be, I
+imagine, the verdict of the vast majority of unprejudiced readers.
+He is, at best, a poor plagiarist; all he can do is to follow
+slavishly the lead given him by Cervantes; his only humour lies in
+making Don Quixote take inns for castles and fancy himself some
+legendary or historical personage, and Sancho mistake words, invert
+proverbs, and display his gluttony; all through he shows a
+proclivity to coarseness and dirt, and he has contrived to introduce
+two tales filthier than anything by the sixteenth century novellieri
+and without their sprightliness.
+
+But whatever Avellaneda and his book may be, we must not forget
+the debt we owe them. But for them, there can be no doubt, "Don
+Quixote" would have come to us a mere torso instead of a complete
+work. Even if Cervantes had finished the volume he had in hand, most
+assuredly he would have left off with a promise of a Third Part,
+giving the further adventures of Don Quixote and humours of Sancho
+Panza as shepherds. It is plain that he had at one time an intention
+of dealing with the pastoral romances as he had dealt with the books
+of chivalry, and but for Avellaneda he would have tried to carry it
+out. But it is more likely that, with his plans, and projects, and
+hopefulness, the volume would have remained unfinished till his death,
+and that we should have never made the acquaintance of the Duke and
+Duchess, or gone with Sancho to Barataria.
+
+From the moment the book came into his hands he seems to have been
+haunted by the fear that there might be more Avellanedas in the field,
+and putting everything else aside, he set himself to finish off his
+task and protect Don Quixote in the only way he could, by killing him.
+The conclusion is no doubt a hasty and in some places clumsy piece
+of work and the frequent repetition of the scolding administered to
+Avellaneda becomes in the end rather wearisome; but it is, at any
+rate, a conclusion and for that we must thank Avellaneda.
+
+The new volume was ready for the press in February, but was not
+printed till the very end of 1615, and during the interval Cervantes
+put together the comedies and interludes he had written within the
+last few years, and, as he adds plaintively, found no demand for among
+the managers, and published them with a preface, worth the book it
+introduces tenfold, in which he gives an account of the early
+Spanish stage, and of his own attempts as a dramatist. It is
+needless to say they were put forward by Cervantes in all good faith
+and full confidence in their merits. The reader, however, was not to
+suppose they were his last word or final effort in the drama, for he
+had in hand a comedy called "Engano a los ojos," about which, if he
+mistook not, there would be no question.
+
+Of this dramatic masterpiece the world has no opportunity of
+judging; his health had been failing for some time, and he died,
+apparently of dropsy, on the 23rd of April, 1616, the day on which
+England lost Shakespeare, nominally at least, for the English calendar
+had not yet been reformed. He died as he had lived, accepting his
+lot bravely and cheerfully.
+
+Was it an unhappy life, that of Cervantes? His biographers all
+tell us that it was; but I must say I doubt it. It was a hard life,
+a life of poverty, of incessant struggle, of toil ill paid, of
+disappointment, but Cervantes carried within himself the antidote to
+all these evils. His was not one of those light natures that rise
+above adversity merely by virtue of their own buoyancy; it was in
+the fortitude of a high spirit that he was proof against it. It is
+impossible to conceive Cervantes giving way to despondency or
+prostrated by dejection. As for poverty, it was with him a thing to be
+laughed over, and the only sigh he ever allows to escape him is when
+he says, "Happy he to whom Heaven has given a piece of bread for which
+he is not bound to give thanks to any but Heaven itself." Add to all
+this his vital energy and mental activity, his restless invention
+and his sanguine temperament, and there will be reason enough to doubt
+whether his could have been a very unhappy life. He who could take
+Cervantes' distresses together with his apparatus for enduring them
+would not make so bad a bargain, perhaps, as far as happiness in
+life is concerned.
+
+Of his burial-place nothing is known except that he was buried, in
+accordance with his will, in the neighbouring convent of Trinitarian
+nuns, of which it is supposed his daughter, Isabel de Saavedra, was an
+inmate, and that a few years afterwards the nuns removed to another
+convent, carrying their dead with them. But whether the remains of
+Cervantes were included in the removal or not no one knows, and the
+clue to their resting-place is now lost beyond all hope. This
+furnishes perhaps the least defensible of the items in the charge of
+neglect brought against his contemporaries. In some of the others
+there is a good deal of exaggeration. To listen to most of his
+biographers one would suppose that all Spain was in league not only
+against the man but against his memory, or at least that it was
+insensible to his merits, and left him to live in misery and die of
+want. To talk of his hard life and unworthy employments in Andalusia
+is absurd. What had he done to distinguish him from thousands of other
+struggling men earning a precarious livelihood? True, he was a gallant
+soldier, who had been wounded and had undergone captivity and
+suffering in his country's cause, but there were hundreds of others in
+the same case. He had written a mediocre specimen of an insipid
+class of romance, and some plays which manifestly did not comply
+with the primary condition of pleasing: were the playgoers to
+patronise plays that did not amuse them, because the author was to
+produce "Don Quixote" twenty years afterwards?
+
+The scramble for copies which, as we have seen, followed immediately
+on the appearance of the book, does not look like general
+insensibility to its merits. No doubt it was received coldly by
+some, but if a man writes a book in ridicule of periwigs he must
+make his account with being coldly received by the periwig wearers and
+hated by the whole tribe of wigmakers. If Cervantes had the
+chivalry-romance readers, the sentimentalists, the dramatists, and the
+poets of the period all against him, it was because "Don Quixote"
+was what it was; and if the general public did not come forward to
+make him comfortable for the rest of his days, it is no more to be
+charged with neglect and ingratitude than the English-speaking
+public that did not pay off Scott's liabilities. It did the best it
+could; it read his book and liked it and bought it, and encouraged the
+bookseller to pay him well for others.
+
+It has been also made a reproach to Spain that she has erected no
+monument to the man she is proudest of; no monument, that is to say,
+of him; for the bronze statue in the little garden of the Plaza de las
+Cortes, a fair work of art no doubt, and unexceptionable had it been
+set up to the local poet in the market-place of some provincial
+town, is not worthy of Cervantes or of Madrid. But what need has
+Cervantes of "such weak witness of his name;" or what could a monument
+do in his case except testify to the self-glorification of those who
+had put it up? Si monumentum quoeris, circumspice. The nearest
+bookseller's shop will show what bathos there would be in a monument
+to the author of "Don Quixote."
+
+Nine editions of the First Part of "Don Quixote" had already
+appeared before Cervantes died, thirty thousand copies in all,
+according to his own estimate, and a tenth was printed at Barcelona
+the year after his death. So large a number naturally supplied the
+demand for some time, but by 1634 it appears to have been exhausted;
+and from that time down to the present day the stream of editions
+has continued to flow rapidly and regularly. The translations show
+still more clearly in what request the book has been from the very
+outset. In seven years from the completion of the work it had been
+translated into the four leading languages of Europe. Except the
+Bible, in fact, no book has been so widely diffused as "Don
+Quixote." The "Imitatio Christi" may have been translated into as many
+different languages, and perhaps "Robinson Crusoe" and the "Vicar of
+Wakefield" into nearly as many, but in multiplicity of translations
+and editions "Don Quixote" leaves them all far behind.
+
+Still more remarkable is the character of this wide diffusion.
+"Don Quixote" has been thoroughly naturalised among people whose ideas
+about knight-errantry, if they had any at all, were of the vaguest,
+who had never seen or heard of a book of chivalry, who could not
+possibly feel the humour of the burlesque or sympathise with the
+author's purpose. Another curious fact is that this, the most
+cosmopolitan book in the world, is one of the most intensely national.
+"Manon Lescaut" is not more thoroughly French, "Tom Jones" not more
+English, "Rob Roy" not more Scotch, than "Don Quixote" is Spanish,
+in character, in ideas, in sentiment, in local colour, in
+everything. What, then, is the secret of this unparalleled popularity,
+increasing year by year for well-nigh three centuries? One
+explanation, no doubt, is that of all the books in the world, "Don
+Quixote" is the most catholic. There is something in it for every sort
+of reader, young or old, sage or simple, high or low. As Cervantes
+himself says with a touch of pride, "It is thumbed and read and got by
+heart by people of all sorts; the children turn its leaves, the
+young people read it, the grown men understand it, the old folk praise
+it."
+
+But it would be idle to deny that the ingredient which, more than
+its humour, or its wisdom, or the fertility of invention or
+knowledge of human nature it displays, has insured its success with
+the multitude, is the vein of farce that runs through it. It was the
+attack upon the sheep, the battle with the wine-skins, Mambrino's
+helmet, the balsam of Fierabras, Don Quixote knocked over by the sails
+of the windmill, Sancho tossed in the blanket, the mishaps and
+misadventures of master and man, that were originally the great
+attraction, and perhaps are so still to some extent with the
+majority of readers. It is plain that "Don Quixote" was generally
+regarded at first, and indeed in Spain for a long time, as little more
+than a queer droll book, full of laughable incidents and absurd
+situations, very amusing, but not entitled to much consideration or
+care. All the editions printed in Spain from 1637 to 1771, when the
+famous printer Ibarra took it up, were mere trade editions, badly
+and carelessly printed on vile paper and got up in the style of
+chap-books intended only for popular use, with, in most instances,
+uncouth illustrations and clap-trap additions by the publisher.
+
+To England belongs the credit of having been the first country to
+recognise the right of "Don Quixote" to better treatment than this.
+The London edition of 1738, commonly called Lord Carteret's from
+having been suggested by him, was not a mere edition de luxe. It
+produced "Don Quixote" in becoming form as regards paper and type, and
+embellished with plates which, if not particularly happy as
+illustrations, were at least well intentioned and well executed, but
+it also aimed at correctness of text, a matter to which nobody
+except the editors of the Valencia and Brussels editions had given
+even a passing thought; and for a first attempt it was fairly
+successful, for though some of its emendations are inadmissible, a
+good many of them have been adopted by all subsequent editors.
+
+The zeal of publishers, editors, and annotators brought about a
+remarkable change of sentiment with regard to "Don Quixote." A vast
+number of its admirers began to grow ashamed of laughing over it. It
+became almost a crime to treat it as a humorous book. The humour was
+not entirely denied, but, according to the new view, it was rated as
+an altogether secondary quality, a mere accessory, nothing more than
+the stalking-horse under the presentation of which Cervantes shot
+his philosophy or his satire, or whatever it was he meant to shoot;
+for on this point opinions varied. All were agreed, however, that
+the object he aimed at was not the books of chivalry. He said
+emphatically in the preface to the First Part and in the last sentence
+of the Second, that he had no other object in view than to discredit
+these books, and this, to advanced criticism, made it clear that his
+object must have been something else.
+
+One theory was that the book was a kind of allegory, setting forth
+the eternal struggle between the ideal and the real, between the
+spirit of poetry and the spirit of prose; and perhaps German
+philosophy never evolved a more ungainly or unlikely camel out of
+the depths of its inner consciousness. Something of the antagonism, no
+doubt, is to be found in "Don Quixote," because it is to be found
+everywhere in life, and Cervantes drew from life. It is difficult to
+imagine a community in which the never-ceasing game of
+cross-purposes between Sancho Panza and Don Quixote would not be
+recognized as true to nature. In the stone age, among the lake
+dwellers, among the cave men, there were Don Quixotes and Sancho
+Panzas; there must have been the troglodyte who never could see the
+facts before his eyes, and the troglodyte who could see nothing
+else. But to suppose Cervantes deliberately setting himself to expound
+any such idea in two stout quarto volumes is to suppose something
+not only very unlike the age in which he lived, but altogether
+unlike Cervantes himself, who would have been the first to laugh at an
+attempt of the sort made by anyone else.
+
+The extraordinary influence of the romances of chivalry in his day
+is quite enough to account for the genesis of the book. Some idea of
+the prodigious development of this branch of literature in the
+sixteenth century may be obtained from the scrutiny of Chapter VII, if
+the reader bears in mind that only a portion of the romances belonging
+to by far the largest group are enumerated. As to its effect upon
+the nation, there is abundant evidence. From the time when the
+Amadises and Palmerins began to grow popular down to the very end of
+the century, there is a steady stream of invective, from men whose
+character and position lend weight to their words, against the
+romances of chivalry and the infatuation of their readers. Ridicule
+was the only besom to sweep away that dust.
+
+That this was the task Cervantes set himself, and that he had
+ample provocation to urge him to it, will be sufficiently clear to
+those who look into the evidence; as it will be also that it was not
+chivalry itself that he attacked and swept away. Of all the
+absurdities that, thanks to poetry, will be repeated to the end of
+time, there is no greater one than saying that "Cervantes smiled
+Spain's chivalry away." In the first place there was no chivalry for
+him to smile away. Spain's chivalry had been dead for more than a
+century. Its work was done when Granada fell, and as chivalry was
+essentially republican in its nature, it could not live under the rule
+that Ferdinand substituted for the free institutions of mediaeval
+Spain. What he did smile away was not chivalry but a degrading mockery
+of it.
+
+The true nature of the "right arm" and the "bright array," before
+which, according to the poet, "the world gave ground," and which
+Cervantes' single laugh demolished, may be gathered from the words
+of one of his own countrymen, Don Felix Pacheco, as reported by
+Captain George Carleton, in his "Military Memoirs from 1672 to
+1713." "Before the appearance in the world of that labour of
+Cervantes," he said, "it was next to an impossibility for a man to
+walk the streets with any delight or without danger. There were seen
+so many cavaliers prancing and curvetting before the windows of
+their mistresses, that a stranger would have imagined the whole nation
+to have been nothing less than a race of knight-errants. But after the
+world became a little acquainted with that notable history, the man
+that was seen in that once celebrated drapery was pointed at as a
+Don Quixote, and found himself the jest of high and low. And I
+verily believe that to this, and this only, we owe that dampness and
+poverty of spirit which has run through all our councils for a century
+past, so little agreeable to those nobler actions of our famous
+ancestors."
+
+To call "Don Quixote" a sad book, preaching a pessimist view of
+life, argues a total misconception of its drift. It would be so if its
+moral were that, in this world, true enthusiasm naturally leads to
+ridicule and discomfiture. But it preaches nothing of the sort; its
+moral, so far as it can be said to have one, is that the spurious
+enthusiasm that is born of vanity and self-conceit, that is made an
+end in itself, not a means to an end, that acts on mere impulse,
+regardless of circumstances and consequences, is mischievous to its
+owner, and a very considerable nuisance to the community at large.
+To those who cannot distinguish between the one kind and the other, no
+doubt "Don Quixote" is a sad book; no doubt to some minds it is very
+sad that a man who had just uttered so beautiful a sentiment as that
+"it is a hard case to make slaves of those whom God and Nature made
+free," should be ungratefully pelted by the scoundrels his crazy
+philanthropy had let loose on society; but to others of a more
+judicial cast it will be a matter of regret that reckless
+self-sufficient enthusiasm is not oftener requited in some such way
+for all the mischief it does in the world.
+
+A very slight examination of the structure of "Don Quixote" will
+suffice to show that Cervantes had no deep design or elaborate plan in
+his mind when he began the book. When he wrote those lines in which
+"with a few strokes of a great master he sets before us the pauper
+gentleman," he had no idea of the goal to which his imagination was
+leading him. There can be little doubt that all he contemplated was
+a short tale to range with those he had already written, a tale
+setting forth the ludicrous results that might be expected to follow
+the attempt of a crazy gentleman to act the part of a knight-errant in
+modern life.
+
+It is plain, for one thing, that Sancho Panza did not enter into the
+original scheme, for had Cervantes thought of him he certainly would
+not have omitted him in his hero's outfit, which he obviously meant to
+be complete. Him we owe to the landlord's chance remark in Chapter III
+that knights seldom travelled without squires. To try to think of a
+Don Quixote without Sancho Panza is like trying to think of a
+one-bladed pair of scissors.
+
+The story was written at first, like the others, without any
+division and without the intervention of Cide Hamete Benengeli; and it
+seems not unlikely that Cervantes had some intention of bringing
+Dulcinea, or Aldonza Lorenzo, on the scene in person. It was
+probably the ransacking of the Don's library and the discussion on the
+books of chivalry that first suggested it to him that his idea was
+capable of development. What, if instead of a mere string of
+farcical misadventures, he were to make his tale a burlesque of one of
+these books, caricaturing their style, incidents, and spirit?
+
+In pursuance of this change of plan, he hastily and somewhat
+clumsily divided what he had written into chapters on the model of
+"Amadis," invented the fable of a mysterious Arabic manuscript, and
+set up Cide Hamete Benengeli in imitation of the almost invariable
+practice of the chivalry-romance authors, who were fond of tracing
+their books to some recondite source. In working out the new ideas, he
+soon found the value of Sancho Panza. Indeed, the keynote, not only to
+Sancho's part, but to the whole book, is struck in the first words
+Sancho utters when he announces his intention of taking his ass with
+him. "About the ass," we are told, "Don Quixote hesitated a little,
+trying whether he could call to mind any knight-errant taking with him
+an esquire mounted on ass-back; but no instance occurred to his
+memory." We can see the whole scene at a glance, the stolid
+unconsciousness of Sancho and the perplexity of his master, upon whose
+perception the incongruity has just forced itself. This is Sancho's
+mission throughout the book; he is an unconscious Mephistopheles,
+always unwittingly making mockery of his master's aspirations,
+always exposing the fallacy of his ideas by some unintentional ad
+absurdum, always bringing him back to the world of fact and
+commonplace by force of sheer stolidity.
+
+By the time Cervantes had got his volume of novels off his hands,
+and summoned up resolution enough to set about the Second Part in
+earnest, the case was very much altered. Don Quixote and Sancho
+Panza had not merely found favour, but had already become, what they
+have never since ceased to be, veritable entities to the popular
+imagination. There was no occasion for him now to interpolate
+extraneous matter; nay, his readers told him plainly that what they
+wanted of him was more Don Quixote and more Sancho Panza, and not
+novels, tales, or digressions. To himself, too, his creations had
+become realities, and he had become proud of them, especially of
+Sancho. He began the Second Part, therefore, under very different
+conditions, and the difference makes itself manifest at once. Even
+in translation the style will be seen to be far easier, more
+flowing, more natural, and more like that of a man sure of himself and
+of his audience. Don Quixote and Sancho undergo a change also. In
+the First Part, Don Quixote has no character or individuality
+whatever. He is nothing more than a crazy representative of the
+sentiments of the chivalry romances. In all that he says and does he
+is simply repeating the lesson he has learned from his books; and
+therefore, it is absurd to speak of him in the gushing strain of the
+sentimental critics when they dilate upon his nobleness,
+disinterestedness, dauntless courage, and so forth. It was the
+business of a knight-errant to right wrongs, redress injuries, and
+succour the distressed, and this, as a matter of course, he makes
+his business when he takes up the part; a knight-errant was bound to
+be intrepid, and so he feels bound to cast fear aside. Of all
+Byron's melodious nonsense about Don Quixote, the most nonsensical
+statement is that "'t is his virtue makes him mad!" The exact opposite
+is the truth; it is his madness makes him virtuous.
+
+In the Second Part, Cervantes repeatedly reminds the reader, as if
+it was a point upon which he was anxious there should be no mistake,
+that his hero's madness is strictly confined to delusions on the
+subject of chivalry, and that on every other subject he is discreto,
+one, in fact, whose faculty of discernment is in perfect order. The
+advantage of this is that he is enabled to make use of Don Quixote
+as a mouthpiece for his own reflections, and so, without seeming to
+digress, allow himself the relief of digression when he requires it,
+as freely as in a commonplace book.
+
+It is true the amount of individuality bestowed upon Don Quixote
+is not very great. There are some natural touches of character about
+him, such as his mixture of irascibility and placability, and his
+curious affection for Sancho together with his impatience of the
+squire's loquacity and impertinence; but in the main, apart from his
+craze, he is little more than a thoughtful, cultured gentleman, with
+instinctive good taste and a great deal of shrewdness and
+originality of mind.
+
+As to Sancho, it is plain, from the concluding words of the
+preface to the First Part, that he was a favourite with his creator
+even before he had been taken into favour by the public. An inferior
+genius, taking him in hand a second time, would very likely have tried
+to improve him by making him more comical, clever, amiable, or
+virtuous. But Cervantes was too true an artist to spoil his work in
+this way. Sancho, when he reappears, is the old Sancho with the old
+familiar features; but with a difference; they have been brought out
+more distinctly, but at the same time with a careful avoidance of
+anything like caricature; the outline has been filled in where filling
+in was necessary, and, vivified by a few touches of a master's hand,
+Sancho stands before us as he might in a character portrait by
+Velazquez. He is a much more important and prominent figure in the
+Second Part than in the First; indeed, it is his matchless mendacity
+about Dulcinea that to a great extent supplies the action of the
+story.
+
+His development in this respect is as remarkable as in any other. In
+the First Part he displays a great natural gift of lying. His lies are
+not of the highly imaginative sort that liars in fiction commonly
+indulge in; like Falstaff's, they resemble the father that begets
+them; they are simple, homely, plump lies; plain working lies, in
+short. But in the service of such a master as Don Quixote he
+develops rapidly, as we see when he comes to palm off the three
+country wenches as Dulcinea and her ladies in waiting. It is worth
+noticing how, flushed by his success in this instance, he is tempted
+afterwards to try a flight beyond his powers in his account of the
+journey on Clavileno.
+
+In the Second Part it is the spirit rather than the incidents of the
+chivalry romances that is the subject of the burlesque. Enchantments
+of the sort travestied in those of Dulcinea and the Trifaldi and the
+cave of Montesinos play a leading part in the later and inferior
+romances, and another distinguishing feature is caricatured in Don
+Quixote's blind adoration of Dulcinea. In the romances of chivalry
+love is either a mere animalism or a fantastic idolatry. Only a
+coarse-minded man would care to make merry with the former, but to one
+of Cervantes' humour the latter was naturally an attractive subject
+for ridicule. Like everything else in these romances, it is a gross
+exaggeration of the real sentiment of chivalry, but its peculiar
+extravagance is probably due to the influence of those masters of
+hyperbole, the Provencal poets. When a troubadour professed his
+readiness to obey his lady in all things, he made it incumbent upon
+the next comer, if he wished to avoid the imputation of tameness and
+commonplace, to declare himself the slave of her will, which the
+next was compelled to cap by some still stronger declaration; and so
+expressions of devotion went on rising one above the other like
+biddings at an auction, and a conventional language of gallantry and
+theory of love came into being that in time permeated the literature
+of Southern Europe, and bore fruit, in one direction in the
+transcendental worship of Beatrice and Laura, and in another in the
+grotesque idolatry which found exponents in writers like Feliciano
+de Silva. This is what Cervantes deals with in Don Quixote's passion
+for Dulcinea, and in no instance has he carried out the burlesque more
+happily. By keeping Dulcinea in the background, and making her a vague
+shadowy being of whose very existence we are left in doubt, he invests
+Don Quixote's worship of her virtues and charms with an additional
+extravagance, and gives still more point to the caricature of the
+sentiment and language of the romances.
+
+One of the great merits of "Don Quixote," and one of the qualities
+that have secured its acceptance by all classes of readers and made it
+the most cosmopolitan of books, is its simplicity. There are, of
+course, points obvious enough to a Spanish seventeenth century
+audience which do not immediately strike a reader now-a-days, and
+Cervantes often takes it for granted that an allusion will be
+generally understood which is only intelligible to a few. For example,
+on many of his readers in Spain, and most of his readers out of it,
+the significance of his choice of a country for his hero is completely
+lost. It would he going too far to say that no one can thoroughly
+comprehend "Don Quixote" without having seen La Mancha, but
+undoubtedly even a glimpse of La Mancha will give an insight into
+the meaning of Cervantes such as no commentator can give. Of all the
+regions of Spain it is the last that would suggest the idea of
+romance. Of all the dull central plateau of the Peninsula it is the
+dullest tract. There is something impressive about the grim
+solitudes of Estremadura; and if the plains of Leon and Old Castile
+are bald and dreary, they are studded with old cities renowned in
+history and rich in relics of the past. But there is no redeeming
+feature in the Manchegan landscape; it has all the sameness of the
+desert without its dignity; the few towns and villages that break
+its monotony are mean and commonplace, there is nothing venerable
+about them, they have not even the picturesqueness of poverty; indeed,
+Don Quixote's own village, Argamasilla, has a sort of oppressive
+respectability in the prim regularity of its streets and houses;
+everything is ignoble; the very windmills are the ugliest and
+shabbiest of the windmill kind.
+
+To anyone who knew the country well, the mere style and title of
+"Don Quixote of La Mancha" gave the key to the author's meaning at
+once. La Mancha as the knight's country and scene of his chivalries is
+of a piece with the pasteboard helmet, the farm-labourer on ass-back
+for a squire, knighthood conferred by a rascally ventero, convicts
+taken for victims of oppression, and the rest of the incongruities
+between Don Quixote's world and the world he lived in, between
+things as he saw them and things as they were.
+
+It is strange that this element of incongruity, underlying the whole
+humour and purpose of the book, should have been so little heeded by
+the majority of those who have undertaken to interpret "Don
+Quixote." It has been completely overlooked, for example, by the
+illustrators. To be sure, the great majority of the artists who
+illustrated "Don Quixote" knew nothing whatever of Spain. To them a
+venta conveyed no idea but the abstract one of a roadside inn, and
+they could not therefore do full justice to the humour of Don
+Quixote's misconception in taking it for a castle, or perceive the
+remoteness of all its realities from his ideal. But even when better
+informed they seem to have no apprehension of the full force of the
+discrepancy. Take, for instance, Gustave Dore's drawing of Don Quixote
+watching his armour in the inn-yard. Whether or not the Venta de
+Quesada on the Seville road is, as tradition maintains, the inn
+described in "Don Quixote," beyond all question it was just such an
+inn-yard as the one behind it that Cervantes had in his mind's eye,
+and it was on just such a rude stone trough as that beside the
+primitive draw-well in the corner that he meant Don Quixote to deposit
+his armour. Gustave Dore makes it an elaborate fountain such as no
+arriero ever watered his mules at in the corral of any venta in Spain,
+and thereby entirely misses the point aimed at by Cervantes. It is the
+mean, prosaic, commonplace character of all the surroundings and
+circumstances that gives a significance to Don Quixote's vigil and the
+ceremony that follows.
+
+Cervantes' humour is for the most part of that broader and simpler
+sort, the strength of which lies in the perception of the incongruous.
+It is the incongruity of Sancho in all his ways, words, and works,
+with the ideas and aims of his master, quite as much as the
+wonderful vitality and truth to nature of the character, that makes
+him the most humorous creation in the whole range of fiction. That
+unsmiling gravity of which Cervantes was the first great master,
+"Cervantes' serious air," which sits naturally on Swift alone,
+perhaps, of later humourists, is essential to this kind of humour, and
+here again Cervantes has suffered at the hands of his interpreters.
+Nothing, unless indeed the coarse buffoonery of Phillips, could be
+more out of place in an attempt to represent Cervantes, than a
+flippant, would-be facetious style, like that of Motteux's version for
+example, or the sprightly, jaunty air, French translators sometimes
+adopt. It is the grave matter-of-factness of the narrative, and the
+apparent unconsciousness of the author that he is saying anything
+ludicrous, anything but the merest commonplace, that give its peculiar
+flavour to the humour of Cervantes. His, in fact, is the exact
+opposite of the humour of Sterne and the self-conscious humourists.
+Even when Uncle Toby is at his best, you are always aware of "the
+man Sterne" behind him, watching you over his shoulder to see what
+effect he is producing. Cervantes always leaves you alone with Don
+Quixote and Sancho. He and Swift and the great humourists always
+keep themselves out of sight, or, more properly speaking, never
+think about themselves at all, unlike our latter-day school of
+humourists, who seem to have revived the old horse-collar method,
+and try to raise a laugh by some grotesque assumption of ignorance,
+imbecility, or bad taste.
+
+It is true that to do full justice to Spanish humour in any other
+language is well-nigh an impossibility. There is a natural gravity and
+a sonorous stateliness about Spanish, be it ever so colloquial, that
+make an absurdity doubly absurd, and give plausibility to the most
+preposterous statement. This is what makes Sancho Panza's drollery the
+despair of the conscientious translator. Sancho's curt comments can
+never fall flat, but they lose half their flavour when transferred
+from their native Castilian into any other medium. But if foreigners
+have failed to do justice to the humour of Cervantes, they are no
+worse than his own countrymen. Indeed, were it not for the Spanish
+peasant's relish of "Don Quixote," one might be tempted to think
+that the great humourist was not looked upon as a humourist at all
+in his own country.
+
+The craze of Don Quixote seems, in some instances, to have
+communicated itself to his critics, making them see things that are
+not in the book and run full tilt at phantoms that have no existence
+save in their own imaginations. Like a good many critics now-a-days,
+they forget that screams are not criticism, and that it is only vulgar
+tastes that are influenced by strings of superlatives, three-piled
+hyperboles, and pompous epithets. But what strikes one as particularly
+strange is that while they deal in extravagant eulogies, and ascribe
+all manner of imaginary ideas and qualities to Cervantes, they show no
+perception of the quality that ninety-nine out of a hundred of his
+readers would rate highest in him, and hold to be the one that
+raises him above all rivalry.
+
+To speak of "Don Quixote" as if it were merely a humorous book would
+be a manifest misdescription. Cervantes at times makes it a kind of
+commonplace book for occasional essays and criticisms, or for the
+observations and reflections and gathered wisdom of a long and
+stirring life. It is a mine of shrewd observation on mankind and human
+nature. Among modern novels there may be, here and there, more
+elaborate studies of character, but there is no book richer in
+individualised character. What Coleridge said of Shakespeare in
+minimis is true of Cervantes; he never, even for the most temporary
+purpose, puts forward a lay figure. There is life and individuality in
+all his characters, however little they may have to do, or however
+short a time they may be before the reader. Samson Carrasco, the
+curate, Teresa Panza, Altisidora, even the two students met on the
+road to the cave of Montesinos, all live and move and have their
+being; and it is characteristic of the broad humanity of Cervantes
+that there is not a hateful one among them all. Even poor
+Maritornes, with her deplorable morals, has a kind heart of her own
+and "some faint and distant resemblance to a Christian about her;" and
+as for Sancho, though on dissection we fail to find a lovable trait in
+him, unless it be a sort of dog-like affection for his master, who
+is there that in his heart does not love him?
+
+But it is, after all, the humour of "Don Quixote" that distinguishes
+it from all other books of the romance kind. It is this that makes it,
+as one of the most judicial-minded of modern critics calls it, "the
+best novel in the world beyond all comparison." It is its varied
+humour, ranging from broad farce to comedy as subtle as
+Shakespeare's or Moliere's that has naturalised it in every country
+where there are readers, and made it a classic in every language
+that has a literature.
+
+
+
+
+SOME COMMENDATORY VERSES
+
+
+URGANDA THE UNKNOWN
+
+To the book of Don Quixote of la Mancha
+
+ If to be welcomed by the good,
+   O Book! thou make thy steady aim,
+ No empty chatterer will dare
+   To question or dispute thy claim.
+ But if perchance thou hast a mind
+   To win of idiots approbation,
+ Lost labour will be thy reward,
+   Though they'll pretend appreciation.
+
+ They say a goodly shade he finds
+   Who shelters 'neath a goodly tree;
+ And such a one thy kindly star
+   In Bejar bath provided thee:
+ A royal tree whose spreading boughs
+   A show of princely fruit display;
+ A tree that bears a noble Duke,
+   The Alexander of his day.
+
+ Of a Manchegan gentleman
+   Thy purpose is to tell the story,
+ Relating how he lost his wits
+   O'er idle tales of love and glory,
+ Of "ladies, arms, and cavaliers:"
+   A new Orlando Furioso-
+ Innamorato, rather- who
+   Won Dulcinea del Toboso.
+
+ Put no vain emblems on thy shield;
+   All figures- that is bragging play.
+ A modest dedication make,
+   And give no scoffer room to say,
+ "What! Alvaro de Luna here?
+   Or is it Hannibal again?
+ Or does King Francis at Madrid
+   Once more of destiny complain?"
+
+ Since Heaven it hath not pleased on thee
+   Deep erudition to bestow,
+ Or black Latino's gift of tongues,
+   No Latin let thy pages show.
+ Ape not philosophy or wit,
+   Lest one who cannot comprehend,
+ Make a wry face at thee and ask,
+   "Why offer flowers to me, my friend?"
+
+ Be not a meddler; no affair
+   Of thine the life thy neighbours lead:
+ Be prudent; oft the random jest
+   Recoils upon the jester's head.
+ Thy constant labour let it be
+   To earn thyself an honest name,
+ For fooleries preserved in print
+   Are perpetuity of shame.
+
+ A further counsel bear in mind:
+   If that thy roof be made of glass,
+ It shows small wit to pick up stones
+   To pelt the people as they pass.
+ Win the attention of the wise,
+   And give the thinker food for thought;
+ Whoso indites frivolities,
+   Will but by simpletons be sought.
+
+
+             AMADIS OF GAUL
+       To Don Quixote of la Mancha
+
+
+SONNET
+
+ Thou that didst imitate that life of mine
+   When I in lonely sadness on the great
+   Rock Pena Pobre sat disconsolate,
+ In self-imposed penance there to pine;
+ Thou, whose sole beverage was the bitter brine
+   Of thine own tears, and who withouten plate
+   Of silver, copper, tin, in lowly state
+ Off the bare earth and on earth's fruits didst dine;
+ Live thou, of thine eternal glory sure.
+   So long as on the round of the fourth sphere
+   The bright Apollo shall his coursers steer,
+ In thy renown thou shalt remain secure,
+ Thy country's name in story shall endure,
+   And thy sage author stand without a peer.
+
+
+DON BELIANIS OF GREECE
+To Don Quixote of la Mancha
+
+SONNET
+
+ In slashing, hewing, cleaving, word and deed,
+   I was the foremost knight of chivalry,
+   Stout, bold, expert, as e'er the world did see;
+ Thousands from the oppressor's wrong I freed;
+ Great were my feats, eternal fame their meed;
+   In love I proved my truth and loyalty;
+   The hugest giant was a dwarf for me;
+ Ever to knighthood's laws gave I good heed.
+ My mastery the Fickle Goddess owned,
+   And even Chance, submitting to control,
+     Grasped by the forelock, yielded to my will.
+ Yet- though above yon horned moon enthroned
+     My fortune seems to sit- great Quixote, still
+   Envy of thy achievements fills my soul.
+
+
+THE LADY OF ORIANA
+To Dulcinea del Toboso
+
+SONNET
+
+ Oh, fairest Dulcinea, could it be!
+   It were a pleasant fancy to suppose so-
+   Could Miraflores change to El Toboso,
+ And London's town to that which shelters thee!
+ Oh, could mine but acquire that livery
+   Of countless charms thy mind and body show so!
+   Or him, now famous grown- thou mad'st him grow so-
+ Thy knight, in some dread combat could I see!
+ Oh, could I be released from Amadis
+   By exercise of such coy chastity
+ As led thee gentle Quixote to dismiss!
+     Then would my heavy sorrow turn to joy;
+   None would I envy, all would envy me,
+     And happiness be mine without alloy.
+
+
+
+
+GANDALIN, SQUIRE OF AMADIS OF GAUL,
+To Sancho Panza, squire of Don Quixote
+
+
+SONNET
+
+ All hail, illustrious man! Fortune, when she
+   Bound thee apprentice to the esquire trade,
+   Her care and tenderness of thee displayed,
+ Shaping thy course from misadventure free.
+ No longer now doth proud knight-errantry
+   Regard with scorn the sickle and the spade;
+   Of towering arrogance less count is made
+ Than of plain esquire-like simplicity.
+ I envy thee thy Dapple, and thy name,
+   And those alforjas thou wast wont to stuff
+ With comforts that thy providence proclaim.
+     Excellent Sancho! hail to thee again!
+     To thee alone the Ovid of our Spain
+   Does homage with the rustic kiss and cuff.
+
+
+
+   FROM EL DONOSO, THE MOTLEY POET,
+
+On Sancho Panza and Rocinante
+
+ON SANCHO
+
+I am the esquire Sancho Pan-
+Who served Don Quixote of La Man-;
+But from his service I retreat-,
+Resolved to pass my life discreet-;
+For Villadiego, called the Si-,
+Maintained that only in reti-
+Was found the secret of well-be-,
+According to the "Celesti-:"
+A book divine, except for sin-
+By speech too plain, in my opin-
+
+
+ON ROCINANTE
+
+I am that Rocinante fa-,
+Great-grandson of great Babie-,
+Who, all for being lean and bon-,
+Had one Don Quixote for an own-;
+But if I matched him well in weak-,
+I never took short commons meek-,
+But kept myself in corn by steal-,
+A trick I learned from Lazaril-,
+When with a piece of straw so neat-
+The blind man of his wine he cheat-.
+
+
+
+ORLANDO FURIOSO
+To Don Quixote of La Mancha
+
+SONNET
+
+ If thou art not a Peer, peer thou hast none;
+   Among a thousand Peers thou art a peer;
+   Nor is there room for one when thou art near,
+ Unvanquished victor, great unconquered one!
+ Orlando, by Angelica undone,
+   Am I; o'er distant seas condemned to steer,
+   And to Fame's altars as an offering bear
+ Valour respected by Oblivion.
+ I cannot be thy rival, for thy fame
+   And prowess rise above all rivalry,
+     Albeit both bereft of wits we go.
+ But, though the Scythian or the Moor to tame
+   Was not thy lot, still thou dost rival me:
+    Love binds us in a fellowship of woe.
+
+
+
+THE KNIGHT OF PHOEBUS
+
+To Don Quixote of La Mancha
+
+ My sword was not to be compared with thine
+   Phoebus of Spain, marvel of courtesy,
+ Nor with thy famous arm this hand of mine
+   That smote from east to west as lightnings fly.
+   I scorned all empire, and that monarchy
+ The rosy east held out did I resign
+   For one glance of Claridiana's eye,
+ The bright Aurora for whose love I pine.
+ A miracle of constancy my love;
+   And banished by her ruthless cruelty,
+     This arm had might the rage of Hell to tame.
+ But, Gothic Quixote, happier thou dost prove,
+     For thou dost live in Dulcinea's name,
+   And famous, honoured, wise, she lives in thee.
+
+
+
+FROM SOLISDAN
+To Don Quixote of La Mancha
+
+SONNET
+
+ Your fantasies, Sir Quixote, it is true,
+   That crazy brain of yours have quite upset,
+   But aught of base or mean hath never yet
+ Been charged by any in reproach to you.
+ Your deeds are open proof in all men's view;
+   For you went forth injustice to abate,
+   And for your pains sore drubbings did you get
+ From many a rascally and ruffian crew.
+ If the fair Dulcinea, your heart's queen,
+   Be unrelenting in her cruelty,
+     If still your woe be powerless to move her,
+   In such hard case your comfort let it be
+ That Sancho was a sorry go-between:
+     A booby he, hard-hearted she, and you no lover.
+
+
+
+
+DIALOGUE
+Between Babieca and Rocinante
+
+SONNET
+
+B.  "How comes it, Rocinante, you're so lean?"
+R.  "I'm underfed, with overwork I'm worn."
+B.  "But what becomes of all the hay and corn?"
+R.  "My master gives me none; he's much too mean."
+B.  "Come, come, you show ill-breeding, sir, I ween;
+  'T is like an ass your master thus to scorn."
+R.  He is an ass, will die an ass, an ass was born;
+  Why, he's in love; what's what's plainer to be seen?"
+B.  "To be in love is folly?"- R. "No great sense."
+B.  "You're metaphysical."- R. "From want of food."
+B.  "Rail at the squire, then."- R. "Why, what's the good?
+    I might indeed complain of him,I grant ye,
+  But, squire or master, where's the difference?
+    They're both as sorry hacks as Rocinante."
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+
+Idle reader: thou mayest believe me without any oath that I would
+this book, as it is the child of my brain, were the fairest, gayest,
+and cleverest that could be imagined. But I could not counteract
+Nature's law that everything shall beget its like; and what, then,
+could this sterile, illtilled wit of mine beget but the story of a
+dry, shrivelled, whimsical offspring, full of thoughts of all sorts
+and such as never came into any other imagination- just what might
+be begotten in a prison, where every misery is lodged and every
+doleful sound makes its dwelling? Tranquillity, a cheerful retreat,
+pleasant fields, bright skies, murmuring brooks, peace of mind,
+these are the things that go far to make even the most barren muses
+fertile, and bring into the world births that fill it with wonder
+and delight. Sometimes when a father has an ugly, loutish son, the
+love he bears him so blindfolds his eyes that he does not see his
+defects, or, rather, takes them for gifts and charms of mind and body,
+and talks of them to his friends as wit and grace. I, however- for
+though I pass for the father, I am but the stepfather to "Don
+Quixote"- have no desire to go with the current of custom, or to
+implore thee, dearest reader, almost with tears in my eyes, as
+others do, to pardon or excuse the defects thou wilt perceive in
+this child of mine. Thou art neither its kinsman nor its friend, thy
+soul is thine own and thy will as free as any man's, whate'er he be,
+thou art in thine own house and master of it as much as the king of
+his taxes and thou knowest the common saying, "Under my cloak I kill
+the king;" all which exempts and frees thee from every consideration
+and obligation, and thou canst say what thou wilt of the story without
+fear of being abused for any ill or rewarded for any good thou
+mayest say of it.
+
+My wish would be simply to present it to thee plain and unadorned,
+without any embellishment of preface or uncountable muster of
+customary sonnets, epigrams, and eulogies, such as are commonly put at
+the beginning of books. For I can tell thee, though composing it
+cost me some labour, I found none greater than the making of this
+Preface thou art now reading. Many times did I take up my pen to write
+it, and many did I lay it down again, not knowing what to write. One
+of these times, as I was pondering with the paper before me, a pen
+in my ear, my elbow on the desk, and my cheek in my hand, thinking
+of what I should say, there came in unexpectedly a certain lively,
+clever friend of mine, who, seeing me so deep in thought, asked the
+reason; to which I, making no mystery of it, answered that I was
+thinking of the Preface I had to make for the story of "Don
+Quixote," which so troubled me that I had a mind not to make any at
+all, nor even publish the achievements of so noble a knight.
+
+"For, how could you expect me not to feel uneasy about what that
+ancient lawgiver they call the Public will say when it sees me,
+after slumbering so many years in the silence of oblivion, coming
+out now with all my years upon my back, and with a book as dry as a
+rush, devoid of invention, meagre in style, poor in thoughts, wholly
+wanting in learning and wisdom, without quotations in the margin or
+annotations at the end, after the fashion of other books I see, which,
+though all fables and profanity, are so full of maxims from Aristotle,
+and Plato, and the whole herd of philosophers, that they fill the
+readers with amazement and convince them that the authors are men of
+learning, erudition, and eloquence. And then, when they quote the Holy
+Scriptures!- anyone would say they are St. Thomases or other doctors
+of the Church, observing as they do a decorum so ingenious that in one
+sentence they describe a distracted lover and in the next deliver a
+devout little sermon that it is a pleasure and a treat to hear and
+read. Of all this there will be nothing in my book, for I have nothing
+to quote in the margin or to note at the end, and still less do I know
+what authors I follow in it, to place them at the beginning, as all
+do, under the letters A, B, C, beginning with Aristotle and ending
+with Xenophon, or Zoilus, or Zeuxis, though one was a slanderer and
+the other a painter. Also my book must do without sonnets at the
+beginning, at least sonnets whose authors are dukes, marquises,
+counts, bishops, ladies, or famous poets. Though if I were to ask
+two or three obliging friends, I know they would give me them, and
+such as the productions of those that have the highest reputation in
+our Spain could not equal.
+
+"In short, my friend," I continued, "I am determined that Senor
+Don Quixote shall remain buried in the archives of his own La Mancha
+until Heaven provide some one to garnish him with all those things
+he stands in need of; because I find myself, through my shallowness
+and want of learning, unequal to supplying them, and because I am by
+nature shy and careless about hunting for authors to say what I myself
+can say without them. Hence the cogitation and abstraction you found
+me in, and reason enough, what you have heard from me."
+
+Hearing this, my friend, giving himself a slap on the forehead and
+breaking into a hearty laugh, exclaimed, "Before God, Brother, now
+am I disabused of an error in which I have been living all this long
+time I have known you, all through which I have taken you to be shrewd
+and sensible in all you do; but now I see you are as far from that
+as the heaven is from the earth. It is possible that things of so
+little moment and so easy to set right can occupy and perplex a ripe
+wit like yours, fit to break through and crush far greater
+obstacles? By my faith, this comes, not of any want of ability, but of
+too much indolence and too little knowledge of life. Do you want to
+know if I am telling the truth? Well, then, attend to me, and you will
+see how, in the opening and shutting of an eye, I sweep away all
+your difficulties, and supply all those deficiencies which you say
+check and discourage you from bringing before the world the story of
+your famous Don Quixote, the light and mirror of all knight-errantry."
+
+"Say on," said I, listening to his talk; "how do you propose to make
+up for my diffidence, and reduce to order this chaos of perplexity I
+am in?"
+
+To which he made answer, "Your first difficulty about the sonnets,
+epigrams, or complimentary verses which you want for the beginning,
+and which ought to be by persons of importance and rank, can be
+removed if you yourself take a little trouble to make them; you can
+afterwards baptise them, and put any name you like to them,
+fathering them on Prester John of the Indies or the Emperor of
+Trebizond, who, to my knowledge, were said to have been famous
+poets: and even if they were not, and any pedants or bachelors
+should attack you and question the fact, never care two maravedis
+for that, for even if they prove a lie against you they cannot cut off
+the hand you wrote it with.
+
+"As to references in the margin to the books and authors from whom
+you take the aphorisms and sayings you put into your story, it is only
+contriving to fit in nicely any sentences or scraps of Latin you may
+happen to have by heart, or at any rate that will not give you much
+trouble to look up; so as, when you speak of freedom and captivity, to
+insert
+
+ Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro;
+
+and then refer in the margin to Horace, or whoever said it; or, if you
+allude to the power of death, to come in with-
+
+ Pallida mors Aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,
+   Regumque turres.
+
+If it be friendship and the love God bids us bear to our enemy, go
+at once to the Holy Scriptures, which you can do with a very small
+amount of research, and quote no less than the words of God himself:
+Ego autem dico vobis: diligite inimicos vestros. If you speak of
+evil thoughts, turn to the Gospel: De corde exeunt cogitationes malae.
+If of the fickleness of friends, there is Cato, who will give you
+his distich:
+
+Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos,
+    Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.
+
+With these and such like bits of Latin they will take you for a
+grammarian at all events, and that now-a-days is no small honour and
+profit.
+
+"With regard to adding annotations at the end of the book, you may
+safely do it in this way. If you mention any giant in your book
+contrive that it shall be the giant Goliath, and with this alone,
+which will cost you almost nothing, you have a grand note, for you can
+put- The giant Golias or Goliath was a Philistine whom the shepherd
+David slew by a mighty stone-cast in the Terebinth valley, as is
+related in the Book of Kings- in the chapter where you find it
+written.
+
+"Next, to prove yourself a man of erudition in polite literature and
+cosmography, manage that the river Tagus shall be named in your story,
+and there you are at once with another famous annotation, setting
+forth- The river Tagus was so called after a King of Spain: it has its
+source in such and such a place and falls into the ocean, kissing
+the walls of the famous city of Lisbon, and it is a common belief that
+it has golden sands, &c. If you should have anything to do with
+robbers, I will give you the story of Cacus, for I have it by heart;
+if with loose women, there is the Bishop of Mondonedo, who will give
+you the loan of Lamia, Laida, and Flora, any reference to whom will
+bring you great credit; if with hard-hearted ones, Ovid will furnish
+you with Medea; if with witches or enchantresses, Homer has Calypso,
+and Virgil Circe; if with valiant captains, Julius Caesar himself will
+lend you himself in his own 'Commentaries,' and Plutarch will give you
+a thousand Alexanders. If you should deal with love, with two ounces
+you may know of Tuscan you can go to Leon the Hebrew, who will
+supply you to your heart's content; or if you should not care to go to
+foreign countries you have at home Fonseca's 'Of the Love of God,'
+in which is condensed all that you or the most imaginative mind can
+want on the subject. In short, all you have to do is to manage to
+quote these names, or refer to these stories I have mentioned, and
+leave it to me to insert the annotations and quotations, and I swear
+by all that's good to fill your margins and use up four sheets at
+the end of the book.
+
+"Now let us come to those references to authors which other books
+have, and you want for yours. The remedy for this is very simple:
+You have only to look out for some book that quotes them all, from A
+to Z as you say yourself, and then insert the very same alphabet in
+your book, and though the imposition may be plain to see, because
+you have so little need to borrow from them, that is no matter;
+there will probably be some simple enough to believe that you have
+made use of them all in this plain, artless story of yours. At any
+rate, if it answers no other purpose, this long catalogue of authors
+will serve to give a surprising look of authority to your book.
+Besides, no one will trouble himself to verify whether you have
+followed them or whether you have not, being no way concerned in it;
+especially as, if I mistake not, this book of yours has no need of any
+one of those things you say it wants, for it is, from beginning to
+end, an attack upon the books of chivalry, of which Aristotle never
+dreamt, nor St. Basil said a word, nor Cicero had any knowledge; nor
+do the niceties of truth nor the observations of astrology come within
+the range of its fanciful vagaries; nor have geometrical
+measurements or refutations of the arguments used in rhetoric anything
+to do with it; nor does it mean to preach to anybody, mixing up things
+human and divine, a sort of motley in which no Christian understanding
+should dress itself. It has only to avail itself of truth to nature in
+its composition, and the more perfect the imitation the better the
+work will be. And as this piece of yours aims at nothing more than
+to destroy the authority and influence which books of chivalry have in
+the world and with the public, there is no need for you to go
+a-begging for aphorisms from philosophers, precepts from Holy
+Scripture, fables from poets, speeches from orators, or miracles
+from saints; but merely to take care that your style and diction run
+musically, pleasantly, and plainly, with clear, proper, and
+well-placed words, setting forth your purpose to the best of your
+power, and putting your ideas intelligibly, without confusion or
+obscurity. Strive, too, that in reading your story the melancholy
+may be moved to laughter, and the merry made merrier still; that the
+simple shall not be wearied, that the judicious shall admire the
+invention, that the grave shall not despise it, nor the wise fail to
+praise it. Finally, keep your aim fixed on the destruction of that
+ill-founded edifice of the books of chivalry, hated by some and
+praised by many more; for if you succeed in this you will have
+achieved no small success."
+
+In profound silence I listened to what my friend said, and his
+observations made such an impression on me that, without attempting to
+question them, I admitted their soundness, and out of them I
+determined to make this Preface; wherein, gentle reader, thou wilt
+perceive my friend's good sense, my good fortune in finding such an
+adviser in such a time of need, and what thou hast gained in
+receiving, without addition or alteration, the story of the famous Don
+Quixote of La Mancha, who is held by all the inhabitants of the
+district of the Campo de Montiel to have been the chastest lover and
+the bravest knight that has for many years been seen in that
+neighbourhood. I have no desire to magnify the service I render thee
+in making thee acquainted with so renowned and honoured a knight,
+but I do desire thy thanks for the acquaintance thou wilt make with
+the famous Sancho Panza, his squire, in whom, to my thinking, I have
+given thee condensed all the squirely drolleries that are scattered
+through the swarm of the vain books of chivalry. And so- may God
+give thee health, and not forget me. Vale.
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION OF PART I
+
+TO THE DUKE OF BEJAR, MARQUIS OF GIBRALEON, COUNT OF BENALCAZAR
+AND BANARES, VICECOUNT OF THE PUEBLA DE ALCOCER, MASTER OF THE TOWNS
+OF CAPILLA, CURIEL AND BURGUILLOS
+
+
+In belief of the good reception and honours that Your Excellency
+bestows on all sort of books, as prince so inclined to favor good
+arts, chiefly those who by their nobleness do not submit to the
+service and bribery of the vulgar, I have determined bringing to light
+The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of la Mancha, in shelter of Your
+Excellency's glamorous name, to whom, with the obeisance I owe to such
+grandeur, I pray to receive it agreeably under his protection, so that
+in this shadow, though deprived of that precious ornament of
+elegance and erudition that clothe the works composed in the houses of
+those who know, it dares appear with assurance in the judgment of some
+who, trespassing the bounds of their own ignorance, use to condemn
+with more rigour and less justice the writings of others. It is my
+earnest hope that Your Excellency's good counsel in regard to my
+honourable purpose, will not disdain the littleness of so humble a
+service.
+
+Miguel de Cervantes
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN
+DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA
+
+In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to
+call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that
+keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a
+greyhound for coursing. An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a
+salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a
+pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his
+income. The rest of it went in a doublet of fine cloth and velvet
+breeches and shoes to match for holidays, while on week-days he made a
+brave figure in his best homespun. He had in his house a housekeeper
+past forty, a niece under twenty, and a lad for the field and
+market-place, who used to saddle the hack as well as handle the
+bill-hook. The age of this gentleman of ours was bordering on fifty;
+he was of a hardy habit, spare, gaunt-featured, a very early riser and
+a great sportsman. They will have it his surname was Quixada or
+Quesada (for here there is some difference of opinion among the
+authors who write on the subject), although from reasonable
+conjectures it seems plain that he was called Quexana. This,
+however, is of but little importance to our tale; it will be enough
+not to stray a hair's breadth from the truth in the telling of it.
+
+You must know, then, that the above-named gentleman whenever he
+was at leisure (which was mostly all the year round) gave himself up
+to reading books of chivalry with such ardour and avidity that he
+almost entirely neglected the pursuit of his field-sports, and even
+the management of his property; and to such a pitch did his
+eagerness and infatuation go that he sold many an acre of
+tillageland to buy books of chivalry to read, and brought home as many
+of them as he could get. But of all there were none he liked so well
+as those of the famous Feliciano de Silva's composition, for their
+lucidity of style and complicated conceits were as pearls in his
+sight, particularly when in his reading he came upon courtships and
+cartels, where he often found passages like "the reason of the
+unreason with which my reason is afflicted so weakens my reason that
+with reason I murmur at your beauty;" or again, "the high heavens,
+that of your divinity divinely fortify you with the stars, render
+you deserving of the desert your greatness deserves." Over conceits of
+this sort the poor gentleman lost his wits, and used to lie awake
+striving to understand them and worm the meaning out of them; what
+Aristotle himself could not have made out or extracted had he come
+to life again for that special purpose. He was not at all easy about
+the wounds which Don Belianis gave and took, because it seemed to
+him that, great as were the surgeons who had cured him, he must have
+had his face and body covered all over with seams and scars. He
+commended, however, the author's way of ending his book with the
+promise of that interminable adventure, and many a time was he tempted
+to take up his pen and finish it properly as is there proposed,
+which no doubt he would have done, and made a successful piece of work
+of it too, had not greater and more absorbing thoughts prevented him.
+
+Many an argument did he have with the curate of his village (a
+learned man, and a graduate of Siguenza) as to which had been the
+better knight, Palmerin of England or Amadis of Gaul. Master Nicholas,
+the village barber, however, used to say that neither of them came
+up to the Knight of Phoebus, and that if there was any that could
+compare with him it was Don Galaor, the brother of Amadis of Gaul,
+because he had a spirit that was equal to every occasion, and was no
+finikin knight, nor lachrymose like his brother, while in the matter
+of valour he was not a whit behind him. In short, he became so
+absorbed in his books that he spent his nights from sunset to sunrise,
+and his days from dawn to dark, poring over them; and what with little
+sleep and much reading his brains got so dry that he lost his wits.
+His fancy grew full of what he used to read about in his books,
+enchantments, quarrels, battles, challenges, wounds, wooings, loves,
+agonies, and all sorts of impossible nonsense; and it so possessed his
+mind that the whole fabric of invention and fancy he read of was true,
+that to him no history in the world had more reality in it. He used to
+say the Cid Ruy Diaz was a very good knight, but that he was not to be
+compared with the Knight of the Burning Sword who with one back-stroke
+cut in half two fierce and monstrous giants. He thought more of
+Bernardo del Carpio because at Roncesvalles he slew Roland in spite of
+enchantments, availing himself of the artifice of Hercules when he
+strangled Antaeus the son of Terra in his arms. He approved highly
+of the giant Morgante, because, although of the giant breed which is
+always arrogant and ill-conditioned, he alone was affable and
+well-bred. But above all he admired Reinaldos of Montalban, especially
+when he saw him sallying forth from his castle and robbing everyone he
+met, and when beyond the seas he stole that image of Mahomet which, as
+his history says, was entirely of gold. To have a bout of kicking at
+that traitor of a Ganelon he would have given his housekeeper, and his
+niece into the bargain.
+
+In short, his wits being quite gone, he hit upon the strangest
+notion that ever madman in this world hit upon, and that was that he
+fancied it was right and requisite, as well for the support of his own
+honour as for the service of his country, that he should make a
+knight-errant of himself, roaming the world over in full armour and on
+horseback in quest of adventures, and putting in practice himself
+all that he had read of as being the usual practices of
+knights-errant; righting every kind of wrong, and exposing himself
+to peril and danger from which, in the issue, he was to reap eternal
+renown and fame. Already the poor man saw himself crowned by the might
+of his arm Emperor of Trebizond at least; and so, led away by the
+intense enjoyment he found in these pleasant fancies, he set himself
+forthwith to put his scheme into execution.
+
+The first thing he did was to clean up some armour that had belonged
+to his great-grandfather, and had been for ages lying forgotten in a
+corner eaten with rust and covered with mildew. He scoured and
+polished it as best he could, but he perceived one great defect in it,
+that it had no closed helmet, nothing but a simple morion. This
+deficiency, however, his ingenuity supplied, for he contrived a kind
+of half-helmet of pasteboard which, fitted on to the morion, looked
+like a whole one. It is true that, in order to see if it was strong
+and fit to stand a cut, he drew his sword and gave it a couple of
+slashes, the first of which undid in an instant what had taken him a
+week to do. The ease with which he had knocked it to pieces
+disconcerted him somewhat, and to guard against that danger he set
+to work again, fixing bars of iron on the inside until he was
+satisfied with its strength; and then, not caring to try any more
+experiments with it, he passed it and adopted it as a helmet of the
+most perfect construction.
+
+He next proceeded to inspect his hack, which, with more quartos than
+a real and more blemishes than the steed of Gonela, that "tantum
+pellis et ossa fuit," surpassed in his eyes the Bucephalus of
+Alexander or the Babieca of the Cid. Four days were spent in
+thinking what name to give him, because (as he said to himself) it was
+not right that a horse belonging to a knight so famous, and one with
+such merits of his own, should be without some distinctive name, and
+he strove to adapt it so as to indicate what he had been before
+belonging to a knight-errant, and what he then was; for it was only
+reasonable that, his master taking a new character, he should take a
+new name, and that it should be a distinguished and full-sounding one,
+befitting the new order and calling he was about to follow. And so,
+after having composed, struck out, rejected, added to, unmade, and
+remade a multitude of names out of his memory and fancy, he decided
+upon calling him Rocinante, a name, to his thinking, lofty,
+sonorous, and significant of his condition as a hack before he
+became what he now was, the first and foremost of all the hacks in the
+world.
+
+Having got a name for his horse so much to his taste, he was anxious
+to get one for himself, and he was eight days more pondering over this
+point, till at last he made up his mind to call himself "Don Quixote,"
+whence, as has been already said, the authors of this veracious
+history have inferred that his name must have been beyond a doubt
+Quixada, and not Quesada as others would have it. Recollecting,
+however, that the valiant Amadis was not content to call himself
+curtly Amadis and nothing more, but added the name of his kingdom
+and country to make it famous, and called himself Amadis of Gaul,
+he, like a good knight, resolved to add on the name of his, and to
+style himself Don Quixote of La Mancha, whereby, he considered, he
+described accurately his origin and country, and did honour to it in
+taking his surname from it.
+
+So then, his armour being furbished, his morion turned into a
+helmet, his hack christened, and he himself confirmed, he came to
+the conclusion that nothing more was needed now but to look out for
+a lady to be in love with; for a knight-errant without love was like a
+tree without leaves or fruit, or a body without a soul. As he said
+to himself, "If, for my sins, or by my good fortune, I come across
+some giant hereabouts, a common occurrence with knights-errant, and
+overthrow him in one onslaught, or cleave him asunder to the waist,
+or, in short, vanquish and subdue him, will it not be well to have
+some one I may send him to as a present, that he may come in and
+fall on his knees before my sweet lady, and in a humble, submissive
+voice say, 'I am the giant Caraculiambro, lord of the island of
+Malindrania, vanquished in single combat by the never sufficiently
+extolled knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, who has commanded me to
+present myself before your Grace, that your Highness dispose of me
+at your pleasure'?" Oh, how our good gentleman enjoyed the delivery of
+this speech, especially when he had thought of some one to call his
+Lady! There was, so the story goes, in a village near his own a very
+good-looking farm-girl with whom he had been at one time in love,
+though, so far as is known, she never knew it nor gave a thought to
+the matter. Her name was Aldonza Lorenzo, and upon her he thought
+fit to confer the title of Lady of his Thoughts; and after some search
+for a name which should not be out of harmony with her own, and should
+suggest and indicate that of a princess and great lady, he decided
+upon calling her Dulcinea del Toboso -she being of El Toboso- a name,
+to his mind, musical, uncommon, and significant, like all those he had
+already bestowed upon himself and the things belonging to him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE FIRST SALLY THE INGENIOUS DON QUIXOTE MADE FROM HOME
+
+These preliminaries settled, he did not care to put off any longer
+the execution of his design, urged on to it by the thought of all
+the world was losing by his delay, seeing what wrongs he intended to
+right, grievances to redress, injustices to repair, abuses to
+remove, and duties to discharge. So, without giving notice of his
+intention to anyone, and without anybody seeing him, one morning
+before the dawning of the day (which was one of the hottest of the
+month of July) he donned his suit of armour, mounted Rocinante with
+his patched-up helmet on, braced his buckler, took his lance, and by
+the back door of the yard sallied forth upon the plain in the
+highest contentment and satisfaction at seeing with what ease he had
+made a beginning with his grand purpose. But scarcely did he find
+himself upon the open plain, when a terrible thought struck him, one
+all but enough to make him abandon the enterprise at the very
+outset. It occurred to him that he had not been dubbed a knight, and
+that according to the law of chivalry he neither could nor ought to
+bear arms against any knight; and that even if he had been, still he
+ought, as a novice knight, to wear white armour, without a device upon
+the shield until by his prowess he had earned one. These reflections
+made him waver in his purpose, but his craze being stronger than any
+reasoning, he made up his mind to have himself dubbed a knight by
+the first one he came across, following the example of others in the
+same case, as he had read in the books that brought him to this
+pass. As for white armour, he resolved, on the first opportunity, to
+scour his until it was whiter than an ermine; and so comforting
+himself he pursued his way, taking that which his horse chose, for
+in this he believed lay the essence of adventures.
+
+Thus setting out, our new-fledged adventurer paced along, talking to
+himself and saying, "Who knows but that in time to come, when the
+veracious history of my famous deeds is made known, the sage who
+writes it, when he has to set forth my first sally in the early
+morning, will do it after this fashion? 'Scarce had the rubicund
+Apollo spread o'er the face of the broad spacious earth the golden
+threads of his bright hair, scarce had the little birds of painted
+plumage attuned their notes to hail with dulcet and mellifluous
+harmony the coming of the rosy Dawn, that, deserting the soft couch of
+her jealous spouse, was appearing to mortals at the gates and
+balconies of the Manchegan horizon, when the renowned knight Don
+Quixote of La Mancha, quitting the lazy down, mounted his celebrated
+steed Rocinante and began to traverse the ancient and famous Campo
+de Montiel;'" which in fact he was actually traversing. "Happy the
+age, happy the time," he continued, "in which shall be made known my
+deeds of fame, worthy to be moulded in brass, carved in marble, limned
+in pictures, for a memorial for ever. And thou, O sage magician,
+whoever thou art, to whom it shall fall to be the chronicler of this
+wondrous history, forget not, I entreat thee, my good Rocinante, the
+constant companion of my ways and wanderings." Presently he broke
+out again, as if he were love-stricken in earnest, "O Princess
+Dulcinea, lady of this captive heart, a grievous wrong hast thou
+done me to drive me forth with scorn, and with inexorable obduracy
+banish me from the presence of thy beauty. O lady, deign to hold in
+remembrance this heart, thy vassal, that thus in anguish pines for
+love of thee."
+
+So he went on stringing together these and other absurdities, all in
+the style of those his books had taught him, imitating their
+language as well as he could; and all the while he rode so slowly
+and the sun mounted so rapidly and with such fervour that it was
+enough to melt his brains if he had any. Nearly all day he travelled
+without anything remarkable happening to him, at which he was in
+despair, for he was anxious to encounter some one at once upon whom to
+try the might of his strong arm.
+
+Writers there are who say the first adventure he met with was that
+of Puerto Lapice; others say it was that of the windmills; but what
+I have ascertained on this point, and what I have found written in the
+annals of La Mancha, is that he was on the road all day, and towards
+nightfall his hack and he found themselves dead tired and hungry,
+when, looking all around to see if he could discover any castle or
+shepherd's shanty where he might refresh himself and relieve his
+sore wants, he perceived not far out of his road an inn, which was
+as welcome as a star guiding him to the portals, if not the palaces,
+of his redemption; and quickening his pace he reached it just as night
+was setting in. At the door were standing two young women, girls of
+the district as they call them, on their way to Seville with some
+carriers who had chanced to halt that night at the inn; and as, happen
+what might to our adventurer, everything he saw or imaged seemed to
+him to be and to happen after the fashion of what he read of, the
+moment he saw the inn he pictured it to himself as a castle with its
+four turrets and pinnacles of shining silver, not forgetting the
+drawbridge and moat and all the belongings usually ascribed to castles
+of the sort. To this inn, which to him seemed a castle, he advanced,
+and at a short distance from it he checked Rocinante, hoping that some
+dwarf would show himself upon the battlements, and by sound of trumpet
+give notice that a knight was approaching the castle. But seeing
+that they were slow about it, and that Rocinante was in a hurry to
+reach the stable, he made for the inn door, and perceived the two
+gay damsels who were standing there, and who seemed to him to be two
+fair maidens or lovely ladies taking their ease at the castle gate.
+
+At this moment it so happened that a swineherd who was going through
+the stubbles collecting a drove of pigs (for, without any apology,
+that is what they are called) gave a blast of his horn to bring them
+together, and forthwith it seemed to Don Quixote to be what he was
+expecting, the signal of some dwarf announcing his arrival; and so
+with prodigious satisfaction he rode up to the inn and to the
+ladies, who, seeing a man of this sort approaching in full armour
+and with lance and buckler, were turning in dismay into the inn,
+when Don Quixote, guessing their fear by their flight, raising his
+pasteboard visor, disclosed his dry dusty visage, and with courteous
+bearing and gentle voice addressed them, "Your ladyships need not
+fly or fear any rudeness, for that it belongs not to the order of
+knighthood which I profess to offer to anyone, much less to highborn
+maidens as your appearance proclaims you to be." The girls were
+looking at him and straining their eyes to make out the features which
+the clumsy visor obscured, but when they heard themselves called
+maidens, a thing so much out of their line, they could not restrain
+their laughter, which made Don Quixote wax indignant, and say,
+"Modesty becomes the fair, and moreover laughter that has little cause
+is great silliness; this, however, I say not to pain or anger you, for
+my desire is none other than to serve you."
+
+The incomprehensible language and the unpromising looks of our
+cavalier only increased the ladies' laughter, and that increased his
+irritation, and matters might have gone farther if at that moment
+the landlord had not come out, who, being a very fat man, was a very
+peaceful one. He, seeing this grotesque figure clad in armour that did
+not match any more than his saddle, bridle, lance, buckler, or
+corselet, was not at all indisposed to join the damsels in their
+manifestations of amusement; but, in truth, standing in awe of such
+a complicated armament, he thought it best to speak him fairly, so
+he said, "Senor Caballero, if your worship wants lodging, bating the
+bed (for there is not one in the inn) there is plenty of everything
+else here." Don Quixote, observing the respectful bearing of the
+Alcaide of the fortress (for so innkeeper and inn seemed in his eyes),
+made answer, "Sir Castellan, for me anything will suffice, for
+
+'My armour is my only wear,
+My only rest the fray.'"
+
+The host fancied he called him Castellan because he took him for a
+"worthy of Castile," though he was in fact an Andalusian, and one from
+the strand of San Lucar, as crafty a thief as Cacus and as full of
+tricks as a student or a page. "In that case," said he,
+
+"'Your bed is on the flinty rock,
+Your sleep to watch alway;'
+
+and if so, you may dismount and safely reckon upon any quantity of
+sleeplessness under this roof for a twelvemonth, not to say for a
+single night." So saying, he advanced to hold the stirrup for Don
+Quixote, who got down with great difficulty and exertion (for he had
+not broken his fast all day), and then charged the host to take
+great care of his horse, as he was the best bit of flesh that ever ate
+bread in this world. The landlord eyed him over but did not find him
+as good as Don Quixote said, nor even half as good; and putting him up
+in the stable, he returned to see what might be wanted by his guest,
+whom the damsels, who had by this time made their peace with him, were
+now relieving of his armour. They had taken off his breastplate and
+backpiece, but they neither knew nor saw how to open his gorget or
+remove his make-shift helmet, for he had fastened it with green
+ribbons, which, as there was no untying the knots, required to be cut.
+This, however, he would not by any means consent to, so he remained
+all the evening with his helmet on, the drollest and oddest figure
+that can be imagined; and while they were removing his armour,
+taking the baggages who were about it for ladies of high degree
+belonging to the castle, he said to them with great sprightliness:
+
+Oh, never, surely, was there knight
+  So served by hand of dame,
+As served was he, Don Quixote hight,
+  When from his town he came;
+With maidens waiting on himself,
+  Princesses on his hack-
+
+-or Rocinante, for that, ladies mine, is my horse's name, and Don
+Quixote of La Mancha is my own; for though I had no intention of
+declaring myself until my achievements in your service and honour
+had made me known, the necessity of adapting that old ballad of
+Lancelot to the present occasion has given you the knowledge of my
+name altogether prematurely. A time, however, will come for your
+ladyships to command and me to obey, and then the might of my arm will
+show my desire to serve you."
+
+The girls, who were not used to hearing rhetoric of this sort, had
+nothing to say in reply; they only asked him if he wanted anything
+to eat. "I would gladly eat a bit of something," said Don Quixote,
+"for I feel it would come very seasonably." The day happened to be a
+Friday, and in the whole inn there was nothing but some pieces of
+the fish they call in Castile "abadejo," in Andalusia "bacallao,"
+and in some places "curadillo," and in others "troutlet;" so they
+asked him if he thought he could eat troutlet, for there was no
+other fish to give him. "If there be troutlets enough," said Don
+Quixote, "they will be the same thing as a trout; for it is all one to
+me whether I am given eight reals in small change or a piece of eight;
+moreover, it may be that these troutlets are like veal, which is
+better than beef, or kid, which is better than goat. But whatever it
+be let it come quickly, for the burden and pressure of arms cannot
+be borne without support to the inside." They laid a table for him
+at the door of the inn for the sake of the air, and the host brought
+him a portion of ill-soaked and worse cooked stockfish, and a piece of
+bread as black and mouldy as his own armour; but a laughable sight
+it was to see him eating, for having his helmet on and the beaver
+up, he could not with his own hands put anything into his mouth unless
+some one else placed it there, and this service one of the ladies
+rendered him. But to give him anything to drink was impossible, or
+would have been so had not the landlord bored a reed, and putting
+one end in his mouth poured the wine into him through the other; all
+which he bore with patience rather than sever the ribbons of his
+helmet.
+
+While this was going on there came up to the inn a sowgelder, who,
+as he approached, sounded his reed pipe four or five times, and
+thereby completely convinced Don Quixote that he was in some famous
+castle, and that they were regaling him with music, and that the
+stockfish was trout, the bread the whitest, the wenches ladies, and
+the landlord the castellan of the castle; and consequently he held
+that his enterprise and sally had been to some purpose. But still it
+distressed him to think he had not been dubbed a knight, for it was
+plain to him he could not lawfully engage in any adventure without
+receiving the order of knighthood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WHEREIN IS RELATED THE DROLL WAY IN WHICH DON QUIXOTE HAD HIMSELF
+DUBBED A KNIGHT
+
+Harassed by this reflection, he made haste with his scanty
+pothouse supper, and having finished it called the landlord, and
+shutting himself into the stable with him, fell on his knees before
+him, saying, "From this spot I rise not, valiant knight, until your
+courtesy grants me the boon I seek, one that will redound to your
+praise and the benefit of the human race." The landlord, seeing his
+guest at his feet and hearing a speech of this kind, stood staring
+at him in bewilderment, not knowing what to do or say, and
+entreating him to rise, but all to no purpose until he had agreed to
+grant the boon demanded of him. "I looked for no less, my lord, from
+your High Magnificence," replied Don Quixote, "and I have to tell
+you that the boon I have asked and your liberality has granted is that
+you shall dub me knight to-morrow morning, and that to-night I shall
+watch my arms in the chapel of this your castle; thus tomorrow, as I
+have said, will be accomplished what I so much desire, enabling me
+lawfully to roam through all the four quarters of the world seeking
+adventures on behalf of those in distress, as is the duty of
+chivalry and of knights-errant like myself, whose ambition is directed
+to such deeds."
+
+The landlord, who, as has been mentioned, was something of a wag,
+and had already some suspicion of his guest's want of wits, was
+quite convinced of it on hearing talk of this kind from him, and to
+make sport for the night he determined to fall in with his humour.
+So he told him he was quite right in pursuing the object he had in
+view, and that such a motive was natural and becoming in cavaliers
+as distinguished as he seemed and his gallant bearing showed him to
+be; and that he himself in his younger days had followed the same
+honourable calling, roaming in quest of adventures in various parts of
+the world, among others the Curing-grounds of Malaga, the Isles of
+Riaran, the Precinct of Seville, the Little Market of Segovia, the
+Olivera of Valencia, the Rondilla of Granada, the Strand of San Lucar,
+the Colt of Cordova, the Taverns of Toledo, and divers other quarters,
+where he had proved the nimbleness of his feet and the lightness of
+his fingers, doing many wrongs, cheating many widows, ruining maids
+and swindling minors, and, in short, bringing himself under the notice
+of almost every tribunal and court of justice in Spain; until at
+last he had retired to this castle of his, where he was living upon
+his property and upon that of others; and where he received all
+knights-errant of whatever rank or condition they might be, all for
+the great love he bore them and that they might share their
+substance with him in return for his benevolence. He told him,
+moreover, that in this castle of his there was no chapel in which he
+could watch his armour, as it had been pulled down in order to be
+rebuilt, but that in a case of necessity it might, he knew, be watched
+anywhere, and he might watch it that night in a courtyard of the
+castle, and in the morning, God willing, the requisite ceremonies
+might be performed so as to have him dubbed a knight, and so
+thoroughly dubbed that nobody could be more so. He asked if he had any
+money with him, to which Don Quixote replied that he had not a
+farthing, as in the histories of knights-errant he had never read of
+any of them carrying any. On this point the landlord told him he was
+mistaken; for, though not recorded in the histories, because in the
+author's opinion there was no need to mention anything so obvious
+and necessary as money and clean shirts, it was not to be supposed
+therefore that they did not carry them, and he might regard it as
+certain and established that all knights-errant (about whom there were
+so many full and unimpeachable books) carried well-furnished purses in
+case of emergency, and likewise carried shirts and a little box of
+ointment to cure the wounds they received. For in those plains and
+deserts where they engaged in combat and came out wounded, it was
+not always that there was some one to cure them, unless indeed they
+had for a friend some sage magician to succour them at once by
+fetching through the air upon a cloud some damsel or dwarf with a vial
+of water of such virtue that by tasting one drop of it they were cured
+of their hurts and wounds in an instant and left as sound as if they
+had not received any damage whatever. But in case this should not
+occur, the knights of old took care to see that their squires were
+provided with money and other requisites, such as lint and ointments
+for healing purposes; and when it happened that knights had no squires
+(which was rarely and seldom the case) they themselves carried
+everything in cunning saddle-bags that were hardly seen on the horse's
+croup, as if it were something else of more importance, because,
+unless for some such reason, carrying saddle-bags was not very
+favourably regarded among knights-errant. He therefore advised him
+(and, as his godson so soon to be, he might even command him) never
+from that time forth to travel without money and the usual
+requirements, and he would find the advantage of them when he least
+expected it.
+
+Don Quixote promised to follow his advice scrupulously, and it was
+arranged forthwith that he should watch his armour in a large yard
+at one side of the inn; so, collecting it all together, Don Quixote
+placed it on a trough that stood by the side of a well, and bracing
+his buckler on his arm he grasped his lance and began with a stately
+air to march up and down in front of the trough, and as he began his
+march night began to fall.
+
+The landlord told all the people who were in the inn about the craze
+of his guest, the watching of the armour, and the dubbing ceremony
+he contemplated. Full of wonder at so strange a form of madness,
+they flocked to see it from a distance, and observed with what
+composure he sometimes paced up and down, or sometimes, leaning on his
+lance, gazed on his armour without taking his eyes off it for ever
+so long; and as the night closed in with a light from the moon so
+brilliant that it might vie with his that lent it, everything the
+novice knight did was plainly seen by all.
+
+Meanwhile one of the carriers who were in the inn thought fit to
+water his team, and it was necessary to remove Don Quixote's armour as
+it lay on the trough; but he seeing the other approach hailed him in a
+loud voice, "O thou, whoever thou art, rash knight that comest to
+lay hands on the armour of the most valorous errant that ever girt
+on sword, have a care what thou dost; touch it not unless thou wouldst
+lay down thy life as the penalty of thy rashness." The carrier gave no
+heed to these words (and he would have done better to heed them if
+he had been heedful of his health), but seizing it by the straps flung
+the armour some distance from him. Seeing this, Don Quixote raised his
+eyes to heaven, and fixing his thoughts, apparently, upon his lady
+Dulcinea, exclaimed, "Aid me, lady mine, in this the first encounter
+that presents itself to this breast which thou holdest in subjection;
+let not thy favour and protection fail me in this first jeopardy;"
+and, with these words and others to the same purpose, dropping his
+buckler he lifted his lance with both hands and with it smote such a
+blow on the carrier's head that he stretched him on the ground, so
+stunned that had he followed it up with a second there would have been
+no need of a surgeon to cure him. This done, he picked up his armour
+and returned to his beat with the same serenity as before.
+
+Shortly after this, another, not knowing what had happened (for
+the carrier still lay senseless), came with the same object of
+giving water to his mules, and was proceeding to remove the armour
+in order to clear the trough, when Don Quixote, without uttering a
+word or imploring aid from anyone, once more dropped his buckler and
+once more lifted his lance, and without actually breaking the second
+carrier's head into pieces, made more than three of it, for he laid it
+open in four. At the noise all the people of the inn ran to the
+spot, and among them the landlord. Seeing this, Don Quixote braced his
+buckler on his arm, and with his hand on his sword exclaimed, "O
+Lady of Beauty, strength and support of my faint heart, it is time for
+thee to turn the eyes of thy greatness on this thy captive knight on
+the brink of so mighty an adventure." By this he felt himself so
+inspired that he would not have flinched if all the carriers in the
+world had assailed him. The comrades of the wounded perceiving the
+plight they were in began from a distance to shower stones on Don
+Quixote, who screened himself as best he could with his buckler, not
+daring to quit the trough and leave his armour unprotected. The
+landlord shouted to them to leave him alone, for he had already told
+them that he was mad, and as a madman he would not be accountable even
+if he killed them all. Still louder shouted Don Quixote, calling
+them knaves and traitors, and the lord of the castle, who allowed
+knights-errant to be treated in this fashion, a villain and a low-born
+knight whom, had he received the order of knighthood, he would call to
+account for his treachery. "But of you," he cried, "base and vile
+rabble, I make no account; fling, strike, come on, do all ye can
+against me, ye shall see what the reward of your folly and insolence
+will be." This he uttered with so much spirit and boldness that he
+filled his assailants with a terrible fear, and as much for this
+reason as at the persuasion of the landlord they left off stoning him,
+and he allowed them to carry off the wounded, and with the same
+calmness and composure as before resumed the watch over his armour.
+
+But these freaks of his guest were not much to the liking of the
+landlord, so he determined to cut matters short and confer upon him at
+once the unlucky order of knighthood before any further misadventure
+could occur; so, going up to him, he apologised for the rudeness
+which, without his knowledge, had been offered to him by these low
+people, who, however, had been well punished for their audacity. As he
+had already told him, he said, there was no chapel in the castle,
+nor was it needed for what remained to be done, for, as he
+understood the ceremonial of the order, the whole point of being
+dubbed a knight lay in the accolade and in the slap on the shoulder,
+and that could be administered in the middle of a field; and that he
+had now done all that was needful as to watching the armour, for all
+requirements were satisfied by a watch of two hours only, while he had
+been more than four about it. Don Quixote believed it all, and told
+him he stood there ready to obey him, and to make an end of it with as
+much despatch as possible; for, if he were again attacked, and felt
+himself to be dubbed knight, he would not, he thought, leave a soul
+alive in the castle, except such as out of respect he might spare at
+his bidding.
+
+Thus warned and menaced, the castellan forthwith brought out a
+book in which he used to enter the straw and barley he served out to
+the carriers, and, with a lad carrying a candle-end, and the two
+damsels already mentioned, he returned to where Don Quixote stood, and
+bade him kneel down. Then, reading from his account-book as if he were
+repeating some devout prayer, in the middle of his delivery he
+raised his hand and gave him a sturdy blow on the neck, and then, with
+his own sword, a smart slap on the shoulder, all the while muttering
+between his teeth as if he was saying his prayers. Having done this,
+he directed one of the ladies to gird on his sword, which she did with
+great self-possession and gravity, and not a little was required to
+prevent a burst of laughter at each stage of the ceremony; but what
+they had already seen of the novice knight's prowess kept their
+laughter within bounds. On girding him with the sword the worthy
+lady said to him, "May God make your worship a very fortunate
+knight, and grant you success in battle." Don Quixote asked her name
+in order that he might from that time forward know to whom he was
+beholden for the favour he had received, as he meant to confer upon
+her some portion of the honour he acquired by the might of his arm.
+She answered with great humility that she was called La Tolosa, and
+that she was the daughter of a cobbler of Toledo who lived in the
+stalls of Sanchobienaya, and that wherever she might be she would
+serve and esteem him as her lord. Don Quixote said in reply that she
+would do him a favour if thenceforward she assumed the "Don" and
+called herself Dona Tolosa. She promised she would, and then the other
+buckled on his spur, and with her followed almost the same
+conversation as with the lady of the sword. He asked her name, and she
+said it was La Molinera, and that she was the daughter of a
+respectable miller of Antequera; and of her likewise Don Quixote
+requested that she would adopt the "Don" and call herself Dona
+Molinera, making offers to her further services and favours.
+
+Having thus, with hot haste and speed, brought to a conclusion these
+never-till-now-seen ceremonies, Don Quixote was on thorns until he saw
+himself on horseback sallying forth in quest of adventures; and
+saddling Rocinante at once he mounted, and embracing his host, as he
+returned thanks for his kindness in knighting him, he addressed him in
+language so extraordinary that it is impossible to convey an idea of
+it or report it. The landlord, to get him out of the inn, replied with
+no less rhetoric though with shorter words, and without calling upon
+him to pay the reckoning let him go with a Godspeed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+OF WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR KNIGHT WHEN HE LEFT THE INN
+
+Day was dawning when Don Quixote quitted the inn, so happy, so
+gay, so exhilarated at finding himself now dubbed a knight, that his
+joy was like to burst his horse-girths. However, recalling the
+advice of his host as to the requisites he ought to carry with him,
+especially that referring to money and shirts, he determined to go
+home and provide himself with all, and also with a squire, for he
+reckoned upon securing a farm-labourer, a neighbour of his, a poor man
+with a family, but very well qualified for the office of squire to a
+knight. With this object he turned his horse's head towards his
+village, and Rocinante, thus reminded of his old quarters, stepped out
+so briskly that he hardly seemed to tread the earth.
+
+He had not gone far, when out of a thicket on his right there seemed
+to come feeble cries as of some one in distress, and the instant he
+heard them he exclaimed, "Thanks be to heaven for the favour it
+accords me, that it so soon offers me an opportunity of fulfilling the
+obligation I have undertaken, and gathering the fruit of my
+ambition. These cries, no doubt, come from some man or woman in want
+of help, and needing my aid and protection;" and wheeling, he turned
+Rocinante in the direction whence the cries seemed to proceed. He
+had gone but a few paces into the wood, when he saw a mare tied to
+an oak, and tied to another, and stripped from the waist upwards, a
+youth of about fifteen years of age, from whom the cries came. Nor
+were they without cause, for a lusty farmer was flogging him with a
+belt and following up every blow with scoldings and commands,
+repeating, "Your mouth shut and your eyes open!" while the youth
+made answer, "I won't do it again, master mine; by God's passion I
+won't do it again, and I'll take more care of the flock another time."
+
+Seeing what was going on, Don Quixote said in an angry voice,
+"Discourteous knight, it ill becomes you to assail one who cannot
+defend himself; mount your steed and take your lance" (for there was a
+lance leaning against the oak to which the mare was tied), "and I will
+make you know that you are behaving as a coward." The farmer, seeing
+before him this figure in full armour brandishing a lance over his
+head, gave himself up for dead, and made answer meekly, "Sir Knight,
+this youth that I am chastising is my servant, employed by me to watch
+a flock of sheep that I have hard by, and he is so careless that I
+lose one every day, and when I punish him for his carelessness and
+knavery he says I do it out of niggardliness, to escape paying him the
+wages I owe him, and before God, and on my soul, he lies."
+
+"Lies before me, base clown!" said Don Quixote. "By the sun that
+shines on us I have a mind to run you through with this lance. Pay him
+at once without another word; if not, by the God that rules us I
+will make an end of you, and annihilate you on the spot; release him
+instantly."
+
+The farmer hung his head, and without a word untied his servant,
+of whom Don Quixote asked how much his master owed him.
+
+He replied, nine months at seven reals a month. Don Quixote added it
+up, found that it came to sixty-three reals, and told the farmer to
+pay it down immediately, if he did not want to die for it.
+
+The trembling clown replied that as he lived and by the oath he
+had sworn (though he had not sworn any) it was not so much; for
+there were to be taken into account and deducted three pairs of
+shoes he had given him, and a real for two blood-lettings when he
+was sick.
+
+"All that is very well," said Don Quixote; "but let the shoes and
+the blood-lettings stand as a setoff against the blows you have
+given him without any cause; for if he spoiled the leather of the
+shoes you paid for, you have damaged that of his body, and if the
+barber took blood from him when he was sick, you have drawn it when he
+was sound; so on that score he owes you nothing."
+
+"The difficulty is, Sir Knight, that I have no money here; let
+Andres come home with me, and I will pay him all, real by real."
+
+"I go with him!" said the youth. "Nay, God forbid! No, senor, not
+for the world; for once alone with me, he would ray me like a Saint
+Bartholomew."
+
+"He will do nothing of the kind," said Don Quixote; "I have only
+to command, and he will obey me; and as he has sworn to me by the
+order of knighthood which he has received, I leave him free, and I
+guarantee the payment."
+
+"Consider what you are saying, senor," said the youth; "this
+master of mine is not a knight, nor has he received any order of
+knighthood; for he is Juan Haldudo the Rich, of Quintanar."
+
+"That matters little," replied Don Quixote; "there may be Haldudos
+knights; moreover, everyone is the son of his works."
+
+"That is true," said Andres; "but this master of mine- of what works
+is he the son, when he refuses me the wages of my sweat and labour?"
+
+"I do not refuse, brother Andres," said the farmer, "be good
+enough to come along with me, and I swear by all the orders of
+knighthood there are in the world to pay you as I have agreed, real by
+real, and perfumed."
+
+"For the perfumery I excuse you," said Don Quixote; "give it to
+him in reals, and I shall be satisfied; and see that you do as you
+have sworn; if not, by the same oath I swear to come back and hunt you
+out and punish you; and I shall find you though you should lie
+closer than a lizard. And if you desire to know who it is lays this
+command upon you, that you be more firmly bound to obey it, know
+that I am the valorous Don Quixote of La Mancha, the undoer of
+wrongs and injustices; and so, God be with you, and keep in mind
+what you have promised and sworn under those penalties that have
+been already declared to you."
+
+So saying, he gave Rocinante the spur and was soon out of reach. The
+farmer followed him with his eyes, and when he saw that he had cleared
+the wood and was no longer in sight, he turned to his boy Andres,
+and said, "Come here, my son, I want to pay you what I owe you, as
+that undoer of wrongs has commanded me."
+
+"My oath on it," said Andres, "your worship will be well advised
+to obey the command of that good knight- may he live a thousand years-
+for, as he is a valiant and just judge, by Roque, if you do not pay
+me, he will come back and do as he said."
+
+"My oath on it, too," said the farmer; "but as I have a strong
+affection for you, I want to add to the debt in order to add to the
+payment;" and seizing him by the arm, he tied him up again, and gave
+him such a flogging that he left him for dead.
+
+"Now, Master Andres," said the farmer, "call on the undoer of
+wrongs; you will find he won't undo that, though I am not sure that
+I have quite done with you, for I have a good mind to flay you alive."
+But at last he untied him, and gave him leave to go look for his judge
+in order to put the sentence pronounced into execution.
+
+Andres went off rather down in the mouth, swearing he would go to
+look for the valiant Don Quixote of La Mancha and tell him exactly
+what had happened, and that all would have to be repaid him sevenfold;
+but for all that, he went off weeping, while his master stood
+laughing.
+
+Thus did the valiant Don Quixote right that wrong, and, thoroughly
+satisfied with what had taken place, as he considered he had made a
+very happy and noble beginning with his knighthood, he took the road
+towards his village in perfect self-content, saying in a low voice,
+"Well mayest thou this day call thyself fortunate above all on
+earth, O Dulcinea del Toboso, fairest of the fair! since it has fallen
+to thy lot to hold subject and submissive to thy full will and
+pleasure a knight so renowned as is and will be Don Quixote of La
+Mancha, who, as all the world knows, yesterday received the order of
+knighthood, and hath to-day righted the greatest wrong and grievance
+that ever injustice conceived and cruelty perpetrated: who hath to-day
+plucked the rod from the hand of yonder ruthless oppressor so wantonly
+lashing that tender child."
+
+He now came to a road branching in four directions, and
+immediately he was reminded of those cross-roads where
+knights-errant used to stop to consider which road they should take.
+In imitation of them he halted for a while, and after having deeply
+considered it, he gave Rocinante his head, submitting his own will
+to that of his hack, who followed out his first intention, which was
+to make straight for his own stable. After he had gone about two miles
+Don Quixote perceived a large party of people, who, as afterwards
+appeared, were some Toledo traders, on their way to buy silk at
+Murcia. There were six of them coming along under their sunshades,
+with four servants mounted, and three muleteers on foot. Scarcely
+had Don Quixote descried them when the fancy possessed him that this
+must be some new adventure; and to help him to imitate as far as he
+could those passages he had read of in his books, here seemed to
+come one made on purpose, which he resolved to attempt. So with a
+lofty bearing and determination he fixed himself firmly in his
+stirrups, got his lance ready, brought his buckler before his
+breast, and planting himself in the middle of the road, stood
+waiting the approach of these knights-errant, for such he now
+considered and held them to be; and when they had come near enough
+to see and hear, he exclaimed with a haughty gesture, "All the world
+stand, unless all the world confess that in all the world there is
+no maiden fairer than the Empress of La Mancha, the peerless
+Dulcinea del Toboso."
+
+The traders halted at the sound of this language and the sight of
+the strange figure that uttered it, and from both figure and
+language at once guessed the craze of their owner; they wished,
+however, to learn quietly what was the object of this confession
+that was demanded of them, and one of them, who was rather fond of a
+joke and was very sharp-witted, said to him, "Sir Knight, we do not
+know who this good lady is that you speak of; show her to us, for,
+if she be of such beauty as you suggest, with all our hearts and
+without any pressure we will confess the truth that is on your part
+required of us."
+
+"If I were to show her to you," replied Don Quixote, "what merit
+would you have in confessing a truth so manifest? The essential
+point is that without seeing her you must believe, confess, affirm,
+swear, and defend it; else ye have to do with me in battle,
+ill-conditioned, arrogant rabble that ye are; and come ye on, one by
+one as the order of knighthood requires, or all together as is the
+custom and vile usage of your breed, here do I bide and await you
+relying on the justice of the cause I maintain."
+
+"Sir Knight," replied the trader, "I entreat your worship in the
+name of this present company of princes, that, to save us from
+charging our consciences with the confession of a thing we have
+never seen or heard of, and one moreover so much to the prejudice of
+the Empresses and Queens of the Alcarria and Estremadura, your worship
+will be pleased to show us some portrait of this lady, though it be no
+bigger than a grain of wheat; for by the thread one gets at the
+ball, and in this way we shall be satisfied and easy, and you will
+be content and pleased; nay, I believe we are already so far agreed
+with you that even though her portrait should show her blind of one
+eye, and distilling vermilion and sulphur from the other, we would
+nevertheless, to gratify your worship, say all in her favour that
+you desire."
+
+"She distils nothing of the kind, vile rabble," said Don Quixote,
+burning with rage, "nothing of the kind, I say, only ambergris and
+civet in cotton; nor is she one-eyed or humpbacked, but straighter
+than a Guadarrama spindle: but ye must pay for the blasphemy ye have
+uttered against beauty like that of my lady."
+
+And so saying, he charged with levelled lance against the one who
+had spoken, with such fury and fierceness that, if luck had not
+contrived that Rocinante should stumble midway and come down, it would
+have gone hard with the rash trader. Down went Rocinante, and over
+went his master, rolling along the ground for some distance; and
+when he tried to rise he was unable, so encumbered was he with
+lance, buckler, spurs, helmet, and the weight of his old armour; and
+all the while he was struggling to get up he kept saying, "Fly not,
+cowards and caitiffs! stay, for not by my fault, but my horse's, am
+I stretched here."
+
+One of the muleteers in attendance, who could not have had much good
+nature in him, hearing the poor prostrate man blustering in this
+style, was unable to refrain from giving him an answer on his ribs;
+and coming up to him he seized his lance, and having broken it in
+pieces, with one of them he began so to belabour our Don Quixote that,
+notwithstanding and in spite of his armour, he milled him like a
+measure of wheat. His masters called out not to lay on so hard and
+to leave him alone, but the muleteers blood was up, and he did not
+care to drop the game until he had vented the rest of his wrath, and
+gathering up the remaining fragments of the lance he finished with a
+discharge upon the unhappy victim, who all through the storm of sticks
+that rained on him never ceased threatening heaven, and earth, and the
+brigands, for such they seemed to him. At last the muleteer was tired,
+and the traders continued their journey, taking with them matter for
+talk about the poor fellow who had been cudgelled. He when he found
+himself alone made another effort to rise; but if he was unable when
+whole and sound, how was he to rise after having been thrashed and
+well-nigh knocked to pieces? And yet he esteemed himself fortunate, as
+it seemed to him that this was a regular knight-errant's mishap, and
+entirely, he considered, the fault of his horse. However, battered
+in body as he was, to rise was beyond his power.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IN WHICH THE NARRATIVE OF OUR KNIGHT'S MISHAP IS CONTINUED
+
+Finding, then, that, in fact he could not move, he thought himself
+of having recourse to his usual remedy, which was to think of some
+passage in his books, and his craze brought to his mind that about
+Baldwin and the Marquis of Mantua, when Carloto left him wounded on
+the mountain side, a story known by heart by the children, not
+forgotten by the young men, and lauded and even believed by the old
+folk; and for all that not a whit truer than the miracles of
+Mahomet. This seemed to him to fit exactly the case in which he
+found himself, so, making a show of severe suffering, he began to roll
+on the ground and with feeble breath repeat the very words which the
+wounded knight of the wood is said to have uttered:
+
+Where art thou, lady mine, that thou
+  My sorrow dost not rue?
+Thou canst not know it, lady mine,
+  Or else thou art untrue.
+
+And so he went on with the ballad as far as the lines:
+
+O noble Marquis of Mantua,
+  My Uncle and liege lord!
+
+
+As chance would have it, when he had got to this line there happened
+to come by a peasant from his own village, a neighbour of his, who had
+been with a load of wheat to the mill, and he, seeing the man
+stretched there, came up to him and asked him who he was and what
+was the matter with him that he complained so dolefully.
+
+Don Quixote was firmly persuaded that this was the Marquis of
+Mantua, his uncle, so the only answer he made was to go on with his
+ballad, in which he told the tale of his misfortune, and of the
+loves of the Emperor's son and his wife all exactly as the ballad
+sings it.
+
+The peasant stood amazed at hearing such nonsense, and relieving him
+of the visor, already battered to pieces by blows, he wiped his
+face, which was covered with dust, and as soon as he had done so he
+recognised him and said, "Senor Quixada" (for so he appears to have
+been called when he was in his senses and had not yet changed from a
+quiet country gentleman into a knight-errant), "who has brought your
+worship to this pass?" But to all questions the other only went on
+with his ballad.
+
+Seeing this, the good man removed as well as he could his
+breastplate and backpiece to see if he had any wound, but he could
+perceive no blood nor any mark whatever. He then contrived to raise
+him from the ground, and with no little difficulty hoisted him upon
+his ass, which seemed to him to be the easiest mount for him; and
+collecting the arms, even to the splinters of the lance, he tied
+them on Rocinante, and leading him by the bridle and the ass by the
+halter he took the road for the village, very sad to hear what
+absurd stuff Don Quixote was talking. Nor was Don Quixote less so, for
+what with blows and bruises he could not sit upright on the ass, and
+from time to time he sent up sighs to heaven, so that once more he
+drove the peasant to ask what ailed him. And it could have been only
+the devil himself that put into his head tales to match his own
+adventures, for now, forgetting Baldwin, he bethought himself of the
+Moor Abindarraez, when the Alcaide of Antequera, Rodrigo de Narvaez,
+took him prisoner and carried him away to his castle; so that when the
+peasant again asked him how he was and what ailed him, he gave him for
+reply the same words and phrases that the captive Abindarraez gave
+to Rodrigo de Narvaez, just as he had read the story in the "Diana" of
+Jorge de Montemayor where it is written, applying it to his own case
+so aptly that the peasant went along cursing his fate that he had to
+listen to such a lot of nonsense; from which, however, he came to
+the conclusion that his neighbour was mad, and so made all haste to
+reach the village to escape the wearisomeness of this harangue of
+Don Quixote's; who, at the end of it, said, "Senor Don Rodrigo de
+Narvaez, your worship must know that this fair Xarifa I have mentioned
+is now the lovely Dulcinea del Toboso, for whom I have done, am doing,
+and will do the most famous deeds of chivalry that in this world
+have been seen, are to be seen, or ever shall be seen."
+
+To this the peasant answered, "Senor- sinner that I am!- cannot your
+worship see that I am not Don Rodrigo de Narvaez nor the Marquis of
+Mantua, but Pedro Alonso your neighbour, and that your worship is
+neither Baldwin nor Abindarraez, but the worthy gentleman Senor
+Quixada?"
+
+"I know who I am," replied Don Quixote, "and I know that I may be
+not only those I have named, but all the Twelve Peers of France and
+even all the Nine Worthies, since my achievements surpass all that
+they have done all together and each of them on his own account."
+
+With this talk and more of the same kind they reached the village
+just as night was beginning to fall, but the peasant waited until it
+was a little later that the belaboured gentleman might not be seen
+riding in such a miserable trim. When it was what seemed to him the
+proper time he entered the village and went to Don Quixote's house,
+which he found all in confusion, and there were the curate and the
+village barber, who were great friends of Don Quixote, and his
+housekeeper was saying to them in a loud voice, "What does your
+worship think can have befallen my master, Senor Licentiate Pero
+Perez?" for so the curate was called; "it is three days now since
+anything has been seen of him, or the hack, or the buckler, lance,
+or armour. Miserable me! I am certain of it, and it is as true as that
+I was born to die, that these accursed books of chivalry he has, and
+has got into the way of reading so constantly, have upset his
+reason; for now I remember having often heard him saying to himself
+that he would turn knight-errant and go all over the world in quest of
+adventures. To the devil and Barabbas with such books, that have
+brought to ruin in this way the finest understanding there was in
+all La Mancha!"
+
+The niece said the same, and, more: "You must know, Master
+Nicholas"- for that was the name of the barber- "it was often my
+uncle's way to stay two days and nights together poring over these
+unholy books of misventures, after which he would fling the book
+away and snatch up his sword and fall to slashing the walls; and
+when he was tired out he would say he had killed four giants like four
+towers; and the sweat that flowed from him when he was weary he said
+was the blood of the wounds he had received in battle; and then he
+would drink a great jug of cold water and become calm and quiet,
+saying that this water was a most precious potion which the sage
+Esquife, a great magician and friend of his, had brought him. But I
+take all the blame upon myself for never having told your worships
+of my uncle's vagaries, that you might put a stop to them before
+things had come to this pass, and burn all these accursed books- for
+he has a great number- that richly deserve to be burned like
+heretics."
+
+"So say I too," said the curate, "and by my faith to-morrow shall
+not pass without public judgment upon them, and may they be
+condemned to the flames lest they lead those that read to behave as my
+good friend seems to have behaved."
+
+All this the peasant heard, and from it he understood at last what
+was the matter with his neighbour, so he began calling aloud, "Open,
+your worships, to Senor Baldwin and to Senor the Marquis of Mantua,
+who comes badly wounded, and to Senor Abindarraez, the Moor, whom
+the valiant Rodrigo de Narvaez, the Alcaide of Antequera, brings
+captive."
+
+At these words they all hurried out, and when they recognised
+their friend, master, and uncle, who had not yet dismounted from the
+ass because he could not, they ran to embrace him.
+
+"Hold!" said he, "for I am badly wounded through my horse's fault;
+carry me to bed, and if possible send for the wise Urganda to cure and
+see to my wounds."
+
+"See there! plague on it!" cried the housekeeper at this: "did not
+my heart tell the truth as to which foot my master went lame of? To
+bed with your worship at once, and we will contrive to cure you here
+without fetching that Hurgada. A curse I say once more, and a
+hundred times more, on those books of chivalry that have brought
+your worship to such a pass."
+
+They carried him to bed at once, and after searching for his
+wounds could find none, but he said they were all bruises from
+having had a severe fall with his horse Rocinante when in combat
+with ten giants, the biggest and the boldest to be found on earth.
+
+"So, so!" said the curate, "are there giants in the dance? By the
+sign of the Cross I will burn them to-morrow before the day over."
+
+They put a host of questions to Don Quixote, but his only answer
+to all was- give him something to eat, and leave him to sleep, for
+that was what he needed most. They did so, and the curate questioned
+the peasant at great length as to how he had found Don Quixote. He
+told him, and the nonsense he had talked when found and on the way
+home, all which made the licentiate the more eager to do what he did
+the next day, which was to summon his friend the barber, Master
+Nicholas, and go with him to Don Quixote's house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+OF THE DIVERTING AND IMPORTANT SCRUTINY WHICH THE CURATE AND THE
+BARBER MADE IN THE LIBRARY OF OUR INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN
+
+He was still sleeping; so the curate asked the niece for the keys of
+the room where the books, the authors of all the mischief, were, and
+right willingly she gave them. They all went in, the housekeeper
+with them, and found more than a hundred volumes of big books very
+well bound, and some other small ones. The moment the housekeeper
+saw them she turned about and ran out of the room, and came back
+immediately with a saucer of holy water and a sprinkler, saying,
+"Here, your worship, senor licentiate, sprinkle this room; don't leave
+any magician of the many there are in these books to bewitch us in
+revenge for our design of banishing them from the world."
+
+The simplicity of the housekeeper made the licentiate laugh, and
+he directed the barber to give him the books one by one to see what
+they were about, as there might be some to be found among them that
+did not deserve the penalty of fire.
+
+"No," said the niece, "there is no reason for showing mercy to any
+of them; they have every one of them done mischief; better fling
+them out of the window into the court and make a pile of them and
+set fire to them; or else carry them into the yard, and there a
+bonfire can be made without the smoke giving any annoyance." The
+housekeeper said the same, so eager were they both for the slaughter
+of those innocents, but the curate would not agree to it without first
+reading at any rate the titles.
+
+The first that Master Nicholas put into his hand was "The four books
+of Amadis of Gaul." "This seems a mysterious thing," said the
+curate, "for, as I have heard say, this was the first book of chivalry
+printed in Spain, and from this all the others derive their birth
+and origin; so it seems to me that we ought inexorably to condemn it
+to the flames as the founder of so vile a sect."
+
+"Nay, sir," said the barber, "I too, have heard say that this is the
+best of all the books of this kind that have been written, and so,
+as something singular in its line, it ought to be pardoned."
+
+"True," said the curate; "and for that reason let its life be spared
+for the present. Let us see that other which is next to it."
+
+"It is," said the barber, "the 'Sergas de Esplandian,' the lawful
+son of Amadis of Gaul."
+
+"Then verily," said the curate, "the merit of the father must not be
+put down to the account of the son. Take it, mistress housekeeper;
+open the window and fling it into the yard and lay the foundation of
+the pile for the bonfire we are to make."
+
+The housekeeper obeyed with great satisfaction, and the worthy
+"Esplandian" went flying into the yard to await with all patience
+the fire that was in store for him.
+
+"Proceed," said the curate.
+
+"This that comes next," said the barber, "is 'Amadis of Greece,'
+and, indeed, I believe all those on this side are of the same Amadis
+lineage."
+
+"Then to the yard with the whole of them," said the curate; "for
+to have the burning of Queen Pintiquiniestra, and the shepherd Darinel
+and his eclogues, and the bedevilled and involved discourses of his
+author, I would burn with them the father who begot me if he were
+going about in the guise of a knight-errant."
+
+"I am of the same mind," said the barber.
+
+"And so am I," added the niece.
+
+"In that case," said the housekeeper, "here, into the yard with
+them!"
+
+They were handed to her, and as there were many of them, she
+spared herself the staircase, and flung them down out of the window.
+
+"Who is that tub there?" said the curate.
+
+"This," said the barber, "is 'Don Olivante de Laura.'"
+
+"The author of that book," said the curate, "was the same that wrote
+'The Garden of Flowers,' and truly there is no deciding which of the
+two books is the more truthful, or, to put it better, the less
+lying; all I can say is, send this one into the yard for a
+swaggering fool."
+
+"This that follows is 'Florismarte of Hircania,'" said the barber.
+
+"Senor Florismarte here?" said the curate; "then by my faith he must
+take up his quarters in the yard, in spite of his marvellous birth and
+visionary adventures, for the stiffness and dryness of his style
+deserve nothing else; into the yard with him and the other, mistress
+housekeeper."
+
+"With all my heart, senor," said she, and executed the order with
+great delight.
+
+"This," said the barber, "is The Knight Platir.'"
+
+"An old book that," said the curate, "but I find no reason for
+clemency in it; send it after the others without appeal;" which was
+done.
+
+Another book was opened, and they saw it was entitled, "The Knight
+of the Cross."
+
+"For the sake of the holy name this book has," said the curate, "its
+ignorance might be excused; but then, they say, 'behind the cross
+there's the devil; to the fire with it."
+
+Taking down another book, the barber said, "This is 'The Mirror of
+Chivalry.'"
+
+"I know his worship," said the curate; "that is where Senor
+Reinaldos of Montalvan figures with his friends and comrades,
+greater thieves than Cacus, and the Twelve Peers of France with the
+veracious historian Turpin; however, I am not for condemning them to
+more than perpetual banishment, because, at any rate, they have some
+share in the invention of the famous Matteo Boiardo, whence too the
+Christian poet Ludovico Ariosto wove his web, to whom, if I find him
+here, and speaking any language but his own, I shall show no respect
+whatever; but if he speaks his own tongue I will put him upon my
+head."
+
+"Well, I have him in Italian," said the barber, "but I do not
+understand him."
+
+"Nor would it be well that you should understand him," said the
+curate, "and on that score we might have excused the Captain if he had
+not brought him into Spain and turned him into Castilian. He robbed
+him of a great deal of his natural force, and so do all those who
+try to turn books written in verse into another language, for, with
+all the pains they take and all the cleverness they show, they never
+can reach the level of the originals as they were first produced. In
+short, I say that this book, and all that may be found treating of
+those French affairs, should be thrown into or deposited in some dry
+well, until after more consideration it is settled what is to be
+done with them; excepting always one 'Bernardo del Carpio' that is
+going about, and another called 'Roncesvalles;' for these, if they
+come into my hands, shall pass at once into those of the
+housekeeper, and from hers into the fire without any reprieve."
+
+To all this the barber gave his assent, and looked upon it as
+right and proper, being persuaded that the curate was so staunch to
+the Faith and loyal to the Truth that he would not for the world say
+anything opposed to them. Opening another book he saw it was "Palmerin
+de Oliva," and beside it was another called "Palmerin of England,"
+seeing which the licentiate said, "Let the Olive be made firewood of
+at once and burned until no ashes even are left; and let that Palm
+of England be kept and preserved as a thing that stands alone, and let
+such another case be made for it as that which Alexander found among
+the spoils of Darius and set aside for the safe keeping of the works
+of the poet Homer. This book, gossip, is of authority for two reasons,
+first because it is very good, and secondly because it is said to have
+been written by a wise and witty king of Portugal. All the
+adventures at the Castle of Miraguarda are excellent and of
+admirable contrivance, and the language is polished and clear,
+studying and observing the style befitting the speaker with
+propriety and judgment. So then, provided it seems good to you, Master
+Nicholas, I say let this and 'Amadis of Gaul' be remitted the
+penalty of fire, and as for all the rest, let them perish without
+further question or query."
+
+"Nay, gossip," said the barber, "for this that I have here is the
+famous 'Don Belianis.'"
+
+"Well," said the curate, "that and the second, third, and fourth
+parts all stand in need of a little rhubarb to purge their excess of
+bile, and they must be cleared of all that stuff about the Castle of
+Fame and other greater affectations, to which end let them be
+allowed the over-seas term, and, according as they mend, so shall
+mercy or justice be meted out to them; and in the mean time, gossip,
+do you keep them in your house and let no one read them."
+
+"With all my heart," said the barber; and not caring to tire himself
+with reading more books of chivalry, he told the housekeeper to take
+all the big ones and throw them into the yard. It was not said to
+one dull or deaf, but to one who enjoyed burning them more than
+weaving the broadest and finest web that could be; and seizing about
+eight at a time, she flung them out of the window.
+
+In carrying so many together she let one fall at the feet of the
+barber, who took it up, curious to know whose it was, and found it
+said, "History of the Famous Knight, Tirante el Blanco."
+
+"God bless me!" said the curate with a shout, "'Tirante el Blanco'
+here! Hand it over, gossip, for in it I reckon I have found a treasury
+of enjoyment and a mine of recreation. Here is Don Kyrieleison of
+Montalvan, a valiant knight, and his brother Thomas of Montalvan,
+and the knight Fonseca, with the battle the bold Tirante fought with
+the mastiff, and the witticisms of the damsel Placerdemivida, and
+the loves and wiles of the widow Reposada, and the empress in love
+with the squire Hipolito- in truth, gossip, by right of its style it
+is the best book in the world. Here knights eat and sleep, and die
+in their beds, and make their wills before dying, and a great deal
+more of which there is nothing in all the other books. Nevertheless, I
+say he who wrote it, for deliberately composing such fooleries,
+deserves to be sent to the galleys for life. Take it home with you and
+read it, and you will see that what I have said is true."
+
+"As you will," said the barber; "but what are we to do with these
+little books that are left?"
+
+"These must be, not chivalry, but poetry," said the curate; and
+opening one he saw it was the "Diana" of Jorge de Montemayor, and,
+supposing all the others to be of the same sort, "these," he said, "do
+not deserve to be burned like the others, for they neither do nor
+can do the mischief the books of chivalry have done, being books of
+entertainment that can hurt no one."
+
+"Ah, senor!" said the niece, "your worship had better order these to
+be burned as well as the others; for it would be no wonder if, after
+being cured of his chivalry disorder, my uncle, by reading these, took
+a fancy to turn shepherd and range the woods and fields singing and
+piping; or, what would be still worse, to turn poet, which they say is
+an incurable and infectious malady."
+
+"The damsel is right," said the curate, "and it will be well to
+put this stumbling-block and temptation out of our friend's way. To
+begin, then, with the 'Diana' of Montemayor. I am of opinion it should
+not be burned, but that it should be cleared of all that about the
+sage Felicia and the magic water, and of almost all the longer
+pieces of verse: let it keep, and welcome, its prose and the honour of
+being the first of books of the kind."
+
+"This that comes next," said the barber, "is the 'Diana,' entitled
+the 'Second Part, by the Salamancan,' and this other has the same
+title, and its author is Gil Polo."
+
+"As for that of the Salamancan," replied the curate, "let it go to
+swell the number of the condemned in the yard, and let Gil Polo's be
+preserved as if it came from Apollo himself: but get on, gossip, and
+make haste, for it is growing late."
+
+"This book," said the barber, opening another, "is the ten books
+of the 'Fortune of Love,' written by Antonio de Lofraso, a Sardinian
+poet."
+
+"By the orders I have received," said the curate, "since Apollo
+has been Apollo, and the Muses have been Muses, and poets have been
+poets, so droll and absurd a book as this has never been written,
+and in its way it is the best and the most singular of all of this
+species that have as yet appeared, and he who has not read it may be
+sure he has never read what is delightful. Give it here, gossip, for I
+make more account of having found it than if they had given me a
+cassock of Florence stuff."
+
+He put it aside with extreme satisfaction, and the barber went on,
+"These that come next are 'The Shepherd of Iberia,' 'Nymphs of
+Henares,' and 'The Enlightenment of Jealousy.'"
+
+"Then all we have to do," said the curate, "is to hand them over
+to the secular arm of the housekeeper, and ask me not why, or we shall
+never have done."
+
+"This next is the 'Pastor de Filida.'"
+
+"No Pastor that," said the curate, "but a highly polished
+courtier; let it be preserved as a precious jewel."
+
+"This large one here," said the barber, "is called 'The Treasury
+of various Poems.'"
+
+"If there were not so many of them," said the curate, "they would be
+more relished: this book must be weeded and cleansed of certain
+vulgarities which it has with its excellences; let it be preserved
+because the author is a friend of mine, and out of respect for other
+more heroic and loftier works that he has written."
+
+"This," continued the barber, "is the 'Cancionero' of Lopez de
+Maldonado."
+
+"The author of that book, too," said the curate, "is a great
+friend of mine, and his verses from his own mouth are the admiration
+of all who hear them, for such is the sweetness of his voice that he
+enchants when he chants them: it gives rather too much of its
+eclogues, but what is good was never yet plentiful: let it be kept
+with those that have been set apart. But what book is that next it?"
+
+"The 'Galatea' of Miguel de Cervantes," said the barber.
+
+"That Cervantes has been for many years a great friend of mine,
+and to my knowledge he has had more experience in reverses than in
+verses. His book has some good invention in it, it presents us with
+something but brings nothing to a conclusion: we must wait for the
+Second Part it promises: perhaps with amendment it may succeed in
+winning the full measure of grace that is now denied it; and in the
+mean time do you, senor gossip, keep it shut up in your own quarters."
+
+"Very good," said the barber; "and here come three together, the
+'Araucana' of Don Alonso de Ercilla, the 'Austriada' of Juan Rufo,
+Justice of Cordova, and the 'Montserrate' of Christobal de Virues, the
+Valencian poet."
+
+"These three books," said the curate, "are the best that have been
+written in Castilian in heroic verse, and they may compare with the
+most famous of Italy; let them be preserved as the richest treasures
+of poetry that Spain possesses."
+
+The curate was tired and would not look into any more books, and
+so he decided that, "contents uncertified," all the rest should be
+burned; but just then the barber held open one, called "The Tears of
+Angelica."
+
+"I should have shed tears myself," said the curate when he heard the
+title, "had I ordered that book to be burned, for its author was one
+of the famous poets of the world, not to say of Spain, and was very
+happy in the translation of some of Ovid's fables."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+OF THE SECOND SALLY OF OUR WORTHY KNIGHT DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA
+
+At this instant Don Quixote began shouting out, "Here, here,
+valiant knights! here is need for you to put forth the might of your
+strong arms, for they of the Court are gaining the mastery in the
+tourney!" Called away by this noise and outcry, they proceeded no
+farther with the scrutiny of the remaining books, and so it is thought
+that "The Carolea," "The Lion of Spain," and "The Deeds of the
+Emperor," written by Don Luis de Avila, went to the fire unseen and
+unheard; for no doubt they were among those that remained, and perhaps
+if the curate had seen them they would not have undergone so severe
+a sentence.
+
+When they reached Don Quixote he was already out of bed, and was
+still shouting and raving, and slashing and cutting all round, as wide
+awake as if he had never slept.
+
+They closed with him and by force got him back to bed, and when he
+had become a little calm, addressing the curate, he said to him, "Of a
+truth, Senor Archbishop Turpin, it is a great disgrace for us who call
+ourselves the Twelve Peers, so carelessly to allow the knights of
+the Court to gain the victory in this tourney, we the adventurers
+having carried off the honour on the three former days."
+
+"Hush, gossip," said the curate; "please God, the luck may turn, and
+what is lost to-day may be won to-morrow; for the present let your
+worship have a care of your health, for it seems to me that you are
+over-fatigued, if not badly wounded."
+
+"Wounded no," said Don Quixote, "but bruised and battered no
+doubt, for that bastard Don Roland has cudgelled me with the trunk
+of an oak tree, and all for envy, because he sees that I alone rival
+him in his achievements. But I should not call myself Reinaldos of
+Montalvan did he not pay me for it in spite of all his enchantments as
+soon as I rise from this bed. For the present let them bring me
+something to eat, for that, I feel, is what will be more to my
+purpose, and leave it to me to avenge myself."
+
+They did as he wished; they gave him something to eat, and once more
+he fell asleep, leaving them marvelling at his madness.
+
+That night the housekeeper burned to ashes all the books that were
+in the yard and in the whole house; and some must have been consumed
+that deserved preservation in everlasting archives, but their fate and
+the laziness of the examiner did not permit it, and so in them was
+verified the proverb that the innocent suffer for the guilty.
+
+One of the remedies which the curate and the barber immediately
+applied to their friend's disorder was to wall up and plaster the room
+where the books were, so that when he got up he should not find them
+(possibly the cause being removed the effect might cease), and they
+might say that a magician had carried them off, room and all; and this
+was done with all despatch. Two days later Don Quixote got up, and the
+first thing he did was to go and look at his books, and not finding
+the room where he had left it, he wandered from side to side looking
+for it. He came to the place where the door used to be, and tried it
+with his hands, and turned and twisted his eyes in every direction
+without saying a word; but after a good while he asked his housekeeper
+whereabouts was the room that held his books.
+
+The housekeeper, who had been already well instructed in what she
+was to answer, said, "What room or what nothing is it that your
+worship is looking for? There are neither room nor books in this house
+now, for the devil himself has carried all away."
+
+"It was not the devil," said the niece, "but a magician who came
+on a cloud one night after the day your worship left this, and
+dismounting from a serpent that he rode he entered the room, and
+what he did there I know not, but after a little while he made off,
+flying through the roof, and left the house full of smoke; and when we
+went to see what he had done we saw neither book nor room: but we
+remember very well, the housekeeper and I, that on leaving, the old
+villain said in a loud voice that, for a private grudge he owed the
+owner of the books and the room, he had done mischief in that house
+that would be discovered by-and-by: he said too that his name was
+the Sage Munaton."
+
+"He must have said Friston," said Don Quixote.
+
+"I don't know whether he called himself Friston or Friton," said the
+housekeeper, "I only know that his name ended with 'ton.'"
+
+"So it does," said Don Quixote, "and he is a sage magician, a
+great enemy of mine, who has a spite against me because he knows by
+his arts and lore that in process of time I am to engage in single
+combat with a knight whom he befriends and that I am to conquer, and
+he will be unable to prevent it; and for this reason he endeavours
+to do me all the ill turns that he can; but I promise him it will be
+hard for him to oppose or avoid what is decreed by Heaven."
+
+"Who doubts that?" said the niece; "but, uncle, who mixes you up
+in these quarrels? Would it not be better to remain at peace in your
+own house instead of roaming the world looking for better bread than
+ever came of wheat, never reflecting that many go for wool and come
+back shorn?"
+
+"Oh, niece of mine," replied Don Quixote, "how much astray art
+thou in thy reckoning: ere they shear me I shall have plucked away and
+stripped off the beards of all who dare to touch only the tip of a
+hair of mine."
+
+The two were unwilling to make any further answer, as they saw
+that his anger was kindling.
+
+In short, then, he remained at home fifteen days very quietly
+without showing any signs of a desire to take up with his former
+delusions, and during this time he held lively discussions with his
+two gossips, the curate and the barber, on the point he maintained,
+that knights-errant were what the world stood most in need of, and
+that in him was to be accomplished the revival of knight-errantry. The
+curate sometimes contradicted him, sometimes agreed with him, for if
+he had not observed this precaution he would have been unable to bring
+him to reason.
+
+Meanwhile Don Quixote worked upon a farm labourer, a neighbour of
+his, an honest man (if indeed that title can be given to him who is
+poor), but with very little wit in his pate. In a word, he so talked
+him over, and with such persuasions and promises, that the poor
+clown made up his mind to sally forth with him and serve him as
+esquire. Don Quixote, among other things, told him he ought to be
+ready to go with him gladly, because any moment an adventure might
+occur that might win an island in the twinkling of an eye and leave
+him governor of it. On these and the like promises Sancho Panza (for
+so the labourer was called) left wife and children, and engaged
+himself as esquire to his neighbour. Don Quixote next set about
+getting some money; and selling one thing and pawning another, and
+making a bad bargain in every case, he got together a fair sum. He
+provided himself with a buckler, which he begged as a loan from a
+friend, and, restoring his battered helmet as best he could, he warned
+his squire Sancho of the day and hour he meant to set out, that he
+might provide himself with what he thought most needful. Above all, he
+charged him to take alforjas with him. The other said he would, and
+that he meant to take also a very good ass he had, as he was not
+much given to going on foot. About the ass, Don Quixote hesitated a
+little, trying whether he could call to mind any knight-errant
+taking with him an esquire mounted on ass-back, but no instance
+occurred to his memory. For all that, however, he determined to take
+him, intending to furnish him with a more honourable mount when a
+chance of it presented itself, by appropriating the horse of the first
+discourteous knight he encountered. Himself he provided with shirts
+and such other things as he could, according to the advice the host
+had given him; all which being done, without taking leave, Sancho
+Panza of his wife and children, or Don Quixote of his housekeeper
+and niece, they sallied forth unseen by anybody from the village one
+night, and made such good way in the course of it that by daylight
+they held themselves safe from discovery, even should search be made
+for them.
+
+Sancho rode on his ass like a patriarch, with his alforjas and bota,
+and longing to see himself soon governor of the island his master
+had promised him. Don Quixote decided upon taking the same route and
+road he had taken on his first journey, that over the Campo de
+Montiel, which he travelled with less discomfort than on the last
+occasion, for, as it was early morning and the rays of the sun fell on
+them obliquely, the heat did not distress them.
+
+And now said Sancho Panza to his master, "Your worship will take
+care, Senor Knight-errant, not to forget about the island you have
+promised me, for be it ever so big I'll be equal to governing it."
+
+To which Don Quixote replied, "Thou must know, friend Sancho
+Panza, that it was a practice very much in vogue with the
+knights-errant of old to make their squires governors of the islands
+or kingdoms they won, and I am determined that there shall be no
+failure on my part in so liberal a custom; on the contrary, I mean
+to improve upon it, for they sometimes, and perhaps most frequently,
+waited until their squires were old, and then when they had had enough
+of service and hard days and worse nights, they gave them some title
+or other, of count, or at the most marquis, of some valley or province
+more or less; but if thou livest and I live, it may well be that
+before six days are over, I may have won some kingdom that has
+others dependent upon it, which will be just the thing to enable
+thee to be crowned king of one of them. Nor needst thou count this
+wonderful, for things and chances fall to the lot of such knights in
+ways so unexampled and unexpected that I might easily give thee even
+more than I promise thee."
+
+"In that case," said Sancho Panza, "if I should become a king by one
+of those miracles your worship speaks of, even Juana Gutierrez, my old
+woman, would come to be queen and my children infantes."
+
+"Well, who doubts it?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"I doubt it," replied Sancho Panza, "because for my part I am
+persuaded that though God should shower down kingdoms upon earth,
+not one of them would fit the head of Mari Gutierrez. Let me tell you,
+senor, she is not worth two maravedis for a queen; countess will fit
+her better, and that only with God's help."
+
+"Leave it to God, Sancho," returned Don Quixote, "for he will give
+her what suits her best; but do not undervalue thyself so much as to
+come to be content with anything less than being governor of a
+province."
+
+"I will not, senor," answered Sancho, "specially as I have a man
+of such quality for a master in your worship, who will know how to
+give me all that will be suitable for me and that I can bear."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+OF THE GOOD FORTUNE WHICH THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE HAD IN THE
+TERRIBLE AND UNDREAMT-OF ADVENTURE OF THE WINDMILLS, WITH OTHER
+OCCURRENCES WORTHY TO BE FITLY RECORDED
+
+At this point they came in sight of thirty forty windmills that
+there are on plain, and as soon as Don Quixote saw them he said to his
+squire, "Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have
+shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza,
+where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves, all of
+whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we
+shall begin to make our fortunes; for this is righteous warfare, and
+it is God's good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of
+the earth."
+
+"What giants?" said Sancho Panza.
+
+"Those thou seest there," answered his master, "with the long
+arms, and some have them nearly two leagues long."
+
+"Look, your worship," said Sancho; "what we see there are not giants
+but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the sails that
+turned by the wind make the millstone go."
+
+"It is easy to see," replied Don Quixote, "that thou art not used to
+this business of adventures; those are giants; and if thou art afraid,
+away with thee out of this and betake thyself to prayer while I engage
+them in fierce and unequal combat."
+
+So saying, he gave the spur to his steed Rocinante, heedless of
+the cries his squire Sancho sent after him, warning him that most
+certainly they were windmills and not giants he was going to attack.
+He, however, was so positive they were giants that he neither heard
+the cries of Sancho, nor perceived, near as he was, what they were,
+but made at them shouting, "Fly not, cowards and vile beings, for a
+single knight attacks you."
+
+A slight breeze at this moment sprang up, and the great sails
+began to move, seeing which Don Quixote exclaimed, "Though ye flourish
+more arms than the giant Briareus, ye have to reckon with me."
+
+So saying, and commending himself with all his heart to his lady
+Dulcinea, imploring her to support him in such a peril, with lance
+in rest and covered by his buckler, he charged at Rocinante's
+fullest gallop and fell upon the first mill that stood in front of
+him; but as he drove his lance-point into the sail the wind whirled it
+round with such force that it shivered the lance to pieces, sweeping
+with it horse and rider, who went rolling over on the plain, in a
+sorry condition. Sancho hastened to his assistance as fast as his
+ass could go, and when he came up found him unable to move, with
+such a shock had Rocinante fallen with him.
+
+"God bless me!" said Sancho, "did I not tell your worship to mind
+what you were about, for they were only windmills? and no one could
+have made any mistake about it but one who had something of the same
+kind in his head."
+
+"Hush, friend Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "the fortunes of war
+more than any other are liable to frequent fluctuations; and
+moreover I think, and it is the truth, that that same sage Friston who
+carried off my study and books, has turned these giants into mills
+in order to rob me of the glory of vanquishing them, such is the
+enmity he bears me; but in the end his wicked arts will avail but
+little against my good sword."
+
+"God order it as he may," said Sancho Panza, and helping him to rise
+got him up again on Rocinante, whose shoulder was half out; and
+then, discussing the late adventure, they followed the road to
+Puerto Lapice, for there, said Don Quixote, they could not fail to
+find adventures in abundance and variety, as it was a great
+thoroughfare. For all that, he was much grieved at the loss of his
+lance, and saying so to his squire, he added, "I remember having
+read how a Spanish knight, Diego Perez de Vargas by name, having
+broken his sword in battle, tore from an oak a ponderous bough or
+branch, and with it did such things that day, and pounded so many
+Moors, that he got the surname of Machuca, and he and his
+descendants from that day forth were called Vargas y Machuca. I
+mention this because from the first oak I see I mean to rend such
+another branch, large and stout like that, with which I am
+determined and resolved to do such deeds that thou mayest deem thyself
+very fortunate in being found worthy to come and see them, and be an
+eyewitness of things that will with difficulty be believed."
+
+"Be that as God will," said Sancho, "I believe it all as your
+worship says it; but straighten yourself a little, for you seem all on
+one side, may be from the shaking of the fall."
+
+"That is the truth," said Don Quixote, "and if I make no complaint
+of the pain it is because knights-errant are not permitted to complain
+of any wound, even though their bowels be coming out through it."
+
+"If so," said Sancho, "I have nothing to say; but God knows I
+would rather your worship complained when anything ailed you. For my
+part, I confess I must complain however small the ache may be;
+unless this rule about not complaining extends to the squires of
+knights-errant also."
+
+Don Quixote could not help laughing at his squire's simplicity,
+and he assured him he might complain whenever and however he chose,
+just as he liked, for, so far, he had never read of anything to the
+contrary in the order of knighthood.
+
+Sancho bade him remember it was dinner-time, to which his master
+answered that he wanted nothing himself just then, but that he might
+eat when he had a mind. With this permission Sancho settled himself as
+comfortably as he could on his beast, and taking out of the alforjas
+what he had stowed away in them, he jogged along behind his master
+munching deliberately, and from time to time taking a pull at the bota
+with a relish that the thirstiest tapster in Malaga might have envied;
+and while he went on in this way, gulping down draught after
+draught, he never gave a thought to any of the promises his master had
+made him, nor did he rate it as hardship but rather as recreation
+going in quest of adventures, however dangerous they might be. Finally
+they passed the night among some trees, from one of which Don
+Quixote plucked a dry branch to serve him after a fashion as a
+lance, and fixed on it the head he had removed from the broken one.
+All that night Don Quixote lay awake thinking of his lady Dulcinea, in
+order to conform to what he had read in his books, how many a night in
+the forests and deserts knights used to lie sleepless supported by the
+memory of their mistresses. Not so did Sancho Panza spend it, for
+having his stomach full of something stronger than chicory water he
+made but one sleep of it, and, if his master had not called him,
+neither the rays of the sun beating on his face nor all the cheery
+notes of the birds welcoming the approach of day would have had
+power to waken him. On getting up he tried the bota and found it
+somewhat less full than the night before, which grieved his heart
+because they did not seem to be on the way to remedy the deficiency
+readily. Don Quixote did not care to break his fast, for, as has
+been already said, he confined himself to savoury recollections for
+nourishment.
+
+They returned to the road they had set out with, leading to Puerto
+Lapice, and at three in the afternoon they came in sight of it. "Here,
+brother Sancho Panza," said Don Quixote when he saw it, "we may plunge
+our hands up to the elbows in what they call adventures; but
+observe, even shouldst thou see me in the greatest danger in the
+world, thou must not put a hand to thy sword in my defence, unless
+indeed thou perceivest that those who assail me are rabble or base
+folk; for in that case thou mayest very properly aid me; but if they
+be knights it is on no account permitted or allowed thee by the laws
+of knighthood to help me until thou hast been dubbed a knight."
+
+"Most certainly, senor," replied Sancho, "your worship shall be
+fully obeyed in this matter; all the more as of myself I am peaceful
+and no friend to mixing in strife and quarrels: it is true that as
+regards the defence of my own person I shall not give much heed to
+those laws, for laws human and divine allow each one to defend himself
+against any assailant whatever."
+
+"That I grant," said Don Quixote, "but in this matter of aiding me
+against knights thou must put a restraint upon thy natural
+impetuosity."
+
+"I will do so, I promise you," answered Sancho, "and will keep
+this precept as carefully as Sunday."
+
+While they were thus talking there appeared on the road two friars
+of the order of St. Benedict, mounted on two dromedaries, for not less
+tall were the two mules they rode on. They wore travelling
+spectacles and carried sunshades; and behind them came a coach
+attended by four or five persons on horseback and two muleteers on
+foot. In the coach there was, as afterwards appeared, a Biscay lady on
+her way to Seville, where her husband was about to take passage for
+the Indies with an appointment of high honour. The friars, though
+going the same road, were not in her company; but the moment Don
+Quixote perceived them he said to his squire, "Either I am mistaken,
+or this is going to be the most famous adventure that has ever been
+seen, for those black bodies we see there must be, and doubtless
+are, magicians who are carrying off some stolen princess in that
+coach, and with all my might I must undo this wrong."
+
+"This will be worse than the windmills," said Sancho. "Look,
+senor; those are friars of St. Benedict, and the coach plainly belongs
+to some travellers: I tell you to mind well what you are about and
+don't let the devil mislead you."
+
+"I have told thee already, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "that on
+the subject of adventures thou knowest little. What I say is the
+truth, as thou shalt see presently."
+
+So saying, he advanced and posted himself in the middle of the
+road along which the friars were coming, and as soon as he thought
+they had come near enough to hear what he said, he cried aloud,
+"Devilish and unnatural beings, release instantly the highborn
+princesses whom you are carrying off by force in this coach, else
+prepare to meet a speedy death as the just punishment of your evil
+deeds."
+
+The friars drew rein and stood wondering at the appearance of Don
+Quixote as well as at his words, to which they replied, "Senor
+Caballero, we are not devilish or unnatural, but two brothers of St.
+Benedict following our road, nor do we know whether or not there are
+any captive princesses coming in this coach."
+
+"No soft words with me, for I know you, lying rabble," said Don
+Quixote, and without waiting for a reply he spurred Rocinante and with
+levelled lance charged the first friar with such fury and
+determination, that, if the friar had not flung himself off the
+mule, he would have brought him to the ground against his will, and
+sore wounded, if not killed outright. The second brother, seeing how
+his comrade was treated, drove his heels into his castle of a mule and
+made off across the country faster than the wind.
+
+Sancho Panza, when he saw the friar on the ground, dismounting
+briskly from his ass, rushed towards him and began to strip off his
+gown. At that instant the friars muleteers came up and asked what he
+was stripping him for. Sancho answered them that this fell to him
+lawfully as spoil of the battle which his lord Don Quixote had won.
+The muleteers, who had no idea of a joke and did not understand all
+this about battles and spoils, seeing that Don Quixote was some
+distance off talking to the travellers in the coach, fell upon Sancho,
+knocked him down, and leaving hardly a hair in his beard, belaboured
+him with kicks and left him stretched breathless and senseless on
+the ground; and without any more delay helped the friar to mount, who,
+trembling, terrified, and pale, as soon as he found himself in the
+saddle, spurred after his companion, who was standing at a distance
+looking on, watching the result of the onslaught; then, not caring
+to wait for the end of the affair just begun, they pursued their
+journey making more crosses than if they had the devil after them.
+
+Don Quixote was, as has been said, speaking to the lady in the
+coach: "Your beauty, lady mine," said he, "may now dispose of your
+person as may be most in accordance with your pleasure, for the
+pride of your ravishers lies prostrate on the ground through this
+strong arm of mine; and lest you should be pining to know the name
+of your deliverer, know that I am called Don Quixote of La Mancha,
+knight-errant and adventurer, and captive to the peerless and
+beautiful lady Dulcinea del Toboso: and in return for the service
+you have received of me I ask no more than that you should return to
+El Toboso, and on my behalf present yourself before that lady and tell
+her what I have done to set you free."
+
+One of the squires in attendance upon the coach, a Biscayan, was
+listening to all Don Quixote was saying, and, perceiving that he would
+not allow the coach to go on, but was saying it must return at once to
+El Toboso, he made at him, and seizing his lance addressed him in
+bad Castilian and worse Biscayan after his fashion, "Begone,
+caballero, and ill go with thee; by the God that made me, unless
+thou quittest coach, slayest thee as art here a Biscayan."
+
+Don Quixote understood him quite well, and answered him very
+quietly, "If thou wert a knight, as thou art none, I should have
+already chastised thy folly and rashness, miserable creature." To
+which the Biscayan returned, "I no gentleman! -I swear to God thou
+liest as I am Christian: if thou droppest lance and drawest sword,
+soon shalt thou see thou art carrying water to the cat: Biscayan on
+land, hidalgo at sea, hidalgo at the devil, and look, if thou sayest
+otherwise thou liest."
+
+"'"You will see presently," said Agrajes,'" replied Don Quixote; and
+throwing his lance on the ground he drew his sword, braced his buckler
+on his arm, and attacked the Biscayan, bent upon taking his life.
+
+The Biscayan, when he saw him coming on, though he wished to
+dismount from his mule, in which, being one of those sorry ones let
+out for hire, he had no confidence, had no choice but to draw his
+sword; it was lucky for him, however, that he was near the coach, from
+which he was able to snatch a cushion that served him for a shield;
+and they went at one another as if they had been two mortal enemies.
+The others strove to make peace between them, but could not, for the
+Biscayan declared in his disjointed phrase that if they did not let
+him finish his battle he would kill his mistress and everyone that
+strove to prevent him. The lady in the coach, amazed and terrified
+at what she saw, ordered the coachman to draw aside a little, and
+set herself to watch this severe struggle, in the course of which
+the Biscayan smote Don Quixote a mighty stroke on the shoulder over
+the top of his buckler, which, given to one without armour, would have
+cleft him to the waist. Don Quixote, feeling the weight of this
+prodigious blow, cried aloud, saying, "O lady of my soul, Dulcinea,
+flower of beauty, come to the aid of this your knight, who, in
+fulfilling his obligations to your beauty, finds himself in this
+extreme peril." To say this, to lift his sword, to shelter himself
+well behind his buckler, and to assail the Biscayan was the work of an
+instant, determined as he was to venture all upon a single blow. The
+Biscayan, seeing him come on in this way, was convinced of his courage
+by his spirited bearing, and resolved to follow his example, so he
+waited for him keeping well under cover of his cushion, being unable
+to execute any sort of manoeuvre with his mule, which, dead tired
+and never meant for this kind of game, could not stir a step.
+
+On, then, as aforesaid, came Don Quixote against the wary
+Biscayan, with uplifted sword and a firm intention of splitting him in
+half, while on his side the Biscayan waited for him sword in hand, and
+under the protection of his cushion; and all present stood
+trembling, waiting in suspense the result of blows such as
+threatened to fall, and the lady in the coach and the rest of her
+following were making a thousand vows and offerings to all the
+images and shrines of Spain, that God might deliver her squire and all
+of them from this great peril in which they found themselves. But it
+spoils all, that at this point and crisis the author of the history
+leaves this battle impending, giving as excuse that he could find
+nothing more written about these achievements of Don Quixote than what
+has been already set forth. It is true the second author of this
+work was unwilling to believe that a history so curious could have
+been allowed to fall under the sentence of oblivion, or that the
+wits of La Mancha could have been so undiscerning as not to preserve
+in their archives or registries some documents referring to this
+famous knight; and this being his persuasion, he did not despair of
+finding the conclusion of this pleasant history, which, heaven
+favouring him, he did find in a way that shall be related in the
+Second Part.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+IN WHICH IS CONCLUDED AND FINISHED THE TERRIFIC BATTLE BETWEEN THE
+GALLANT BISCAYAN AND THE VALIANT MANCHEGAN
+
+In the First Part of this history we left the valiant Biscayan and
+the renowned Don Quixote with drawn swords uplifted, ready to
+deliver two such furious slashing blows that if they had fallen full
+and fair they would at least have split and cleft them asunder from
+top to toe and laid them open like a pomegranate; and at this so
+critical point the delightful history came to a stop and stood cut
+short without any intimation from the author where what was missing
+was to be found.
+
+This distressed me greatly, because the pleasure derived from having
+read such a small portion turned to vexation at the thought of the
+poor chance that presented itself of finding the large part that, so
+it seemed to me, was missing of such an interesting tale. It
+appeared to me to be a thing impossible and contrary to all
+precedent that so good a knight should have been without some sage
+to undertake the task of writing his marvellous achievements; a
+thing that was never wanting to any of those knights-errant who,
+they say, went after adventures; for every one of them had one or
+two sages as if made on purpose, who not only recorded their deeds but
+described their most trifling thoughts and follies, however secret
+they might be; and such a good knight could not have been so
+unfortunate as not to have what Platir and others like him had in
+abundance. And so I could not bring myself to believe that such a
+gallant tale had been left maimed and mutilated, and I laid the
+blame on Time, the devourer and destroyer of all things, that had
+either concealed or consumed it.
+
+On the other hand, it struck me that, inasmuch as among his books
+there had been found such modern ones as "The Enlightenment of
+Jealousy" and the "Nymphs and Shepherds of Henares," his story must
+likewise be modern, and that though it might not be written, it
+might exist in the memory of the people of his village and of those in
+the neighbourhood. This reflection kept me perplexed and longing to
+know really and truly the whole life and wondrous deeds of our
+famous Spaniard, Don Quixote of La Mancha, light and mirror of
+Manchegan chivalry, and the first that in our age and in these so evil
+days devoted himself to the labour and exercise of the arms of
+knight-errantry, righting wrongs, succouring widows, and protecting
+damsels of that sort that used to ride about, whip in hand, on their
+palfreys, with all their virginity about them, from mountain to
+mountain and valley to valley- for, if it were not for some ruffian,
+or boor with a hood and hatchet, or monstrous giant, that forced them,
+there were in days of yore damsels that at the end of eighty years, in
+all which time they had never slept a day under a roof, went to
+their graves as much maids as the mothers that bore them. I say, then,
+that in these and other respects our gallant Don Quixote is worthy
+of everlasting and notable praise, nor should it be withheld even from
+me for the labour and pains spent in searching for the conclusion of
+this delightful history; though I know well that if Heaven, chance and
+good fortune had not helped me, the world would have remained deprived
+of an entertainment and pleasure that for a couple of hours or so
+may well occupy him who shall read it attentively. The discovery of it
+occurred in this way.
+
+One day, as I was in the Alcana of Toledo, a boy came up to sell
+some pamphlets and old papers to a silk mercer, and, as I am fond of
+reading even the very scraps of paper in the streets, led by this
+natural bent of mine I took up one of the pamphlets the boy had for
+sale, and saw that it was in characters which I recognised as
+Arabic, and as I was unable to read them though I could recognise
+them, I looked about to see if there were any Spanish-speaking Morisco
+at hand to read them for me; nor was there any great difficulty in
+finding such an interpreter, for even had I sought one for an older
+and better language I should have found him. In short, chance provided
+me with one, who when I told him what I wanted and put the book into
+his hands, opened it in the middle and after reading a little in it
+began to laugh. I asked him what he was laughing at, and he replied
+that it was at something the book had written in the margin by way
+of a note. I bade him tell it to me; and he still laughing said, "In
+the margin, as I told you, this is written: 'This Dulcinea del
+Toboso so often mentioned in this history, had, they say, the best
+hand of any woman in all La Mancha for salting pigs.'"
+
+When I heard Dulcinea del Toboso named, I was struck with surprise
+and amazement, for it occurred to me at once that these pamphlets
+contained the history of Don Quixote. With this idea I pressed him
+to read the beginning, and doing so, turning the Arabic offhand into
+Castilian, he told me it meant, "History of Don Quixote of La
+Mancha, written by Cide Hamete Benengeli, an Arab historian." It
+required great caution to hide the joy I felt when the title of the
+book reached my ears, and snatching it from the silk mercer, I
+bought all the papers and pamphlets from the boy for half a real;
+and if he had had his wits about him and had known how eager I was for
+them, he might have safely calculated on making more than six reals by
+the bargain. I withdrew at once with the Morisco into the cloister
+of the cathedral, and begged him to turn all these pamphlets that
+related to Don Quixote into the Castilian tongue, without omitting
+or adding anything to them, offering him whatever payment he
+pleased. He was satisfied with two arrobas of raisins and two
+bushels of wheat, and promised to translate them faithfully and with
+all despatch; but to make the matter easier, and not to let such a
+precious find out of my hands, I took him to my house, where in little
+more than a month and a half he translated the whole just as it is set
+down here.
+
+In the first pamphlet the battle between Don Quixote and the
+Biscayan was drawn to the very life, they planted in the same attitude
+as the history describes, their swords raised, and the one protected
+by his buckler, the other by his cushion, and the Biscayan's mule so
+true to nature that it could be seen to be a hired one a bowshot
+off. The Biscayan had an inscription under his feet which said, "Don
+Sancho de Azpeitia," which no doubt must have been his name; and at
+the feet of Rocinante was another that said, "Don Quixote."
+Rocinante was marvellously portrayed, so long and thin, so lank and
+lean, with so much backbone and so far gone in consumption, that he
+showed plainly with what judgment and propriety the name of
+Rocinante had been bestowed upon him. Near him was Sancho Panza
+holding the halter of his ass, at whose feet was another label that
+said, "Sancho Zancas," and according to the picture, he must have
+had a big belly, a short body, and long shanks, for which reason, no
+doubt, the names of Panza and Zancas were given him, for by these
+two surnames the history several times calls him. Some other
+trifling particulars might be mentioned, but they are all of slight
+importance and have nothing to do with the true relation of the
+history; and no history can be bad so long as it is true.
+
+If against the present one any objection be raised on the score of
+its truth, it can only be that its author was an Arab, as lying is a
+very common propensity with those of that nation; though, as they
+are such enemies of ours, it is conceivable that there were
+omissions rather than additions made in the course of it. And this
+is my own opinion; for, where he could and should give freedom to
+his pen in praise of so worthy a knight, he seems to me deliberately
+to pass it over in silence; which is ill done and worse contrived, for
+it is the business and duty of historians to be exact, truthful, and
+wholly free from passion, and neither interest nor fear, hatred nor
+love, should make them swerve from the path of truth, whose mother
+is history, rival of time, storehouse of deeds, witness for the
+past, example and counsel for the present, and warning for the future.
+In this I know will be found all that can be desired in the
+pleasantest, and if it be wanting in any good quality, I maintain it
+is the fault of its hound of an author and not the fault of the
+subject. To be brief, its Second Part, according to the translation,
+began in this way:
+
+With trenchant swords upraised and poised on high, it seemed as
+though the two valiant and wrathful combatants stood threatening
+heaven, and earth, and hell, with such resolution and determination
+did they bear themselves. The fiery Biscayan was the first to strike a
+blow, which was delivered with such force and fury that had not the
+sword turned in its course, that single stroke would have sufficed
+to put an end to the bitter struggle and to all the adventures of
+our knight; but that good fortune which reserved him for greater
+things, turned aside the sword of his adversary, so that although it
+smote him upon the left shoulder, it did him no more harm than to
+strip all that side of its armour, carrying away a great part of his
+helmet with half of his ear, all which with fearful ruin fell to the
+ground, leaving him in a sorry plight.
+
+Good God! Who is there that could properly describe the rage that
+filled the heart of our Manchegan when he saw himself dealt with in
+this fashion? All that can be said is, it was such that he again
+raised himself in his stirrups, and, grasping his sword more firmly
+with both hands, he came down on the Biscayan with such fury,
+smiting him full over the cushion and over the head, that- even so
+good a shield proving useless- as if a mountain had fallen on him,
+he began to bleed from nose, mouth, and ears, reeling as if about to
+fall backwards from his mule, as no doubt he would have done had he
+not flung his arms about its neck; at the same time, however, he
+slipped his feet out of the stirrups and then unclasped his arms,
+and the mule, taking fright at the terrible blow, made off across
+the plain, and with a few plunges flung its master to the ground.
+Don Quixote stood looking on very calmly, and, when he saw him fall,
+leaped from his horse and with great briskness ran to him, and,
+presenting the point of his sword to his eyes, bade him surrender,
+or he would cut his head off. The Biscayan was so bewildered that he
+was unable to answer a word, and it would have gone hard with him,
+so blind was Don Quixote, had not the ladies in the coach, who had
+hitherto been watching the combat in great terror, hastened to where
+he stood and implored him with earnest entreaties to grant them the
+great grace and favour of sparing their squire's life; to which Don
+Quixote replied with much gravity and dignity, "In truth, fair ladies,
+I am well content to do what ye ask of me; but it must be on one
+condition and understanding, which is that this knight promise me to
+go to the village of El Toboso, and on my behalf present himself
+before the peerless lady Dulcinea, that she deal with him as shall
+be most pleasing to her."
+
+The terrified and disconsolate ladies, without discussing Don
+Quixote's demand or asking who Dulcinea might be, promised that
+their squire should do all that had been commanded.
+
+"Then, on the faith of that promise," said Don Quixote, "I shall
+do him no further harm, though he well deserves it of me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+OF THE PLEASANT DISCOURSE THAT PASSED BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE AND HIS
+SQUIRE SANCHO PANZA
+
+Now by this time Sancho had risen, rather the worse for the handling
+of the friars' muleteers, and stood watching the battle of his master,
+Don Quixote, and praying to God in his heart that it might be his will
+to grant him the victory, and that he might thereby win some island to
+make him governor of, as he had promised. Seeing, therefore, that
+the struggle was now over, and that his master was returning to
+mount Rocinante, he approached to hold the stirrup for him, and,
+before he could mount, he went on his knees before him, and taking his
+hand, kissed it saying, "May it please your worship, Senor Don
+Quixote, to give me the government of that island which has been won
+in this hard fight, for be it ever so big I feel myself in
+sufficient force to be able to govern it as much and as well as anyone
+in the world who has ever governed islands."
+
+To which Don Quixote replied, "Thou must take notice, brother
+Sancho, that this adventure and those like it are not adventures of
+islands, but of cross-roads, in which nothing is got except a broken
+head or an ear the less: have patience, for adventures will present
+themselves from which I may make you, not only a governor, but
+something more."
+
+Sancho gave him many thanks, and again kissing his hand and the
+skirt of his hauberk, helped him to mount Rocinante, and mounting
+his ass himself, proceeded to follow his master, who at a brisk
+pace, without taking leave, or saying anything further to the ladies
+belonging to the coach, turned into a wood that was hard by. Sancho
+followed him at his ass's best trot, but Rocinante stepped out so
+that, seeing himself left behind, he was forced to call to his
+master to wait for him. Don Quixote did so, reining in Rocinante until
+his weary squire came up, who on reaching him said, "It seems to me,
+senor, it would be prudent in us to go and take refuge in some church,
+for, seeing how mauled he with whom you fought has been left, it
+will be no wonder if they give information of the affair to the Holy
+Brotherhood and arrest us, and, faith, if they do, before we come
+out of gaol we shall have to sweat for it."
+
+"Peace," said Don Quixote; "where hast thou ever seen or heard
+that a knight-errant has been arraigned before a court of justice,
+however many homicides he may have committed?"
+
+"I know nothing about omecils," answered Sancho, "nor in my life
+have had anything to do with one; I only know that the Holy
+Brotherhood looks after those who fight in the fields, and in that
+other matter I do not meddle."
+
+"Then thou needst have no uneasiness, my friend," said Don
+Quixote, "for I will deliver thee out of the hands of the Chaldeans,
+much more out of those of the Brotherhood. But tell me, as thou
+livest, hast thou seen a more valiant knight than I in all the known
+world; hast thou read in history of any who has or had higher mettle
+in attack, more spirit in maintaining it, more dexterity in wounding
+or skill in overthrowing?"
+
+"The truth is," answered Sancho, "that I have never read any
+history, for I can neither read nor write, but what I will venture
+to bet is that a more daring master than your worship I have never
+served in all the days of my life, and God grant that this daring be
+not paid for where I have said; what I beg of your worship is to dress
+your wound, for a great deal of blood flows from that ear, and I
+have here some lint and a little white ointment in the alforjas."
+
+"All that might be well dispensed with," said Don Quixote, "if I had
+remembered to make a vial of the balsam of Fierabras, for time and
+medicine are saved by one single drop."
+
+"What vial and what balsam is that?" said Sancho Panza.
+
+"It is a balsam," answered Don Quixote, "the receipt of which I have
+in my memory, with which one need have no fear of death, or dread
+dying of any wound; and so when I make it and give it to thee thou
+hast nothing to do when in some battle thou seest they have cut me
+in half through the middle of the body- as is wont to happen
+frequently,- but neatly and with great nicety, ere the blood
+congeal, to place that portion of the body which shall have fallen
+to the ground upon the other half which remains in the saddle,
+taking care to fit it on evenly and exactly. Then thou shalt give me
+to drink but two drops of the balsam I have mentioned, and thou
+shalt see me become sounder than an apple."
+
+"If that be so," said Panza, "I renounce henceforth the government
+of the promised island, and desire nothing more in payment of my
+many and faithful services than that your worship give me the
+receipt of this supreme liquor, for I am persuaded it will be worth
+more than two reals an ounce anywhere, and I want no more to pass
+the rest of my life in ease and honour; but it remains to be told if
+it costs much to make it."
+
+"With less than three reals, six quarts of it may be made," said Don
+Quixote.
+
+"Sinner that I am!" said Sancho, "then why does your worship put off
+making it and teaching it to me?"
+
+"Peace, friend," answered Don Quixote; "greater secrets I mean to
+teach thee and greater favours to bestow upon thee; and for the
+present let us see to the dressing, for my ear pains me more than I
+could wish."
+
+Sancho took out some lint and ointment from the alforjas; but when
+Don Quixote came to see his helmet shattered, he was like to lose
+his senses, and clapping his hand upon his sword and raising his
+eyes to heaven, be said, "I swear by the Creator of all things and the
+four Gospels in their fullest extent, to do as the great Marquis of
+Mantua did when he swore to avenge the death of his nephew Baldwin
+(and that was not to eat bread from a table-cloth, nor embrace his
+wife, and other points which, though I cannot now call them to mind, I
+here grant as expressed) until I take complete vengeance upon him
+who has committed such an offence against me."
+
+Hearing this, Sancho said to him, "Your worship should bear in mind,
+Senor Don Quixote, that if the knight has done what was commanded
+him in going to present himself before my lady Dulcinea del Toboso, he
+will have done all that he was bound to do, and does not deserve
+further punishment unless he commits some new offence."
+
+"Thou hast said well and hit the point," answered Don Quixote; and
+so I recall the oath in so far as relates to taking fresh vengeance on
+him, but I make and confirm it anew to lead the life I have said until
+such time as I take by force from some knight another helmet such as
+this and as good; and think not, Sancho, that I am raising smoke
+with straw in doing so, for I have one to imitate in the matter, since
+the very same thing to a hair happened in the case of Mambrino's
+helmet, which cost Sacripante so dear."
+
+"Senor," replied Sancho, "let your worship send all such oaths to
+the devil, for they are very pernicious to salvation and prejudicial
+to the conscience; just tell me now, if for several days to come we
+fall in with no man armed with a helmet, what are we to do? Is the
+oath to be observed in spite of all the inconvenience and discomfort
+it will be to sleep in your clothes, and not to sleep in a house,
+and a thousand other mortifications contained in the oath of that
+old fool the Marquis of Mantua, which your worship is now wanting to
+revive? Let your worship observe that there are no men in armour
+travelling on any of these roads, nothing but carriers and carters,
+who not only do not wear helmets, but perhaps never heard tell of them
+all their lives."
+
+"Thou art wrong there," said Don Quixote, "for we shall not have
+been above two hours among these cross-roads before we see more men in
+armour than came to Albraca to win the fair Angelica."
+
+"Enough," said Sancho; "so be it then, and God grant us success, and
+that the time for winning that island which is costing me so dear
+may soon come, and then let me die."
+
+"I have already told thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "not to give
+thyself any uneasiness on that score; for if an island should fail,
+there is the kingdom of Denmark, or of Sobradisa, which will fit
+thee as a ring fits the finger, and all the more that, being on
+terra firma, thou wilt all the better enjoy thyself. But let us
+leave that to its own time; see if thou hast anything for us to eat in
+those alforjas, because we must presently go in quest of some castle
+where we may lodge to-night and make the balsam I told thee of, for
+I swear to thee by God, this ear is giving me great pain."
+
+"I have here an onion and a little cheese and a few scraps of
+bread," said Sancho, "but they are not victuals fit for a valiant
+knight like your worship."
+
+"How little thou knowest about it," answered Don Quixote; "I would
+have thee to know, Sancho, that it is the glory of knights-errant to
+go without eating for a month, and even when they do eat, that it
+should be of what comes first to hand; and this would have been
+clear to thee hadst thou read as many histories as I have, for, though
+they are very many, among them all I have found no mention made of
+knights-errant eating, unless by accident or at some sumptuous
+banquets prepared for them, and the rest of the time they passed in
+dalliance. And though it is plain they could not do without eating and
+performing all the other natural functions, because, in fact, they
+were men like ourselves, it is plain too that, wandering as they did
+the most part of their lives through woods and wilds and without a
+cook, their most usual fare would be rustic viands such as those
+thou now offer me; so that, friend Sancho, let not that distress
+thee which pleases me, and do not seek to make a new world or
+pervert knight-errantry."
+
+"Pardon me, your worship," said Sancho, "for, as I cannot read or
+write, as I said just now, I neither know nor comprehend the rules
+of the profession of chivalry: henceforward I will stock the
+alforjas with every kind of dry fruit for your worship, as you are a
+knight; and for myself, as I am not one, I will furnish them with
+poultry and other things more substantial."
+
+"I do not say, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "that it is
+imperative on knights-errant not to eat anything else but the fruits
+thou speakest of; only that their more usual diet must be those, and
+certain herbs they found in the fields which they knew and I know
+too."
+
+"A good thing it is," answered Sancho, "to know those herbs, for
+to my thinking it will be needful some day to put that knowledge
+into practice."
+
+And here taking out what he said he had brought, the pair made their
+repast peaceably and sociably. But anxious to find quarters for the
+night, they with all despatch made an end of their poor dry fare,
+mounted at once, and made haste to reach some habitation before
+night set in; but daylight and the hope of succeeding in their
+object failed them close by the huts of some goatherds, so they
+determined to pass the night there, and it was as much to Sancho's
+discontent not to have reached a house, as it was to his master's
+satisfaction to sleep under the open heaven, for he fancied that
+each time this happened to him he performed an act of ownership that
+helped to prove his chivalry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+OF WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE WITH CERTAIN GOATHERDS
+
+He was cordially welcomed by the goatherds, and Sancho, having as
+best he could put up Rocinante and the ass, drew towards the fragrance
+that came from some pieces of salted goat simmering in a pot on the
+fire; and though he would have liked at once to try if they were ready
+to be transferred from the pot to the stomach, he refrained from doing
+so as the goatherds removed them from the fire, and laying
+sheepskins on the ground, quickly spread their rude table, and with
+signs of hearty good-will invited them both to share what they had.
+Round the skins six of the men belonging to the fold seated
+themselves, having first with rough politeness pressed Don Quixote
+to take a seat upon a trough which they placed for him upside down.
+Don Quixote seated himself, and Sancho remained standing to serve
+the cup, which was made of horn. Seeing him standing, his master
+said to him:
+
+"That thou mayest see, Sancho, the good that knight-errantry
+contains in itself, and how those who fill any office in it are on the
+high road to be speedily honoured and esteemed by the world, I
+desire that thou seat thyself here at my side and in the company of
+these worthy people, and that thou be one with me who am thy master
+and natural lord, and that thou eat from my plate and drink from
+whatever I drink from; for the same may be said of knight-errantry
+as of love, that it levels all."
+
+"Great thanks," said Sancho, "but I may tell your worship that
+provided I have enough to eat, I can eat it as well, or better,
+standing, and by myself, than seated alongside of an emperor. And
+indeed, if the truth is to be told, what I eat in my corner without
+form or fuss has much more relish for me, even though it be bread
+and onions, than the turkeys of those other tables where I am forced
+to chew slowly, drink little, wipe my mouth every minute, and cannot
+sneeze or cough if I want or do other things that are the privileges
+of liberty and solitude. So, senor, as for these honours which your
+worship would put upon me as a servant and follower of
+knight-errantry, exchange them for other things which may be of more
+use and advantage to me; for these, though I fully acknowledge them as
+received, I renounce from this moment to the end of the world."
+
+"For all that," said Don Quixote, "thou must seat thyself, because
+him who humbleth himself God exalteth;" and seizing him by the arm
+he forced him to sit down beside himself.
+
+The goatherds did not understand this jargon about squires and
+knights-errant, and all they did was to eat in silence and stare at
+their guests, who with great elegance and appetite were stowing away
+pieces as big as one's fist. The course of meat finished, they
+spread upon the sheepskins a great heap of parched acorns, and with
+them they put down a half cheese harder than if it had been made of
+mortar. All this while the horn was not idle, for it went round so
+constantly, now full, now empty, like the bucket of a water-wheel,
+that it soon drained one of the two wine-skins that were in sight.
+When Don Quixote had quite appeased his appetite he took up a
+handful of the acorns, and contemplating them attentively delivered
+himself somewhat in this fashion:
+
+"Happy the age, happy the time, to which the ancients gave the
+name of golden, not because in that fortunate age the gold so
+coveted in this our iron one was gained without toil, but because they
+that lived in it knew not the two words "mine" and "thine"! In that
+blessed age all things were in common; to win the daily food no labour
+was required of any save to stretch forth his hand and gather it
+from the sturdy oaks that stood generously inviting him with their
+sweet ripe fruit. The clear streams and running brooks yielded their
+savoury limpid waters in noble abundance. The busy and sagacious
+bees fixed their republic in the clefts of the rocks and hollows of
+the trees, offering without usance the plenteous produce of their
+fragrant toil to every hand. The mighty cork trees, unenforced save of
+their own courtesy, shed the broad light bark that served at first
+to roof the houses supported by rude stakes, a protection against
+the inclemency of heaven alone. Then all was peace, all friendship,
+all concord; as yet the dull share of the crooked plough had not dared
+to rend and pierce the tender bowels of our first mother that
+without compulsion yielded from every portion of her broad fertile
+bosom all that could satisfy, sustain, and delight the children that
+then possessed her. Then was it that the innocent and fair young
+shepherdess roamed from vale to vale and hill to hill, with flowing
+locks, and no more garments than were needful modestly to cover what
+modesty seeks and ever sought to hide. Nor were their ornaments like
+those in use to-day, set off by Tyrian purple, and silk tortured in
+endless fashions, but the wreathed leaves of the green dock and ivy,
+wherewith they went as bravely and becomingly decked as our Court
+dames with all the rare and far-fetched artifices that idle
+curiosity has taught them. Then the love-thoughts of the heart clothed
+themselves simply and naturally as the heart conceived them, nor
+sought to commend themselves by forced and rambling verbiage. Fraud,
+deceit, or malice had then not yet mingled with truth and sincerity.
+Justice held her ground, undisturbed and unassailed by the efforts
+of favour and of interest, that now so much impair, pervert, and beset
+her. Arbitrary law had not yet established itself in the mind of the
+judge, for then there was no cause to judge and no one to be judged.
+Maidens and modesty, as I have said, wandered at will alone and
+unattended, without fear of insult from lawlessness or libertine
+assault, and if they were undone it was of their own will and
+pleasure. But now in this hateful age of ours not one is safe, not
+though some new labyrinth like that of Crete conceal and surround her;
+even there the pestilence of gallantry will make its way to them
+through chinks or on the air by the zeal of its accursed
+importunity, and, despite of all seclusion, lead them to ruin. In
+defence of these, as time advanced and wickedness increased, the order
+of knights-errant was instituted, to defend maidens, to protect widows
+and to succour the orphans and the needy. To this order I belong,
+brother goatherds, to whom I return thanks for the hospitality and
+kindly welcome ye offer me and my squire; for though by natural law
+all living are bound to show favour to knights-errant, yet, seeing
+that without knowing this obligation ye have welcomed and feasted
+me, it is right that with all the good-will in my power I should thank
+you for yours."
+
+All this long harangue (which might very well have been spared)
+our knight delivered because the acorns they gave him reminded him
+of the golden age; and the whim seized him to address all this
+unnecessary argument to the goatherds, who listened to him gaping in
+amazement without saying a word in reply. Sancho likewise held his
+peace and ate acorns, and paid repeated visits to the second
+wine-skin, which they had hung up on a cork tree to keep the wine
+cool.
+
+Don Quixote was longer in talking than the supper in finishing, at
+the end of which one of the goatherds said, "That your worship,
+senor knight-errant, may say with more truth that we show you
+hospitality with ready good-will, we will give you amusement and
+pleasure by making one of our comrades sing: he will be here before
+long, and he is a very intelligent youth and deep in love, and what is
+more he can read and write and play on the rebeck to perfection."
+
+The goatherd had hardly done speaking, when the notes of the
+rebeck reached their ears; and shortly after, the player came up, a
+very good-looking young man of about two-and-twenty. His comrades
+asked him if he had supped, and on his replying that he had, he who
+had already made the offer said to him:
+
+"In that case, Antonio, thou mayest as well do us the pleasure of
+singing a little, that the gentleman, our guest, may see that even
+in the mountains and woods there are musicians: we have told him of
+thy accomplishments, and we want thee to show them and prove that we
+say true; so, as thou livest, pray sit down and sing that ballad about
+thy love that thy uncle the prebendary made thee, and that was so much
+liked in the town."
+
+"With all my heart," said the young man, and without waiting for
+more pressing he seated himself on the trunk of a felled oak, and
+tuning his rebeck, presently began to sing to these words.
+
+
+
+ANTONIO'S BALLAD
+
+Thou dost love me well, Olalla;
+  Well I know it, even though
+Love's mute tongues, thine eyes, have never
+  By their glances told me so.
+
+For I know my love thou knowest,
+  Therefore thine to claim I dare:
+Once it ceases to be secret,
+  Love need never feel despair.
+
+True it is, Olalla, sometimes
+  Thou hast all too plainly shown
+That thy heart is brass in hardness,
+  And thy snowy bosom stone.
+
+Yet for all that, in thy coyness,
+  And thy fickle fits between,
+Hope is there- at least the border
+  Of her garment may be seen.
+
+Lures to faith are they, those glimpses,
+  And to faith in thee I hold;
+Kindness cannot make it stronger,
+  Coldness cannot make it cold.
+
+If it be that love is gentle,
+  In thy gentleness I see
+Something holding out assurance
+  To the hope of winning thee.
+
+If it be that in devotion
+  Lies a power hearts to move,
+That which every day I show thee,
+  Helpful to my suit should prove.
+
+Many a time thou must have noticed-
+  If to notice thou dost care-
+How I go about on Monday
+  Dressed in all my Sunday wear.
+
+Love's eyes love to look on brightness;
+  Love loves what is gaily drest;
+Sunday, Monday, all I care is
+  Thou shouldst see me in my best.
+
+No account I make of dances,
+  Or of strains that pleased thee so,
+Keeping thee awake from midnight
+  Till the cocks began to crow;
+
+Or of how I roundly swore it
+  That there's none so fair as thou;
+True it is, but as I said it,
+  By the girls I'm hated now.
+
+For Teresa of the hillside
+  At my praise of thee was sore;
+Said, "You think you love an angel;
+  It's a monkey you adore;
+
+"Caught by all her glittering trinkets,
+  And her borrowed braids of hair,
+And a host of made-up beauties
+  That would Love himself ensnare."
+
+'T was a lie, and so I told her,
+  And her cousin at the word
+Gave me his defiance for it;
+  And what followed thou hast heard.
+
+Mine is no high-flown affection,
+  Mine no passion par amours-
+As they call it- what I offer
+  Is an honest love, and pure.
+
+Cunning cords the holy Church has,
+  Cords of softest silk they be;
+Put thy neck beneath the yoke, dear;
+  Mine will follow, thou wilt see.
+
+Else- and once for all I swear it
+  By the saint of most renown-
+If I ever quit the mountains,
+  'T will be in a friar's gown.
+
+
+Here the goatherd brought his song to an end, and though Don Quixote
+entreated him to sing more, Sancho had no mind that way, being more
+inclined for sleep than for listening to songs; so said he to his
+master, "Your worship will do well to settle at once where you mean to
+pass the night, for the labour these good men are at all day does
+not allow them to spend the night in singing."
+
+"I understand thee, Sancho," replied Don Quixote; "I perceive
+clearly that those visits to the wine-skin demand compensation in
+sleep rather than in music."
+
+"It's sweet to us all, blessed be God," said Sancho.
+
+"I do not deny it," replied Don Quixote; "but settle thyself where
+thou wilt; those of my calling are more becomingly employed in
+watching than in sleeping; still it would be as well if thou wert to
+dress this ear for me again, for it is giving me more pain than it
+need."
+
+Sancho did as he bade him, but one of the goatherds, seeing the
+wound, told him not to be uneasy, as he would apply a remedy with
+which it would be soon healed; and gathering some leaves of
+rosemary, of which there was a great quantity there, he chewed them
+and mixed them with a little salt, and applying them to the ear he
+secured them firmly with a bandage, assuring him that no other
+treatment would be required, and so it proved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OF WHAT A GOATHERD RELATED TO THOSE WITH DON QUIXOTE
+
+Just then another young man, one of those who fetched their
+provisions from the village, came up and said, "Do you know what is
+going on in the village, comrades?"
+
+"How could we know it?" replied one of them.
+
+"Well, then, you must know," continued the young man, "this
+morning that famous student-shepherd called Chrysostom died, and it is
+rumoured that he died of love for that devil of a village girl the
+daughter of Guillermo the Rich, she that wanders about the wolds
+here in the dress of a shepherdess."
+
+"You mean Marcela?" said one.
+
+"Her I mean," answered the goatherd; "and the best of it is, he
+has directed in his will that he is to be buried in the fields like
+a Moor, and at the foot of the rock where the Cork-tree spring is,
+because, as the story goes (and they say he himself said so), that was
+the place where he first saw her. And he has also left other
+directions which the clergy of the village say should not and must not
+be obeyed because they savour of paganism. To all which his great
+friend Ambrosio the student, he who, like him, also went dressed as
+a shepherd, replies that everything must be done without any
+omission according to the directions left by Chrysostom, and about
+this the village is all in commotion; however, report says that, after
+all, what Ambrosio and all the shepherds his friends desire will be
+done, and to-morrow they are coming to bury him with great ceremony
+where I said. I am sure it will be something worth seeing; at least
+I will not fail to go and see it even if I knew I should not return to
+the village tomorrow."
+
+"We will do the same," answered the goatherds, "and cast lots to see
+who must stay to mind the goats of all."
+
+"Thou sayest well, Pedro," said one, "though there will be no need
+of taking that trouble, for I will stay behind for all; and don't
+suppose it is virtue or want of curiosity in me; it is that the
+splinter that ran into my foot the other day will not let me walk."
+
+"For all that, we thank thee," answered Pedro.
+
+Don Quixote asked Pedro to tell him who the dead man was and who the
+shepherdess, to which Pedro replied that all he knew was that the dead
+man was a wealthy gentleman belonging to a village in those mountains,
+who had been a student at Salamanca for many years, at the end of
+which he returned to his village with the reputation of being very
+learned and deeply read. "Above all, they said, he was learned in
+the science of the stars and of what went on yonder in the heavens and
+the sun and the moon, for he told us of the cris of the sun and moon
+to exact time."
+
+"Eclipse it is called, friend, not cris, the darkening of those
+two luminaries," said Don Quixote; but Pedro, not troubling himself
+with trifles, went on with his story, saying, "Also he foretold when
+the year was going to be one of abundance or estility."
+
+"Sterility, you mean," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Sterility or estility," answered Pedro, "it is all the same in
+the end. And I can tell you that by this his father and friends who
+believed him grew very rich because they did as he advised them,
+bidding them 'sow barley this year, not wheat; this year you may sow
+pulse and not barley; the next there will be a full oil crop, and
+the three following not a drop will be got.'"
+
+"That science is called astrology," said Don Quixote.
+
+"I do not know what it is called," replied Pedro, "but I know that
+he knew all this and more besides. But, to make an end, not many
+months had passed after he returned from Salamanca, when one day he
+appeared dressed as a shepherd with his crook and sheepskin, having
+put off the long gown he wore as a scholar; and at the same time his
+great friend, Ambrosio by name, who had been his companion in his
+studies, took to the shepherd's dress with him. I forgot to say that
+Chrysostom, who is dead, was a great man for writing verses, so much
+so that he made carols for Christmas Eve, and plays for Corpus
+Christi, which the young men of our village acted, and all said they
+were excellent. When the villagers saw the two scholars so
+unexpectedly appearing in shepherd's dress, they were lost in
+wonder, and could not guess what had led them to make so extraordinary
+a change. About this time the father of our Chrysostom died, and he
+was left heir to a large amount of property in chattels as well as
+in land, no small number of cattle and sheep, and a large sum of
+money, of all of which the young man was left dissolute owner, and
+indeed he was deserving of it all, for he was a very good comrade, and
+kind-hearted, and a friend of worthy folk, and had a countenance
+like a benediction. Presently it came to be known that he had
+changed his dress with no other object than to wander about these
+wastes after that shepherdess Marcela our lad mentioned a while ago,
+with whom the deceased Chrysostom had fallen in love. And I must
+tell you now, for it is well you should know it, who this girl is;
+perhaps, and even without any perhaps, you will not have heard
+anything like it all the days of your life, though you should live
+more years than sarna."
+
+"Say Sarra," said Don Quixote, unable to endure the goatherd's
+confusion of words.
+
+"The sarna lives long enough," answered Pedro; "and if, senor, you
+must go finding fault with words at every step, we shall not make an
+end of it this twelvemonth."
+
+"Pardon me, friend," said Don Quixote; "but, as there is such a
+difference between sarna and Sarra, I told you of it; however, you
+have answered very rightly, for sarna lives longer than Sarra: so
+continue your story, and I will not object any more to anything."
+
+"I say then, my dear sir," said the goatherd, "that in our village
+there was a farmer even richer than the father of Chrysostom, who
+was named Guillermo, and upon whom God bestowed, over and above
+great wealth, a daughter at whose birth her mother died, the most
+respected woman there was in this neighbourhood; I fancy I can see her
+now with that countenance which had the sun on one side and the moon
+on the other; and moreover active, and kind to the poor, for which I
+trust that at the present moment her soul is in bliss with God in
+the other world. Her husband Guillermo died of grief at the death of
+so good a wife, leaving his daughter Marcela, a child and rich, to the
+care of an uncle of hers, a priest and prebendary in our village.
+The girl grew up with such beauty that it reminded us of her mother's,
+which was very great, and yet it was thought that the daughter's would
+exceed it; and so when she reached the age of fourteen to fifteen
+years nobody beheld her but blessed God that had made her so
+beautiful, and the greater number were in love with her past
+redemption. Her uncle kept her in great seclusion and retirement,
+but for all that the fame of her great beauty spread so that, as
+well for it as for her great wealth, her uncle was asked, solicited,
+and importuned, to give her in marriage not only by those of our
+town but of those many leagues round, and by the persons of highest
+quality in them. But he, being a good Christian man, though he desired
+to give her in marriage at once, seeing her to be old enough, was
+unwilling to do so without her consent, not that he had any eye to the
+gain and profit which the custody of the girl's property brought him
+while he put off her marriage; and, faith, this was said in praise
+of the good priest in more than one set in the town. For I would
+have you know, Sir Errant, that in these little villages everything is
+talked about and everything is carped at, and rest assured, as I am,
+that the priest must be over and above good who forces his
+parishioners to speak well of him, especially in villages."
+
+"That is the truth," said Don Quixote; "but go on, for the story
+is very good, and you, good Pedro, tell it with very good grace."
+
+"May that of the Lord not be wanting to me," said Pedro; "that is
+the one to have. To proceed; you must know that though the uncle put
+before his niece and described to her the qualities of each one in
+particular of the many who had asked her in marriage, begging her to
+marry and make a choice according to her own taste, she never gave any
+other answer than that she had no desire to marry just yet, and that
+being so young she did not think herself fit to bear the burden of
+matrimony. At these, to all appearance, reasonable excuses that she
+made, her uncle ceased to urge her, and waited till she was somewhat
+more advanced in age and could mate herself to her own liking. For,
+said he- and he said quite right- parents are not to settle children
+in life against their will. But when one least looked for it, lo and
+behold! one day the demure Marcela makes her appearance turned
+shepherdess; and, in spite of her uncle and all those of the town that
+strove to dissuade her, took to going a-field with the other
+shepherd-lasses of the village, and tending her own flock. And so,
+since she appeared in public, and her beauty came to be seen openly, I
+could not well tell you how many rich youths, gentlemen and
+peasants, have adopted the costume of Chrysostom, and go about these
+fields making love to her. One of these, as has been already said, was
+our deceased friend, of whom they say that he did not love but adore
+her. But you must not suppose, because Marcela chose a life of such
+liberty and independence, and of so little or rather no retirement,
+that she has given any occasion, or even the semblance of one, for
+disparagement of her purity and modesty; on the contrary, such and
+so great is the vigilance with which she watches over her honour, that
+of all those that court and woo her not one has boasted, or can with
+truth boast, that she has given him any hope however small of
+obtaining his desire. For although she does not avoid or shun the
+society and conversation of the shepherds, and treats them courteously
+and kindly, should any one of them come to declare his intention to
+her, though it be one as proper and holy as that of matrimony, she
+flings him from her like a catapult. And with this kind of disposition
+she does more harm in this country than if the plague had got into it,
+for her affability and her beauty draw on the hearts of those that
+associate with her to love her and to court her, but her scorn and her
+frankness bring them to the brink of despair; and so they know not
+what to say save to proclaim her aloud cruel and hard-hearted, and
+other names of the same sort which well describe the nature of her
+character; and if you should remain here any time, senor, you would
+hear these hills and valleys resounding with the laments of the
+rejected ones who pursue her. Not far from this there is a spot
+where there are a couple of dozen of tall beeches, and there is not
+one of them but has carved and written on its smooth bark the name
+of Marcela, and above some a crown carved on the same tree as though
+her lover would say more plainly that Marcela wore and deserved that
+of all human beauty. Here one shepherd is sighing, there another is
+lamenting; there love songs are heard, here despairing elegies. One
+will pass all the hours of the night seated at the foot of some oak or
+rock, and there, without having closed his weeping eyes, the sun finds
+him in the morning bemused and bereft of sense; and another without
+relief or respite to his sighs, stretched on the burning sand in the
+full heat of the sultry summer noontide, makes his appeal to the
+compassionate heavens, and over one and the other, over these and all,
+the beautiful Marcela triumphs free and careless. And all of us that
+know her are waiting to see what her pride will come to, and who is to
+be the happy man that will succeed in taming a nature so formidable
+and gaining possession of a beauty so supreme. All that I have told
+you being such well-established truth, I am persuaded that what they
+say of the cause of Chrysostom's death, as our lad told us, is the
+same. And so I advise you, senor, fail not to be present to-morrow
+at his burial, which will be well worth seeing, for Chrysostom had
+many friends, and it is not half a league from this place to where
+he directed he should be buried."
+
+"I will make a point of it," said Don Quixote, "and I thank you
+for the pleasure you have given me by relating so interesting a tale."
+
+"Oh," said the goatherd, "I do not know even the half of what has
+happened to the lovers of Marcela, but perhaps to-morrow we may fall
+in with some shepherd on the road who can tell us; and now it will
+be well for you to go and sleep under cover, for the night air may
+hurt your wound, though with the remedy I have applied to you there is
+no fear of an untoward result."
+
+Sancho Panza, who was wishing the goatherd's loquacity at the devil,
+on his part begged his master to go into Pedro's hut to sleep. He
+did so, and passed all the rest of the night in thinking of his lady
+Dulcinea, in imitation of the lovers of Marcela. Sancho Panza settled
+himself between Rocinante and his ass, and slept, not like a lover
+who had been discarded, but like a man who had been soundly kicked.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+IN WHICH IS ENDED THE STORY OF THE SHEPHERDESS MARCELA, WITH OTHER
+INCIDENTS
+
+Bit hardly had day begun to show itself through the balconies of the
+east, when five of the six goatherds came to rouse Don Quixote and
+tell him that if he was still of a mind to go and see the famous
+burial of Chrysostom they would bear him company. Don Quixote, who
+desired nothing better, rose and ordered Sancho to saddle and pannel
+at once, which he did with all despatch, and with the same they all
+set out forthwith. They had not gone a quarter of a league when at the
+meeting of two paths they saw coming towards them some six shepherds
+dressed in black sheepskins and with their heads crowned with garlands
+of cypress and bitter oleander. Each of them carried a stout holly
+staff in his hand, and along with them there came two men of quality
+on horseback in handsome travelling dress, with three servants on foot
+accompanying them. Courteous salutations were exchanged on meeting,
+and inquiring one of the other which way each party was going, they
+learned that all were bound for the scene of the burial, so they
+went on all together.
+
+One of those on horseback addressing his companion said to him,
+"It seems to me, Senor Vivaldo, that we may reckon as well spent the
+delay we shall incur in seeing this remarkable funeral, for remarkable
+it cannot but be judging by the strange things these shepherds have
+told us, of both the dead shepherd and homicide shepherdess."
+
+"So I think too," replied Vivaldo, "and I would delay not to say a
+day, but four, for the sake of seeing it."
+
+Don Quixote asked them what it was they had heard of Marcela and
+Chrysostom. The traveller answered that the same morning they had
+met these shepherds, and seeing them dressed in this mournful
+fashion they had asked them the reason of their appearing in such a
+guise; which one of them gave, describing the strange behaviour and
+beauty of a shepherdess called Marcela, and the loves of many who
+courted her, together with the death of that Chrysostom to whose
+burial they were going. In short, he repeated all that Pedro had
+related to Don Quixote.
+
+This conversation dropped, and another was commenced by him who
+was called Vivaldo asking Don Quixote what was the reason that led him
+to go armed in that fashion in a country so peaceful. To which Don
+Quixote replied, "The pursuit of my calling does not allow or permit
+me to go in any other fashion; easy life, enjoyment, and repose were
+invented for soft courtiers, but toil, unrest, and arms were
+invented and made for those alone whom the world calls knights-errant,
+of whom I, though unworthy, am the least of all."
+
+The instant they heard this all set him down as mad, and the
+better to settle the point and discover what kind of madness his
+was, Vivaldo proceeded to ask him what knights-errant meant.
+
+"Have not your worships," replied Don Quixote, "read the annals
+and histories of England, in which are recorded the famous deeds of
+King Arthur, whom we in our popular Castilian invariably call King
+Artus, with regard to whom it is an ancient tradition, and commonly
+received all over that kingdom of Great Britain, that this king did
+not die, but was changed by magic art into a raven, and that in
+process of time he is to return to reign and recover his kingdom and
+sceptre; for which reason it cannot be proved that from that time to
+this any Englishman ever killed a raven? Well, then, in the time of
+this good king that famous order of chivalry of the Knights of the
+Round Table was instituted, and the amour of Don Lancelot of the
+Lake with the Queen Guinevere occurred, precisely as is there related,
+the go-between and confidante therein being the highly honourable dame
+Quintanona, whence came that ballad so well known and widely spread in
+our Spain-
+
+O never surely was there knight
+  So served by hand of dame,
+As served was he Sir Lancelot hight
+  When he from Britain came-
+
+with all the sweet and delectable course of his achievements in love
+and war. Handed down from that time, then, this order of chivalry went
+on extending and spreading itself over many and various parts of the
+world; and in it, famous and renowned for their deeds, were the mighty
+Amadis of Gaul with all his sons and descendants to the fifth
+generation, and the valiant Felixmarte of Hircania, and the never
+sufficiently praised Tirante el Blanco, and in our own days almost
+we have seen and heard and talked with the invincible knight Don
+Belianis of Greece. This, then, sirs, is to be a knight-errant, and
+what I have spoken of is the order of his chivalry, of which, as I
+have already said, I, though a sinner, have made profession, and
+what the aforesaid knights professed that same do I profess, and so
+I go through these solitudes and wilds seeking adventures, resolved in
+soul to oppose my arm and person to the most perilous that fortune may
+offer me in aid of the weak and needy."
+
+By these words of his the travellers were able to satisfy themselves
+of Don Quixote's being out of his senses and of the form of madness
+that overmastered him, at which they felt the same astonishment that
+all felt on first becoming acquainted with it; and Vivaldo, who was
+a person of great shrewdness and of a lively temperament, in order
+to beguile the short journey which they said was required to reach the
+mountain, the scene of the burial, sought to give him an opportunity
+of going on with his absurdities. So he said to him, "It seems to
+me, Senor Knight-errant, that your worship has made choice of one of
+the most austere professions in the world, and I imagine even that
+of the Carthusian monks is not so austere."
+
+"As austere it may perhaps be," replied our Don Quixote, "but so
+necessary for the world I am very much inclined to doubt. For, if
+the truth is to be told, the soldier who executes what his captain
+orders does no less than the captain himself who gives the order. My
+meaning, is, that churchmen in peace and quiet pray to Heaven for
+the welfare of the world, but we soldiers and knights carry into
+effect what they pray for, defending it with the might of our arms and
+the edge of our swords, not under shelter but in the open air, a
+target for the intolerable rays of the sun in summer and the
+piercing frosts of winter. Thus are we God's ministers on earth and
+the arms by which his justice is done therein. And as the business
+of war and all that relates and belongs to it cannot be conducted
+without exceeding great sweat, toil, and exertion, it follows that
+those who make it their profession have undoubtedly more labour than
+those who in tranquil peace and quiet are engaged in praying to God to
+help the weak. I do not mean to say, nor does it enter into my
+thoughts, that the knight-errant's calling is as good as that of the
+monk in his cell; I would merely infer from what I endure myself
+that it is beyond a doubt a more laborious and a more belaboured
+one, a hungrier and thirstier, a wretcheder, raggeder, and lousier;
+for there is no reason to doubt that the knights-errant of yore
+endured much hardship in the course of their lives. And if some of
+them by the might of their arms did rise to be emperors, in faith it
+cost them dear in the matter of blood and sweat; and if those who
+attained to that rank had not had magicians and sages to help them
+they would have been completely baulked in their ambition and
+disappointed in their hopes."
+
+"That is my own opinion," replied the traveller; "but one thing
+among many others seems to me very wrong in knights-errant, and that
+is that when they find themselves about to engage in some mighty and
+perilous adventure in which there is manifest danger of losing their
+lives, they never at the moment of engaging in it think of
+commending themselves to God, as is the duty of every good Christian
+in like peril; instead of which they commend themselves to their
+ladies with as much devotion as if these were their gods, a thing
+which seems to me to savour somewhat of heathenism."
+
+"Sir," answered Don Quixote, "that cannot be on any account omitted,
+and the knight-errant would be disgraced who acted otherwise: for it
+is usual and customary in knight-errantry that the knight-errant,
+who on engaging in any great feat of arms has his lady before him,
+should turn his eyes towards her softly and lovingly, as though with
+them entreating her to favour and protect him in the hazardous venture
+he is about to undertake, and even though no one hear him, he is bound
+to say certain words between his teeth, commending himself to her with
+all his heart, and of this we have innumerable instances in the
+histories. Nor is it to be supposed from this that they are to omit
+commending themselves to God, for there will be time and opportunity
+for doing so while they are engaged in their task."
+
+"For all that," answered the traveller, "I feel some doubt still,
+because often I have read how words will arise between two
+knights-errant, and from one thing to another it comes about that
+their anger kindles and they wheel their horses round and take a
+good stretch of field, and then without any more ado at the top of
+their speed they come to the charge, and in mid-career they are wont
+to commend themselves to their ladies; and what commonly comes of
+the encounter is that one falls over the haunches of his horse pierced
+through and through by his antagonist's lance, and as for the other,
+it is only by holding on to the mane of his horse that he can help
+falling to the ground; but I know not how the dead man had time to
+commend himself to God in the course of such rapid work as this; it
+would have been better if those words which he spent in commending
+himself to his lady in the midst of his career had been devoted to his
+duty and obligation as a Christian. Moreover, it is my belief that all
+knights-errant have not ladies to commend themselves to, for they
+are not all in love."
+
+"That is impossible," said Don Quixote: "I say it is impossible that
+there could be a knight-errant without a lady, because to such it is
+as natural and proper to be in love as to the heavens to have stars:
+most certainly no history has been seen in which there is to be
+found a knight-errant without an amour, and for the simple reason that
+without one he would be held no legitimate knight but a bastard, and
+one who had gained entrance into the stronghold of the said
+knighthood, not by the door, but over the wall like a thief and a
+robber."
+
+"Nevertheless," said the traveller, "if I remember rightly, I
+think I have read that Don Galaor, the brother of the valiant Amadis
+of Gaul, never had any special lady to whom he might commend
+himself, and yet he was not the less esteemed, and was a very stout
+and famous knight."
+
+To which our Don Quixote made answer, "Sir, one solitary swallow
+does not make summer; moreover, I know that knight was in secret
+very deeply in love; besides which, that way of falling in love with
+all that took his fancy was a natural propensity which he could not
+control. But, in short, it is very manifest that he had one alone whom
+he made mistress of his will, to whom he commended himself very
+frequently and very secretly, for he prided himself on being a
+reticent knight."
+
+"Then if it be essential that every knight-errant should be in
+love," said the traveller, "it may be fairly supposed that your
+worship is so, as you are of the order; and if you do not pride
+yourself on being as reticent as Don Galaor, I entreat you as
+earnestly as I can, in the name of all this company and in my own,
+to inform us of the name, country, rank, and beauty of your lady,
+for she will esteem herself fortunate if all the world knows that
+she is loved and served by such a knight as your worship seems to be."
+
+At this Don Quixote heaved a deep sigh and said, "I cannot say
+positively whether my sweet enemy is pleased or not that the world
+should know I serve her; I can only say in answer to what has been
+so courteously asked of me, that her name is Dulcinea, her country
+El Toboso, a village of La Mancha, her rank must be at least that of a
+princess, since she is my queen and lady, and her beauty superhuman,
+since all the impossible and fanciful attributes of beauty which the
+poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are
+gold, her forehead Elysian fields, her eyebrows rainbows, her eyes
+suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck
+alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her fairness snow, and
+what modesty conceals from sight such, I think and imagine, as
+rational reflection can only extol, not compare."
+
+"We should like to know her lineage, race, and ancestry," said
+Vivaldo.
+
+To which Don Quixote replied, "She is not of the ancient Roman
+Curtii, Caii, or Scipios, nor of the modern Colonnas or Orsini, nor of
+the Moncadas or Requesenes of Catalonia, nor yet of the Rebellas or
+Villanovas of Valencia; Palafoxes, Nuzas, Rocabertis, Corellas, Lunas,
+Alagones, Urreas, Foces, or Gurreas of Aragon; Cerdas, Manriques,
+Mendozas, or Guzmans of Castile; Alencastros, Pallas, or Meneses of
+Portugal; but she is of those of El Toboso of La Mancha, a lineage
+that though modern, may furnish a source of gentle blood for the
+most illustrious families of the ages that are to come, and this let
+none dispute with me save on the condition that Zerbino placed at
+the foot of the trophy of Orlando's arms, saying,
+
+'These let none move
+  Who dareth not his might with Roland prove.'"
+
+
+"Although mine is of the Cachopins of Laredo," said the traveller,
+"I will not venture to compare it with that of El Toboso of La Mancha,
+though, to tell the truth, no such surname has until now ever
+reached my ears."
+
+"What!" said Don Quixote, "has that never reached them?"
+
+The rest of the party went along listening with great attention to
+the conversation of the pair, and even the very goatherds and
+shepherds perceived how exceedingly out of his wits our Don Quixote
+was. Sancho Panza alone thought that what his master said was the
+truth, knowing who he was and having known him from his birth; and all
+that he felt any difficulty in believing was that about the fair
+Dulcinea del Toboso, because neither any such name nor any such
+princess had ever come to his knowledge though he lived so close to El
+Toboso. They were going along conversing in this way, when they saw
+descending a gap between two high mountains some twenty shepherds, all
+clad in sheepskins of black wool, and crowned with garlands which,
+as afterwards appeared, were, some of them of yew, some of cypress.
+Six of the number were carrying a bier covered with a great variety of
+flowers and branches, on seeing which one of the goatherds said,
+"Those who come there are the bearers of Chrysostom's body, and the
+foot of that mountain is the place where he ordered them to bury him."
+They therefore made haste to reach the spot, and did so by the time
+those who came had laid the bier upon the ground, and four of them
+with sharp pickaxes were digging a grave by the side of a hard rock.
+They greeted each other courteously, and then Don Quixote and those
+who accompanied him turned to examine the bier, and on it, covered
+with flowers, they saw a dead body in the dress of a shepherd, to
+all appearance of one thirty years of age, and showing even in death
+that in life he had been of comely features and gallant bearing.
+Around him on the bier itself were laid some books, and several papers
+open and folded; and those who were looking on as well as those who
+were opening the grave and all the others who were there preserved a
+strange silence, until one of those who had borne the body said to
+another, "Observe carefully, Ambrosia if this is the place
+Chrysostom spoke of, since you are anxious that what he directed in
+his will should be so strictly complied with."
+
+"This is the place," answered Ambrosia "for in it many a time did my
+poor friend tell me the story of his hard fortune. Here it was, he
+told me, that he saw for the first time that mortal enemy of the human
+race, and here, too, for the first time he declared to her his
+passion, as honourable as it was devoted, and here it was that at last
+Marcela ended by scorning and rejecting him so as to bring the tragedy
+of his wretched life to a close; here, in memory of misfortunes so
+great, he desired to be laid in the bowels of eternal oblivion."
+Then turning to Don Quixote and the travellers he went on to say,
+"That body, sirs, on which you are looking with compassionate eyes,
+was the abode of a soul on which Heaven bestowed a vast share of its
+riches. That is the body of Chrysostom, who was unrivalled in wit,
+unequalled in courtesy, unapproached in gentle bearing, a phoenix in
+friendship, generous without limit, grave without arrogance, gay
+without vulgarity, and, in short, first in all that constitutes
+goodness and second to none in all that makes up misfortune. He
+loved deeply, he was hated; he adored, he was scorned; he wooed a wild
+beast, he pleaded with marble, he pursued the wind, he cried to the
+wilderness, he served ingratitude, and for reward was made the prey of
+death in the mid-course of life, cut short by a shepherdess whom he
+sought to immortalise in the memory of man, as these papers which
+you see could fully prove, had he not commanded me to consign them
+to the fire after having consigned his body to the earth."
+
+"You would deal with them more harshly and cruelly than their
+owner himself," said Vivaldo, "for it is neither right nor proper to
+do the will of one who enjoins what is wholly unreasonable; it would
+not have been reasonable in Augustus Caesar had he permitted the
+directions left by the divine Mantuan in his will to be carried into
+effect. So that, Senor Ambrosia while you consign your friend's body
+to the earth, you should not consign his writings to oblivion, for
+if he gave the order in bitterness of heart, it is not right that
+you should irrationally obey it. On the contrary, by granting life
+to those papers, let the cruelty of Marcela live for ever, to serve as
+a warning in ages to come to all men to shun and avoid falling into
+like danger; or I and all of us who have come here know already the
+story of this your love-stricken and heart-broken friend, and we know,
+too, your friendship, and the cause of his death, and the directions
+he gave at the close of his life; from which sad story may be gathered
+how great was the cruelty of Marcela, the love of Chrysostom, and
+the loyalty of your friendship, together with the end awaiting those
+who pursue rashly the path that insane passion opens to their eyes.
+Last night we learned the death of Chrysostom and that he was to be
+buried here, and out of curiosity and pity we left our direct road and
+resolved to come and see with our eyes that which when heard of had so
+moved our compassion, and in consideration of that compassion and
+our desire to prove it if we might by condolence, we beg of you,
+excellent Ambrosia, or at least I on my own account entreat you,
+that instead of burning those papers you allow me to carry away some
+of them."
+
+And without waiting for the shepherd's answer, he stretched out
+his hand and took up some of those that were nearest to him; seeing
+which Ambrosio said, "Out of courtesy, senor, I will grant your
+request as to those you have taken, but it is idle to expect me to
+abstain from burning the remainder."
+
+Vivaldo, who was eager to see what the papers contained, opened
+one of them at once, and saw that its title was "Lay of Despair."
+
+Ambrosio hearing it said, "That is the last paper the unhappy man
+wrote; and that you may see, senor, to what an end his misfortunes
+brought him, read it so that you may be heard, for you will have
+time enough for that while we are waiting for the grave to be dug."
+
+"I will do so very willingly," said Vivaldo; and as all the
+bystanders were equally eager they gathered round him, and he, reading
+in a loud voice, found that it ran as follows.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+WHEREIN ARE INSERTED THE DESPAIRING VERSES OF THE DEAD SHEPHERD,
+TOGETHER WITH OTHER INCIDENTS NOT LOOKED FOR
+
+
+
+THE LAY OF CHRYSOSTOM
+
+  Since thou dost in thy cruelty desire
+The ruthless rigour of thy tyranny
+From tongue to tongue, from land to land proclaimed,
+The very Hell will I constrain to lend
+This stricken breast of mine deep notes of woe
+To serve my need of fitting utterance.
+And as I strive to body forth the tale
+Of all I suffer, all that thou hast done,
+Forth shall the dread voice roll, and bear along
+Shreds from my vitals torn for greater pain.
+Then listen, not to dulcet harmony,
+But to a discord wrung by mad despair
+Out of this bosom's depths of bitterness,
+To ease my heart and plant a sting in thine.
+
+  The lion's roar, the fierce wolf's savage howl,
+The horrid hissing of the scaly snake,
+The awesome cries of monsters yet unnamed,
+The crow's ill-boding croak, the hollow moan
+Of wild winds wrestling with the restless sea,
+The wrathful bellow of the vanquished bull,
+The plaintive sobbing of the widowed dove,
+The envied owl's sad note, the wail of woe
+That rises from the dreary choir of Hell,
+Commingled in one sound, confusing sense,
+Let all these come to aid my soul's complaint,
+For pain like mine demands new modes of song.
+
+  No echoes of that discord shall be heard
+Where Father Tagus rolls, or on the banks
+Of olive-bordered Betis; to the rocks
+Or in deep caverns shall my plaint be told,
+And by a lifeless tongue in living words;
+Or in dark valleys or on lonely shores,
+Where neither foot of man nor sunbeam falls;
+Or in among the poison-breathing swarms
+Of monsters nourished by the sluggish Nile.
+For, though it be to solitudes remote
+The hoarse vague echoes of my sorrows sound
+Thy matchless cruelty, my dismal fate
+Shall carry them to all the spacious world.
+
+  Disdain hath power to kill, and patience dies
+Slain by suspicion, be it false or true;
+And deadly is the force of jealousy;
+Long absence makes of life a dreary void;
+No hope of happiness can give repose
+To him that ever fears to be forgot;
+And death, inevitable, waits in hall.
+But I, by some strange miracle, live on
+A prey to absence, jealousy, disdain;
+Racked by suspicion as by certainty;
+Forgotten, left to feed my flame alone.
+And while I suffer thus, there comes no ray
+Of hope to gladden me athwart the gloom;
+Nor do I look for it in my despair;
+But rather clinging to a cureless woe,
+All hope do I abjure for evermore.
+
+  Can there be hope where fear is? Were it well,
+When far more certain are the grounds of fear?
+Ought I to shut mine eyes to jealousy,
+If through a thousand heart-wounds it appears?
+Who would not give free access to distrust,
+Seeing disdain unveiled, and- bitter change!-
+All his suspicions turned to certainties,
+And the fair truth transformed into a lie?
+Oh, thou fierce tyrant of the realms of love,
+Oh, Jealousy! put chains upon these hands,
+And bind me with thy strongest cord, Disdain.
+But, woe is me! triumphant over all,
+My sufferings drown the memory of you.
+
+  And now I die, and since there is no hope
+Of happiness for me in life or death,
+Still to my fantasy I'll fondly cling.
+I'll say that he is wise who loveth well,
+And that the soul most free is that most bound
+In thraldom to the ancient tyrant Love.
+I'll say that she who is mine enemy
+In that fair body hath as fair a mind,
+And that her coldness is but my desert,
+And that by virtue of the pain be sends
+Love rules his kingdom with a gentle sway.
+Thus, self-deluding, and in bondage sore,
+And wearing out the wretched shred of life
+To which I am reduced by her disdain,
+I'll give this soul and body to the winds,
+All hopeless of a crown of bliss in store.
+
+  Thou whose injustice hath supplied the cause
+That makes me quit the weary life I loathe,
+As by this wounded bosom thou canst see
+How willingly thy victim I become,
+Let not my death, if haply worth a tear,
+Cloud the clear heaven that dwells in thy bright eyes;
+I would not have thee expiate in aught
+The crime of having made my heart thy prey;
+But rather let thy laughter gaily ring
+And prove my death to be thy festival.
+Fool that I am to bid thee! well I know
+Thy glory gains by my untimely end.
+
+  And now it is the time; from Hell's abyss
+Come thirsting Tantalus, come Sisyphus
+Heaving the cruel stone, come Tityus
+With vulture, and with wheel Ixion come,
+And come the sisters of the ceaseless toil;
+And all into this breast transfer their pains,
+And (if such tribute to despair be due)
+Chant in their deepest tones a doleful dirge
+Over a corse unworthy of a shroud.
+Let the three-headed guardian of the gate,
+And all the monstrous progeny of hell,
+The doleful concert join: a lover dead
+Methinks can have no fitter obsequies.
+
+  Lay of despair, grieve not when thou art gone
+Forth from this sorrowing heart: my misery
+Brings fortune to the cause that gave thee birth;
+Then banish sadness even in the tomb.
+
+
+The "Lay of Chrysostom" met with the approbation of the listeners,
+though the reader said it did not seem to him to agree with what he
+had heard of Marcela's reserve and propriety, for Chrysostom
+complained in it of jealousy, suspicion, and absence, all to the
+prejudice of the good name and fame of Marcela; to which Ambrosio
+replied as one who knew well his friend's most secret thoughts,
+"Senor, to remove that doubt I should tell you that when the unhappy
+man wrote this lay he was away from Marcela, from whom be had
+voluntarily separated himself, to try if absence would act with him as
+it is wont; and as everything distresses and every fear haunts the
+banished lover, so imaginary jealousies and suspicions, dreaded as
+if they were true, tormented Chrysostom; and thus the truth of what
+report declares of the virtue of Marcela remains unshaken, and with
+her envy itself should not and cannot find any fault save that of
+being cruel, somewhat haughty, and very scornful."
+
+"That is true," said Vivaldo; and as he was about to read another
+paper of those he had preserved from the fire, he was stopped by a
+marvellous vision (for such it seemed) that unexpectedly presented
+itself to their eyes; for on the summit of the rock where they were
+digging the grave there appeared the shepherdess Marcela, so beautiful
+that her beauty exceeded its reputation. Those who had never till then
+beheld her gazed upon her in wonder and silence, and those who were
+accustomed to see her were not less amazed than those who had never
+seen her before. But the instant Ambrosio saw her he addressed her,
+with manifest indignation:
+
+"Art thou come, by chance, cruel basilisk of these mountains, to see
+if in thy presence blood will flow from the wounds of this wretched
+being thy cruelty has robbed of life; or is it to exult over the cruel
+work of thy humours that thou art come; or like another pitiless
+Nero to look down from that height upon the ruin of his Rome in
+embers; or in thy arrogance to trample on this ill-fated corpse, as
+the ungrateful daughter trampled on her father Tarquin's? Tell us
+quickly for what thou art come, or what it is thou wouldst have,
+for, as I know the thoughts of Chrysostom never failed to obey thee in
+life, I will make all these who call themselves his friends obey thee,
+though he be dead."
+
+"I come not, Ambrosia for any of the purposes thou hast named,"
+replied Marcela, "but to defend myself and to prove how unreasonable
+are all those who blame me for their sorrow and for Chrysostom's
+death; and therefore I ask all of you that are here to give me your
+attention, for will not take much time or many words to bring the
+truth home to persons of sense. Heaven has made me, so you say,
+beautiful, and so much so that in spite of yourselves my beauty
+leads you to love me; and for the love you show me you say, and even
+urge, that I am bound to love you. By that natural understanding which
+God has given me I know that everything beautiful attracts love, but I
+cannot see how, by reason of being loved, that which is loved for
+its beauty is bound to love that which loves it; besides, it may
+happen that the lover of that which is beautiful may be ugly, and
+ugliness being detestable, it is very absurd to say, "I love thee
+because thou art beautiful, thou must love me though I be ugly." But
+supposing the beauty equal on both sides, it does not follow that
+the inclinations must be therefore alike, for it is not every beauty
+that excites love, some but pleasing the eye without winning the
+affection; and if every sort of beauty excited love and won the heart,
+the will would wander vaguely to and fro unable to make choice of any;
+for as there is an infinity of beautiful objects there must be an
+infinity of inclinations, and true love, I have heard it said, is
+indivisible, and must be voluntary and not compelled. If this be so,
+as I believe it to be, why do you desire me to bend my will by
+force, for no other reason but that you say you love me? Nay- tell me-
+had Heaven made me ugly, as it has made me beautiful, could I with
+justice complain of you for not loving me? Moreover, you must remember
+that the beauty I possess was no choice of mine, for, be it what it
+may, Heaven of its bounty gave it me without my asking or choosing it;
+and as the viper, though it kills with it, does not deserve to be
+blamed for the poison it carries, as it is a gift of nature, neither
+do I deserve reproach for being beautiful; for beauty in a modest
+woman is like fire at a distance or a sharp sword; the one does not
+burn, the other does not cut, those who do not come too near. Honour
+and virtue are the ornaments of the mind, without which the body,
+though it be so, has no right to pass for beautiful; but if modesty is
+one of the virtues that specially lend a grace and charm to mind and
+body, why should she who is loved for her beauty part with it to
+gratify one who for his pleasure alone strives with all his might
+and energy to rob her of it? I was born free, and that I might live in
+freedom I chose the solitude of the fields; in the trees of the
+mountains I find society, the clear waters of the brooks are my
+mirrors, and to the trees and waters I make known my thoughts and
+charms. I am a fire afar off, a sword laid aside. Those whom I have
+inspired with love by letting them see me, I have by words undeceived,
+and if their longings live on hope- and I have given none to
+Chrysostom or to any other- it cannot justly be said that the death of
+any is my doing, for it was rather his own obstinacy than my cruelty
+that killed him; and if it be made a charge against me that his wishes
+were honourable, and that therefore I was bound to yield to them, I
+answer that when on this very spot where now his grave is made he
+declared to me his purity of purpose, I told him that mine was to live
+in perpetual solitude, and that the earth alone should enjoy the
+fruits of my retirement and the spoils of my beauty; and if, after
+this open avowal, he chose to persist against hope and steer against
+the wind, what wonder is it that he should sink in the depths of his
+infatuation? If I had encouraged him, I should be false; if I had
+gratified him, I should have acted against my own better resolution
+and purpose. He was persistent in spite of warning, he despaired
+without being hated. Bethink you now if it be reasonable that his
+suffering should be laid to my charge. Let him who has been deceived
+complain, let him give way to despair whose encouraged hopes have
+proved vain, let him flatter himself whom I shall entice, let him
+boast whom I shall receive; but let not him call me cruel or
+homicide to whom I make no promise, upon whom I practise no deception,
+whom I neither entice nor receive. It has not been so far the will
+of Heaven that I should love by fate, and to expect me to love by
+choice is idle. Let this general declaration serve for each of my
+suitors on his own account, and let it be understood from this time
+forth that if anyone dies for me it is not of jealousy or misery he
+dies, for she who loves no one can give no cause for jealousy to
+any, and candour is not to be confounded with scorn. Let him who calls
+me wild beast and basilisk, leave me alone as something noxious and
+evil; let him who calls me ungrateful, withhold his service; who calls
+me wayward, seek not my acquaintance; who calls me cruel, pursue me
+not; for this wild beast, this basilisk, this ungrateful, cruel,
+wayward being has no kind of desire to seek, serve, know, or follow
+them. If Chrysostom's impatience and violent passion killed him, why
+should my modest behaviour and circumspection be blamed? If I preserve
+my purity in the society of the trees, why should he who would have me
+preserve it among men, seek to rob me of it? I have, as you know,
+wealth of my own, and I covet not that of others; my taste is for
+freedom, and I have no relish for constraint; I neither love nor
+hate anyone; I do not deceive this one or court that, or trifle with
+one or play with another. The modest converse of the shepherd girls of
+these hamlets and the care of my goats are my recreations; my
+desires are bounded by these mountains, and if they ever wander
+hence it is to contemplate the beauty of the heavens, steps by which
+the soul travels to its primeval abode."
+
+With these words, and not waiting to hear a reply, she turned and
+passed into the thickest part of a wood that was hard by, leaving
+all who were there lost in admiration as much of her good sense as
+of her beauty. Some- those wounded by the irresistible shafts launched
+by her bright eyes- made as though they would follow her, heedless
+of the frank declaration they had heard; seeing which, and deeming
+this a fitting occasion for the exercise of his chivalry in aid of
+distressed damsels, Don Quixote, laying his hand on the hilt of his
+sword, exclaimed in a loud and distinct voice:
+
+"Let no one, whatever his rank or condition, dare to follow the
+beautiful Marcela, under pain of incurring my fierce indignation.
+She has shown by clear and satisfactory arguments that little or no
+fault is to be found with her for the death of Chrysostom, and also
+how far she is from yielding to the wishes of any of her lovers, for
+which reason, instead of being followed and persecuted, she should
+in justice be honoured and esteemed by all the good people of the
+world, for she shows that she is the only woman in it that holds to
+such a virtuous resolution."
+
+Whether it was because of the threats of Don Quixote, or because
+Ambrosio told them to fulfil their duty to their good friend, none
+of the shepherds moved or stirred from the spot until, having finished
+the grave and burned Chrysostom's papers, they laid his body in it,
+not without many tears from those who stood by. They closed the
+grave with a heavy stone until a slab was ready which Ambrosio said he
+meant to have prepared, with an epitaph which was to be to this effect:
+
+
+Beneath the stone before your eyes
+The body of a lover lies;
+In life he was a shepherd swain,
+In death a victim to disdain.
+Ungrateful, cruel, coy, and fair,
+Was she that drove him to despair,
+And Love hath made her his ally
+For spreading wide his tyranny.
+
+
+They then strewed upon the grave a profusion of flowers and
+branches, and all expressing their condolence with his friend
+ambrosio, took their Vivaldo and his companion did the same; and Don
+Quixote bade farewell to his hosts and to the travellers, who
+pressed him to come with them to Seville, as being such a convenient
+place for finding adventures, for they presented themselves in every
+street and round every corner oftener than anywhere else. Don
+Quixote thanked them for their advice and for the disposition they
+showed to do him a favour, and said that for the present he would not,
+and must not go to Seville until he had cleared all these mountains of
+highwaymen and robbers, of whom report said they were full. Seeing his
+good intention, the travellers were unwilling to press him further,
+and once more bidding him farewell, they left him and pursued their
+journey, in the course of which they did not fail to discuss the story
+of Marcela and Chrysostom as well as the madness of Don Quixote. He,
+on his part, resolved to go in quest of the shepherdess Marcela, and
+make offer to her of all the service he could render her; but things
+did not fall out with him as he expected, according to what is related
+in the course of this veracious history, of which the Second Part ends
+here.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+IN WHICH IS RELATED THE UNFORTUNATE ADVENTURE THAT DON QUIXOTE
+FELL IN WITH WHEN HE FELL OUT WITH CERTAIN HEARTLESS YANGUESANS
+
+The sage Cide Hamete Benengeli relates that as soon as Don Quixote
+took leave of his hosts and all who had been present at the burial
+of Chrysostom, he and his squire passed into the same wood which
+they had seen the shepherdess Marcela enter, and after having wandered
+for more than two hours in all directions in search of her without
+finding her, they came to a halt in a glade covered with tender grass,
+beside which ran a pleasant cool stream that invited and compelled
+them to pass there the hours of the noontide heat, which by this
+time was beginning to come on oppressively. Don Quixote and Sancho
+dismounted, and turning Rocinante and the ass loose to feed on the
+grass that was there in abundance, they ransacked the alforjas, and
+without any ceremony very peacefully and sociably master and man
+made their repast on what they found in them. Sancho had not thought
+it worth while to hobble Rocinante, feeling sure, from what he knew of
+his staidness and freedom from incontinence, that all the mares in the
+Cordova pastures would not lead him into an impropriety. Chance,
+however, and the devil, who is not always asleep, so ordained it
+that feeding in this valley there was a drove of Galician ponies
+belonging to certain Yanguesan carriers, whose way it is to take their
+midday rest with their teams in places and spots where grass and water
+abound; and that where Don Quixote chanced to be suited the
+Yanguesans' purpose very well. It so happened, then, that Rocinante
+took a fancy to disport himself with their ladyships the ponies, and
+abandoning his usual gait and demeanour as he scented them, he,
+without asking leave of his master, got up a briskish little trot
+and hastened to make known his wishes to them; they, however, it
+seemed, preferred their pasture to him, and received him with their
+heels and teeth to such effect that they soon broke his girths and
+left him naked without a saddle to cover him; but what must have
+been worse to him was that the carriers, seeing the violence he was
+offering to their mares, came running up armed with stakes, and so
+belaboured him that they brought him sorely battered to the ground.
+
+By this time Don Quixote and Sancho, who had witnessed the
+drubbing of Rocinante, came up panting, and said Don Quixote to
+Sancho:
+
+"So far as I can see, friend Sancho, these are not knights but
+base folk of low birth: I mention it because thou canst lawfully aid
+me in taking due vengeance for the insult offered to Rocinante
+before our eyes."
+
+"What the devil vengeance can we take," answered Sancho, "if they
+are more than twenty, and we no more than two, or, indeed, perhaps not
+more than one and a half?"
+
+"I count for a hundred," replied Don Quixote, and without more words
+he drew his sword and attacked the Yanguesans and excited and impelled
+by the example of his master, Sancho did the same; and to begin
+with, Don Quixote delivered a slash at one of them that laid open
+the leather jerkin he wore, together with a great portion of his
+shoulder. The Yanguesans, seeing themselves assaulted by only two
+men while they were so many, betook themselves to their stakes, and
+driving the two into the middle they began to lay on with great zeal
+and energy; in fact, at the second blow they brought Sancho to the
+ground, and Don Quixote fared the same way, all his skill and high
+mettle availing him nothing, and fate willed it that he should fall at
+the feet of Rocinante, who had not yet risen; whereby it may be seen
+how furiously stakes can pound in angry boorish hands. Then, seeing
+the mischief they had done, the Yanguesans with all the haste they
+could loaded their team and pursued their journey, leaving the two
+adventurers a sorry sight and in sorrier mood.
+
+Sancho was the first to come to, and finding himself close to his
+master he called to him in a weak and doleful voice, "Senor Don
+Quixote, ah, Senor Don Quixote!"
+
+"What wouldst thou, brother Sancho?" answered Don Quixote in the
+same feeble suffering tone as Sancho.
+
+"I would like, if it were possible," answered Sancho Panza, "your
+worship to give me a couple of sups of that potion of the fiery
+Blas, if it be that you have any to hand there; perhaps it will
+serve for broken bones as well as for wounds."
+
+"If I only had it here, wretch that I am, what more should we want?"
+said Don Quixote; "but I swear to thee, Sancho Panza, on the faith
+of a knight-errant, ere two days are over, unless fortune orders
+otherwise, I mean to have it in my possession, or my hand will have
+lost its cunning."
+
+"But in how many does your worship think we shall have the use of
+our feet?" answered Sancho Panza.
+
+"For myself I must say I cannot guess how many," said the battered
+knight Don Quixote; "but I take all the blame upon myself, for I had
+no business to put hand to sword against men who where not dubbed
+knights like myself, and so I believe that in punishment for having
+transgressed the laws of chivalry the God of battles has permitted
+this chastisement to be administered to me; for which reason,
+brother Sancho, it is well thou shouldst receive a hint on the
+matter which I am now about to mention to thee, for it is of much
+importance to the welfare of both of us. It is at when thou shalt
+see rabble of this sort offering us insult thou art not to wait till I
+draw sword against them, for I shall not do so at all; but do thou
+draw sword and chastise them to thy heart's content, and if any
+knights come to their aid and defence I will take care to defend
+thee and assail them with all my might; and thou hast already seen
+by a thousand signs and proofs what the might of this strong arm of
+mine is equal to"- so uplifted had the poor gentleman become through
+the victory over the stout Biscayan.
+
+But Sancho did not so fully approve of his master's admonition as to
+let it pass without saying in reply, "Senor, I am a man of peace, meek
+and quiet, and I can put up with any affront because I have a wife and
+children to support and bring up; so let it be likewise a hint to your
+worship, as it cannot be a mandate, that on no account will I draw
+sword either against clown or against knight, and that here before God
+I forgive the insults that have been offered me, whether they have
+been, are, or shall be offered me by high or low, rich or poor,
+noble or commoner, not excepting any rank or condition whatsoever."
+
+To all which his master said in reply, "I wish I had breath enough
+to speak somewhat easily, and that the pain I feel on this side
+would abate so as to let me explain to thee, Panza, the mistake thou
+makest. Come now, sinner, suppose the wind of fortune, hitherto so
+adverse, should turn in our favour, filling the sails of our desires
+so that safely and without impediment we put into port in some one
+of those islands I have promised thee, how would it be with thee if on
+winning it I made thee lord of it? Why, thou wilt make it well-nigh
+impossible through not being a knight nor having any desire to be one,
+nor possessing the courage nor the will to avenge insults or defend
+thy lordship; for thou must know that in newly conquered kingdoms
+and provinces the minds of the inhabitants are never so quiet nor so
+well disposed to the new lord that there is no fear of their making
+some move to change matters once more, and try, as they say, what
+chance may do for them; so it is essential that the new possessor
+should have good sense to enable him to govern, and valour to attack
+and defend himself, whatever may befall him."
+
+"In what has now befallen us," answered Sancho, "I'd have been
+well pleased to have that good sense and that valour your worship
+speaks of, but I swear on the faith of a poor man I am more fit for
+plasters than for arguments. See if your worship can get up, and let
+us help Rocinante, though he does not deserve it, for he was the
+main cause of all this thrashing. I never thought it of Rocinante, for
+I took him to be a virtuous person and as quiet as myself. After
+all, they say right that it takes a long time to come to know
+people, and that there is nothing sure in this life. Who would have
+said that, after such mighty slashes as your worship gave that unlucky
+knight-errant, there was coming, travelling post and at the very heels
+of them, such a great storm of sticks as has fallen upon our
+shoulders?"
+
+"And yet thine, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "ought to be used to
+such squalls; but mine, reared in soft cloth and fine linen, it is
+plain they must feel more keenly the pain of this mishap, and if it
+were not that I imagine- why do I say imagine?- know of a certainty
+that all these annoyances are very necessary accompaniments of the
+calling of arms, I would lay me down here to die of pure vexation."
+
+To this the squire replied, "Senor, as these mishaps are what one
+reaps of chivalry, tell me if they happen very often, or if they
+have their own fixed times for coming to pass; because it seems to
+me that after two harvests we shall be no good for the third, unless
+God in his infinite mercy helps us."
+
+"Know, friend Sancho," answered Don Quixote, "that the life of
+knights-errant is subject to a thousand dangers and reverses, and
+neither more nor less is it within immediate possibility for
+knights-errant to become kings and emperors, as experience has shown
+in the case of many different knights with whose histories I am
+thoroughly acquainted; and I could tell thee now, if the pain would
+let me, of some who simply by might of arm have risen to the high
+stations I have mentioned; and those same, both before and after,
+experienced divers misfortunes and miseries; for the valiant Amadis of
+Gaul found himself in the power of his mortal enemy Arcalaus the
+magician, who, it is positively asserted, holding him captive, gave
+him more than two hundred lashes with the reins of his horse while
+tied to one of the pillars of a court; and moreover there is a certain
+recondite author of no small authority who says that the Knight of
+Phoebus, being caught in a certain pitfall, which opened under his
+feet in a certain castle, on falling found himself bound hand and foot
+in a deep pit underground, where they administered to him one of those
+things they call clysters, of sand and snow-water, that well-nigh
+finished him; and if he had not been succoured in that sore
+extremity by a sage, a great friend of his, it would have gone very
+hard with the poor knight; so I may well suffer in company with such
+worthy folk, for greater were the indignities which they had to suffer
+than those which we suffer. For I would have thee know, Sancho, that
+wounds caused by any instruments which happen by chance to be in
+hand inflict no indignity, and this is laid down in the law of the
+duel in express words: if, for instance, the cobbler strikes another
+with the last which he has in his hand, though it be in fact a piece
+of wood, it cannot be said for that reason that he whom he struck with
+it has been cudgelled. I say this lest thou shouldst imagine that
+because we have been drubbed in this affray we have therefore suffered
+any indignity; for the arms those men carried, with which they pounded
+us, were nothing more than their stakes, and not one of them, so far
+as I remember, carried rapier, sword, or dagger."
+
+"They gave me no time to see that much," answered Sancho, "for
+hardly had I laid hand on my tizona when they signed the cross on my
+shoulders with their sticks in such style that they took the sight out
+of my eyes and the strength out of my feet, stretching me where I
+now lie, and where thinking of whether all those stake-strokes were an
+indignity or not gives me no uneasiness, which the pain of the blows
+does, for they will remain as deeply impressed on my memory as on my
+shoulders."
+
+"For all that let me tell thee, brother Panza," said Don Quixote,
+"that there is no recollection which time does not put an end to,
+and no pain which death does not remove."
+
+"And what greater misfortune can there be," replied Panza, "than the
+one that waits for time to put an end to it and death to remove it? If
+our mishap were one of those that are cured with a couple of plasters,
+it would not be so bad; but I am beginning to think that all the
+plasters in a hospital almost won't be enough to put us right."
+
+"No more of that: pluck strength out of weakness, Sancho, as I
+mean to do," returned Don Quixote, "and let us see how Rocinante is,
+for it seems to me that not the least share of this mishap has
+fallen to the lot of the poor beast."
+
+"There is nothing wonderful in that," replied Sancho, "since he is a
+knight-errant too; what I wonder at is that my beast should have
+come off scot-free where we come out scotched."
+
+"Fortune always leaves a door open in adversity in order to bring
+relief to it," said Don Quixote; "I say so because this little beast
+may now supply the want of Rocinante, carrying me hence to some castle
+where I may be cured of my wounds. And moreover I shall not hold it
+any dishonour to be so mounted, for I remember having read how the
+good old Silenus, the tutor and instructor of the gay god of laughter,
+when he entered the city of the hundred gates, went very contentedly
+mounted on a handsome ass."
+
+"It may be true that he went mounted as your worship says," answered
+Sancho, "but there is a great difference between going mounted and
+going slung like a sack of manure."
+
+To which Don Quixote replied, "Wounds received in battle confer
+honour instead of taking it away; and so, friend Panza, say no more,
+but, as I told thee before, get up as well as thou canst and put me on
+top of thy beast in whatever fashion pleases thee best, and let us
+go hence ere night come on and surprise us in these wilds."
+
+"And yet I have heard your worship say," observed Panza, "that it is
+very meet for knights-errant to sleep in wastes and deserts, and
+that they esteem it very good fortune."
+
+"That is," said Don Quixote, "when they cannot help it, or when they
+are in love; and so true is this that there have been knights who have
+remained two years on rocks, in sunshine and shade and all the
+inclemencies of heaven, without their ladies knowing anything of it;
+and one of these was Amadis, when, under the name of Beltenebros, he
+took up his abode on the Pena Pobre for -I know not if it was eight
+years or eight months, for I am not very sure of the reckoning; at any
+rate he stayed there doing penance for I know not what pique the
+Princess Oriana had against him; but no more of this now, Sancho,
+and make haste before a mishap like Rocinante's befalls the ass."
+
+"The very devil would be in it in that case," said Sancho; and
+letting off thirty "ohs," and sixty sighs, and a hundred and twenty
+maledictions and execrations on whomsoever it was that had brought him
+there, he raised himself, stopping half-way bent like a Turkish bow
+without power to bring himself upright, but with all his pains he
+saddled his ass, who too had gone astray somewhat, yielding to the
+excessive licence of the day; he next raised up Rocinante, and as
+for him, had he possessed a tongue to complain with, most assuredly
+neither Sancho nor his master would have been behind him. To be brief,
+Sancho fixed Don Quixote on the ass and secured Rocinante with a
+leading rein, and taking the ass by the halter, he proceeded more or
+less in the direction in which it seemed to him the high road might
+be; and, as chance was conducting their affairs for them from good
+to better, he had not gone a short league when the road came in sight,
+and on it he perceived an inn, which to his annoyance and to the
+delight of Don Quixote must needs be a castle. Sancho insisted that it
+was an inn, and his master that it was not one, but a castle, and
+the dispute lasted so long that before the point was settled they
+had time to reach it, and into it Sancho entered with all his team
+without any further controversy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN IN THE INN WHICH HE TOOK
+TO BE A CASTLE
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+"Then you must have fallen too," said the hostess.
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+"How is the gentleman called?" asked Maritornes the Asturian.
+
+"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."
+
+"What is a knight-adventurer?" said the lass.
+
+"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."
+
+"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?"
+
+"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."
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+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!
+
+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.
+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.
+
+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:
+
+"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."
+
+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 be 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.
+
+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.
+
+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!"
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+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
+
+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?"
+
+"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?"
+
+"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."
+
+"I swear it," answered Sancho.
+
+"I say so," continued Don Quixote, "because I hate taking away
+anyone's good name."
+
+"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."
+
+"Do I do thee such injuries, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that thou
+wouldst see me dead so soon?"
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+"Then thou hast been thrashed too?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"Didn't I say so? worse luck to my line!" said Sancho.
+
+"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."
+
+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?"
+
+"It cannot be the Moor," answered Don Quixote, "for those under
+enchantment do not let themselves be seen by anyone."
+
+"If they don't let themselves be seen, they let themselves be felt,"
+said Sancho; "if not, let my shoulders speak to the point."
+
+"Mine could speak too," said Don Quixote, "but that is not a
+sufficient reason for believing that what we see is the enchanted
+Moor."
+
+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?"
+
+"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?"
+
+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."
+
+"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."
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+"If your worship knew that," returned Sancho- "woe betide me and all
+my kindred!- why did you let me taste it?"
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+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."
+
+"Then this is an inn?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"And a very respectable one," said the innkeeper.
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+"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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+IN WHICH IS RELATED THE DISCOURSE SANCHO PANZA HELD WITH HIS MASTER,
+DON QUIXOTE, AND OTHER ADVENTURES WORTH RELATING
+
+Sancho reached his master so limp and faint that he could not urge
+on his beast. When Don Quixote saw the state he was in he said, "I
+have now come to the conclusion, good Sancho, that this castle or
+inn is beyond a doubt enchanted, because those who have so atrociously
+diverted themselves with thee, what can they be but phantoms or beings
+of another world? and I hold this confirmed by having noticed that
+when I was by the wall of the yard witnessing the acts of thy sad
+tragedy, it was out of my power to mount upon it, nor could I even
+dismount from Rocinante, because they no doubt had me enchanted; for I
+swear to thee by the faith of what I am that if I had been able to
+climb up or dismount, I would have avenged thee in such a way that
+those braggart thieves would have remembered their freak for ever,
+even though in so doing I knew that I contravened the laws of
+chivalry, which, as I have often told thee, do not permit a knight
+to lay hands on him who is not one, save in case of urgent and great
+necessity in defence of his own life and person."
+
+"I would have avenged myself too if I could," said Sancho,
+"whether I had been dubbed knight or not, but I could not; though
+for my part I am persuaded those who amused themselves with me were
+not phantoms or enchanted men, as your worship says, but men of
+flesh and bone like ourselves; and they all had their names, for I
+heard them name them when they were tossing me, and one was called
+Pedro Martinez, and another Tenorio Hernandez, and the innkeeper, I
+heard, was called Juan Palomeque the Left-handed; so that, senor, your
+not being able to leap over the wall of the yard or dismount from your
+horse came of something else besides enchantments; and what I make out
+clearly from all this is, that these adventures we go seeking will
+in the end lead us into such misadventures that we shall not know
+which is our right foot; and that the best and wisest thing, according
+to my small wits, would be for us to return home, now that it is
+harvest-time, and attend to our business, and give over wandering from
+Zeca to Mecca and from pail to bucket, as the saying is."
+
+"How little thou knowest about chivalry, Sancho," replied Don
+Quixote; "hold thy peace and have patience; the day will come when
+thou shalt see with thine own eyes what an honourable thing it is to
+wander in the pursuit of this calling; nay, tell me, what greater
+pleasure can there be in the world, or what delight can equal that
+of winning a battle, and triumphing over one's enemy? None, beyond all
+doubt."
+
+"Very likely," answered Sancho, "though I do not know it; all I know
+is that since we have been knights-errant, or since your worship has
+been one (for I have no right to reckon myself one of so honourable
+a number) we have never won any battle except the one with the
+Biscayan, and even out of that your worship car-ne with half an ear
+and half a helmet the less; and from that till now it has been all
+cudgellings and more cudgellings, cuffs and more cuffs, I getting
+the blanketing over and above, and falling in with enchanted persons
+on whom I cannot avenge myself so as to know what the delight, as your
+worship calls it, of conquering an enemy is like."
+
+"That is what vexes me, and what ought to vex thee, Sancho," replied
+Don Quixote; "but henceforward I will endeavour to have at hand some
+sword made by such craft that no kind of enchantments can take
+effect upon him who carries it, and it is even possible that fortune
+may procure for me that which belonged to Amadis when he was called
+'The Knight of the Burning Sword,' which was one of the best swords
+that ever knight in the world possessed, for, besides having the
+said virtue, it cut like a razor, and there was no armour, however
+strong and enchanted it might be, that could resist it."
+
+"Such is my luck," said Sancho, "that even if that happened and your
+worship found some such sword, it would, like the balsam, turn out
+serviceable and good for dubbed knights only, and as for the
+squires, they might sup sorrow."
+
+"Fear not that, Sancho," said Don Quixote: "Heaven will deal
+better by thee."
+
+Thus talking, Don Quixote and his squire were going along, when,
+on the road they were following, Don Quixote perceived approaching
+them a large and thick cloud of dust, on seeing which he turned to
+Sancho and said:
+
+"This is the day, Sancho, on which will be seen the boon my
+fortune is reserving for me; this, I say, is the day on which as
+much as on any other shall be displayed the might of my arm, and on
+which I shall do deeds that shall remain written in the book of fame
+for all ages to come. Seest thou that cloud of dust which rises
+yonder? Well, then, all that is churned up by a vast army composed
+of various and countless nations that comes marching there."
+
+"According to that there must be two," said Sancho, "for on this
+opposite side also there rises just such another cloud of dust."
+
+Don Quixote turned to look and found that it was true, and rejoicing
+exceedingly, he concluded that they were two armies about to engage
+and encounter in the midst of that broad plain; for at all times and
+seasons his fancy was full of the battles, enchantments, adventures,
+crazy feats, loves, and defiances that are recorded in the books of
+chivalry, and everything he said, thought, or did had reference to
+such things. Now the cloud of dust he had seen was raised by two great
+droves of sheep coming along the same road in opposite directions,
+which, because of the dust, did not become visible until they drew
+near, but Don Quixote asserted so positively that they were armies
+that Sancho was led to believe it and say, "Well, and what are we to
+do, senor?"
+
+"What?" said Don Quixote: "give aid and assistance to the weak and
+those who need it; and thou must know, Sancho, that this which comes
+opposite to us is conducted and led by the mighty emperor Alifanfaron,
+lord of the great isle of Trapobana; this other that marches behind me
+is that of his enemy the king of the Garamantas, Pentapolin of the
+Bare Arm, for he always goes into battle with his right arm bare."
+
+"But why are these two lords such enemies?"
+
+"They are at enmity," replied Don Quixote, "because this Alifanfaron
+is a furious pagan and is in love with the daughter of Pentapolin, who
+is a very beautiful and moreover gracious lady, and a Christian, and
+her father is unwilling to bestow her upon the pagan king unless he
+first abandons the religion of his false prophet Mahomet, and adopts
+his own."
+
+"By my beard," said Sancho, "but Pentapolin does quite right, and
+I will help him as much as I can."
+
+"In that thou wilt do what is thy duty, Sancho," said Don Quixote;
+"for to engage in battles of this sort it is not requisite to be a
+dubbed knight."
+
+"That I can well understand," answered Sancho; "but where shall we
+put this ass where we may be sure to find him after the fray is
+over? for I believe it has not been the custom so far to go into
+battle on a beast of this kind."
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote, "and what you had best do with him
+is to leave him to take his chance whether he be lost or not, for
+the horses we shall have when we come out victors will be so many that
+even Rocinante will run a risk of being changed for another. But
+attend to me and observe, for I wish to give thee some account of
+the chief knights who accompany these two armies; and that thou mayest
+the better see and mark, let us withdraw to that hillock which rises
+yonder, whence both armies may be seen."
+
+They did so, and placed themselves on a rising ground from which the
+two droves that Don Quixote made armies of might have been plainly
+seen if the clouds of dust they raised had not obscured them and
+blinded the sight; nevertheless, seeing in his imagination what he did
+not see and what did not exist, he began thus in a loud voice:
+
+"That knight whom thou seest yonder in yellow armour, who bears upon
+his shield a lion crowned crouching at the feet of a damsel, is the
+valiant Laurcalco, lord of the Silver Bridge; that one in armour
+with flowers of gold, who bears on his shield three crowns argent on
+an azure field, is the dreaded Micocolembo, grand duke of Quirocia;
+that other of gigantic frame, on his right hand, is the ever dauntless
+Brandabarbaran de Boliche, lord of the three Arabias, who for armour
+wears that serpent skin, and has for shield a gate which, according to
+tradition, is one of those of the temple that Samson brought to the
+ground when by his death he revenged himself upon his enemies. But
+turn thine eyes to the other side, and thou shalt see in front and
+in the van of this other army the ever victorious and never vanquished
+Timonel of Carcajona, prince of New Biscay, who comes in armour with
+arms quartered azure, vert, white, and yellow, and bears on his shield
+a cat or on a field tawny with a motto which says Miau, which is the
+beginning of the name of his lady, who according to report is the
+peerless Miaulina, daughter of the duke Alfeniquen of the Algarve; the
+other, who burdens and presses the loins of that powerful charger
+and bears arms white as snow and a shield blank and without any
+device, is a novice knight, a Frenchman by birth, Pierres Papin by
+name, lord of the baronies of Utrique; that other, who with
+iron-shod heels strikes the flanks of that nimble parti-coloured
+zebra, and for arms bears azure vair, is the mighty duke of Nerbia,
+Espartafilardo del Bosque, who bears for device on his shield an
+asparagus plant with a motto in Castilian that says, Rastrea mi
+suerte." And so he went on naming a number of knights of one
+squadron or the other out of his imagination, and to all he assigned
+off-hand their arms, colours, devices, and mottoes, carried away by
+the illusions of his unheard-of craze; and without a pause, he
+continued, "People of divers nations compose this squadron in front;
+here are those that drink of the sweet waters of the famous Xanthus,
+those that scour the woody Massilian plains, those that sift the
+pure fine gold of Arabia Felix, those that enjoy the famed cool
+banks of the crystal Thermodon, those that in many and various ways
+divert the streams of the golden Pactolus, the Numidians, faithless in
+their promises, the Persians renowned in archery, the Parthians and
+the Medes that fight as they fly, the Arabs that ever shift their
+dwellings, the Scythians as cruel as they are fair, the Ethiopians
+with pierced lips, and an infinity of other nations whose features I
+recognise and descry, though I cannot recall their names. In this
+other squadron there come those that drink of the crystal streams of
+the olive-bearing Betis, those that make smooth their countenances
+with the water of the ever rich and golden Tagus, those that rejoice
+in the fertilising flow of the divine Genil, those that roam the
+Tartesian plains abounding in pasture, those that take their
+pleasure in the Elysian meadows of Jerez, the rich Manchegans
+crowned with ruddy ears of corn, the wearers of iron, old relics of
+the Gothic race, those that bathe in the Pisuerga renowned for its
+gentle current, those that feed their herds along the spreading
+pastures of the winding Guadiana famed for its hidden course, those
+that tremble with the cold of the pineclad Pyrenees or the dazzling
+snows of the lofty Apennine; in a word, as many as all Europe includes
+and contains."
+
+Good God! what a number of countries and nations he named! giving to
+each its proper attributes with marvellous readiness; brimful and
+saturated with what he had read in his lying books! Sancho Panza
+hung upon his words without speaking, and from time to time turned
+to try if he could see the knights and giants his master was
+describing, and as he could not make out one of them he said to him:
+
+"Senor, devil take it if there's a sign of any man you talk of,
+knight or giant, in the whole thing; maybe it's all enchantment,
+like the phantoms last night."
+
+"How canst thou say that!" answered Don Quixote; "dost thou not hear
+the neighing of the steeds, the braying of the trumpets, the roll of
+the drums?"
+
+"I hear nothing but a great bleating of ewes and sheep," said
+Sancho; which was true, for by this time the two flocks had come
+close.
+
+"The fear thou art in, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "prevents thee
+from seeing or hearing correctly, for one of the effects of fear is to
+derange the senses and make things appear different from what they
+are; if thou art in such fear, withdraw to one side and leave me to
+myself, for alone I suffice to bring victory to that side to which I
+shall give my aid;" and so saying he gave Rocinante the spur, and
+putting the lance in rest, shot down the slope like a thunderbolt.
+Sancho shouted after him, crying, "Come back, Senor Don Quixote; I vow
+to God they are sheep and ewes you are charging! Come back! Unlucky
+the father that begot me! what madness is this! Look, there is no
+giant, nor knight, nor cats, nor arms, nor shields quartered or whole,
+nor vair azure or bedevilled. What are you about? Sinner that I am
+before God!" But not for all these entreaties did Don Quixote turn
+back; on the contrary he went on shouting out, "Ho, knights, ye who
+follow and fight under the banners of the valiant emperor Pentapolin
+of the Bare Arm, follow me all; ye shall see how easily I shall give
+him his revenge over his enemy Alifanfaron of the Trapobana."
+
+So saying, he dashed into the midst of the squadron of ewes, and
+began spearing them with as much spirit and intrepidity as if he
+were transfixing mortal enemies in earnest. The shepherds and
+drovers accompanying the flock shouted to him to desist; seeing it was
+no use, they ungirt their slings and began to salute his ears with
+stones as big as one's fist. Don Quixote gave no heed to the stones,
+but, letting drive right and left kept saying:
+
+"Where art thou, proud Alifanfaron? Come before me; I am a single
+knight who would fain prove thy prowess hand to hand, and make thee
+yield thy life a penalty for the wrong thou dost to the valiant
+Pentapolin Garamanta." Here came a sugar-plum from the brook that
+struck him on the side and buried a couple of ribs in his body.
+Feeling himself so smitten, he imagined himself slain or badly wounded
+for certain, and recollecting his liquor he drew out his flask, and
+putting it to his mouth began to pour the contents into his stomach;
+but ere he had succeeded in swallowing what seemed to him enough,
+there came another almond which struck him on the hand and on the
+flask so fairly that it smashed it to pieces, knocking three or four
+teeth and grinders out of his mouth in its course, and sorely crushing
+two fingers of his hand. Such was the force of the first blow and of
+the second, that the poor knight in spite of himself came down
+backwards off his horse. The shepherds came up, and felt sure they had
+killed him; so in all haste they collected their flock together,
+took up the dead beasts, of which there were more than seven, and made
+off without waiting to ascertain anything further.
+
+All this time Sancho stood on the hill watching the crazy feats
+his master was performing, and tearing his beard and cursing the
+hour and the occasion when fortune had made him acquainted with him.
+Seeing him, then, brought to the ground, and that the shepherds had
+taken themselves off, he ran to him and found him in very bad case,
+though not unconscious; and said he:
+
+"Did I not tell you to come back, Senor Don Quixote; and that what
+you were going to attack were not armies but droves of sheep?"
+
+"That's how that thief of a sage, my enemy, can alter and falsify
+things," answered Don Quixote; "thou must know, Sancho, that it is a
+very easy matter for those of his sort to make us believe what they
+choose; and this malignant being who persecutes me, envious of the
+glory he knew I was to win in this battle, has turned the squadrons of
+the enemy into droves of sheep. At any rate, do this much, I beg of
+thee, Sancho, to undeceive thyself, and see that what I say is true;
+mount thy ass and follow them quietly, and thou shalt see that when
+they have gone some little distance from this they will return to
+their original shape and, ceasing to be sheep, become men in all
+respects as I described them to thee at first. But go not just yet,
+for I want thy help and assistance; come hither, and see how many of
+my teeth and grinders are missing, for I feel as if there was not
+one left in my mouth."
+
+Sancho came so close that he almost put his eyes into his mouth; now
+just at that moment the balsam had acted on the stomach of Don
+Quixote, so, at the very instant when Sancho came to examine his
+mouth, he discharged all its contents with more force than a musket,
+and full into the beard of the compassionate squire.
+
+"Holy Mary!" cried Sancho, "what is this that has happened me?
+Clearly this sinner is mortally wounded, as he vomits blood from the
+mouth;" but considering the matter a little more closely he
+perceived by the colour, taste, and smell, that it was not blood but
+the balsam from the flask which he had seen him drink; and he was
+taken with such a loathing that his stomach turned, and he vomited
+up his inside over his very master, and both were left in a precious
+state. Sancho ran to his ass to get something wherewith to clean
+himself, and relieve his master, out of his alforjas; but not
+finding them, he well-nigh took leave of his senses, and cursed
+himself anew, and in his heart resolved to quit his master and
+return home, even though he forfeited the wages of his service and all
+hopes of the promised island.
+
+Don Quixote now rose, and putting his left hand to his mouth to keep
+his teeth from falling out altogether, with the other he laid hold
+of the bridle of Rocinante, who had never stirred from his master's
+side- so loyal and well-behaved was he- and betook himself to where
+the squire stood leaning over his ass with his hand to his cheek, like
+one in deep dejection. Seeing him in this mood, looking so sad, Don
+Quixote said to him:
+
+"Bear in mind, Sancho, that one man is no more than another,
+unless he does more than another; all these tempests that fall upon us
+are signs that fair weather is coming shortly, and that things will go
+well with us, for it is impossible for good or evil to last for
+ever; and hence it follows that the evil having lasted long, the
+good must be now nigh at hand; so thou must not distress thyself at
+the misfortunes which happen to me, since thou hast no share in them."
+
+"How have I not?" replied Sancho; "was he whom they blanketed
+yesterday perchance any other than my father's son? and the alforjas
+that are missing to-day with all my treasures, did they belong to
+any other but myself?"
+
+"What! are the alforjas missing, Sancho?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"Yes, they are missing," answered Sancho.
+
+"In that case we have nothing to eat to-day," replied Don Quixote.
+
+"It would be so," answered Sancho, "if there were none of the
+herbs your worship says you know in these meadows, those with which
+knights-errant as unlucky as your worship are wont to supply such-like
+shortcomings."
+
+"For all that," answered Don Quixote, "I would rather have just
+now a quarter of bread, or a loaf and a couple of pilchards' heads,
+than all the herbs described by Dioscorides, even with Doctor Laguna's
+notes. Nevertheless, Sancho the Good, mount thy beast and come along
+with me, for God, who provides for all things, will not fail us
+(more especially when we are so active in his service as we are),
+since he fails not the midges of the air, nor the grubs of the
+earth, nor the tadpoles of the water, and is so merciful that he
+maketh his sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sendeth rain
+on the unjust and on the just."
+
+"Your worship would make a better preacher than knight-errant," said
+Sancho.
+
+"Knights-errant knew and ought to know everything, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote; "for there were knights-errant in former times as well
+qualified to deliver a sermon or discourse in the middle of an
+encampment, as if they had graduated in the University of Paris;
+whereby we may see that the lance has never blunted the pen, nor the
+pen the lance."
+
+"Well, be it as your worship says," replied Sancho; "let us be off
+now and find some place of shelter for the night, and God grant it may
+be somewhere where there are no blankets, nor blanketeers, nor
+phantoms, nor enchanted Moors; for if there are, may the devil take
+the whole concern."
+
+"Ask that of God, my son," said Don Quixote; and do thou lead on
+where thou wilt, for this time I leave our lodging to thy choice;
+but reach me here thy hand, and feel with thy finger, and find out how
+many of my teeth and grinders are missing from this right side of
+the upper jaw, for it is there I feel the pain."
+
+Sancho put in his fingers, and feeling about asked him, "How many
+grinders used your worship have on this side?"
+
+"Four," replied Don Quixote, "besides the back-tooth, all whole
+and quite sound."
+
+"Mind what you are saying, senor."
+
+"I say four, if not five," answered Don Quixote, "for never in my
+life have I had tooth or grinder drawn, nor has any fallen out or been
+destroyed by any decay or rheum."
+
+"Well, then," said Sancho, "in this lower side your worship has no
+more than two grinders and a half, and in the upper neither a half nor
+any at all, for it is all as smooth as the palm of my hand."
+
+"Luckless that I am!" said Don Quixote, hearing the sad news his
+squire gave him; "I had rather they despoiled me of an arm, so it were
+not the sword-arm; for I tell thee, Sancho, a mouth without teeth is
+like a mill without a millstone, and a tooth is much more to be prized
+than a diamond; but we who profess the austere order of chivalry are
+liable to all this. Mount, friend, and lead the way, and I will follow
+thee at whatever pace thou wilt."
+
+Sancho did as he bade him, and proceeded in the direction in which
+he thought he might find refuge without quitting the high road,
+which was there very much frequented. As they went along, then, at a
+slow pace- for the pain in Don Quixote's jaws kept him uneasy and
+ill-disposed for speed- Sancho thought it well to amuse and divert him
+by talk of some kind, and among the things he said to him was that
+which will be told in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+OF THE SHREWD DISCOURSE WHICH SANCHO HELD WITH HIS MASTER, AND OF
+THE ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL HIM WITH A DEAD BODY, TOGETHER WITH OTHER
+NOTABLE OCCURRENCES
+
+"It seems to me, senor, that all these mishaps that have befallen us
+of late have been without any doubt a punishment for the offence
+committed by your worship against the order of chivalry in not keeping
+the oath you made not to eat bread off a tablecloth or embrace the
+queen, and all the rest of it that your worship swore to observe until
+you had taken that helmet of Malandrino's, or whatever the Moor is
+called, for I do not very well remember."
+
+"Thou art very right, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "but to tell the
+truth, it had escaped my memory; and likewise thou mayest rely upon it
+that the affair of the blanket happened to thee because of thy fault
+in not reminding me of it in time; but I will make amends, for there
+are ways of compounding for everything in the order of chivalry."
+
+"Why! have I taken an oath of some sort, then?" said Sancho.
+
+"It makes no matter that thou hast not taken an oath," said Don
+Quixote; "suffice it that I see thou art not quite clear of
+complicity; and whether or no, it will not be ill done to provide
+ourselves with a remedy."
+
+"In that case," said Sancho, "mind that your worship does not forget
+this as you did the oath; perhaps the phantoms may take it into
+their heads to amuse themselves once more with me; or even with your
+worship if they see you so obstinate."
+
+While engaged in this and other talk, night overtook them on the
+road before they had reached or discovered any place of shelter; and
+what made it still worse was that they were dying of hunger, for
+with the loss of the alforjas they had lost their entire larder and
+commissariat; and to complete the misfortune they met with an
+adventure which without any invention had really the appearance of
+one. It so happened that the night closed in somewhat darkly, but
+for all that they pushed on, Sancho feeling sure that as the road
+was the king's highway they might reasonably expect to find some inn
+within a league or two. Going along, then, in this way, the night
+dark, the squire hungry, the master sharp-set, they saw coming towards
+them on the road they were travelling a great number of lights which
+looked exactly like stars in motion. Sancho was taken aback at the
+sight of them, nor did Don Quixote altogether relish them: the one
+pulled up his ass by the halter, the other his hack by the bridle, and
+they stood still, watching anxiously to see what all this would turn
+out to be, and found that the lights were approaching them, and the
+nearer they came the greater they seemed, at which spectacle Sancho
+began to shake like a man dosed with mercury, and Don Quixote's hair
+stood on end; he, however, plucking up spirit a little, said:
+
+"This, no doubt, Sancho, will be a most mighty and perilous
+adventure, in which it will be needful for me to put forth all my
+valour and resolution."
+
+"Unlucky me!" answered Sancho; "if this adventure happens to be
+one of phantoms, as I am beginning to think it is, where shall I
+find the ribs to bear it?"
+
+"Be they phantoms ever so much," said Don Quixote, "I will not
+permit them to touch a thread of thy garments; for if they played
+tricks with thee the time before, it was because I was unable to
+leap the walls of the yard; but now we are on a wide plain, where I
+shall be able to wield my sword as I please."
+
+"And if they enchant and cripple you as they did the last time,"
+said Sancho, "what difference will it make being on the open plain
+or not?"
+
+"For all that," replied Don Quixote, "I entreat thee, Sancho, to
+keep a good heart, for experience will tell thee what mine is."
+
+"I will, please God," answered Sancho, and the two retiring to one
+side of the road set themselves to observe closely what all these
+moving lights might be; and very soon afterwards they made out some
+twenty encamisados, all on horseback, with lighted torches in their
+hands, the awe-inspiring aspect of whom completely extinguished the
+courage of Sancho, who began to chatter with his teeth like one in the
+cold fit of an ague; and his heart sank and his teeth chattered
+still more when they perceived distinctly that behind them there
+came a litter covered over with black and followed by six more mounted
+figures in mourning down to the very feet of their mules- for they
+could perceive plainly they were not horses by the easy pace at
+which they went. And as the encamisados came along they muttered to
+themselves in a low plaintive tone. This strange spectacle at such
+an hour and in such a solitary place was quite enough to strike terror
+into Sancho's heart, and even into his master's; and (save in Don
+Quixote's case) did so, for all Sancho's resolution had now broken
+down. It was just the opposite with his master, whose imagination
+immediately conjured up all this to him vividly as one of the
+adventures of his books.
+
+He took it into his head that the litter was a bier on which was
+borne some sorely wounded or slain knight, to avenge whom was a task
+reserved for him alone; and without any further reasoning he laid
+his lance in rest, fixed himself firmly in his saddle, and with
+gallant spirit and bearing took up his position in the middle of the
+road where the encamisados must of necessity pass; and as soon as he
+saw them near at hand he raised his voice and said:
+
+"Halt, knights, or whosoever ye may be, and render me account of who
+ye are, whence ye come, where ye go, what it is ye carry upon that
+bier, for, to judge by appearances, either ye have done some wrong
+or some wrong has been done to you, and it is fitting and necessary
+that I should know, either that I may chastise you for the evil ye
+have done, or else that I may avenge you for the injury that has
+been inflicted upon you."
+
+"We are in haste," answered one of the encamisados, "and the inn
+is far off, and we cannot stop to render you such an account as you
+demand;" and spurring his mule he moved on.
+
+Don Quixote was mightily provoked by this answer, and seizing the
+mule by the bridle he said, "Halt, and be more mannerly, and render an
+account of what I have asked of you; else, take my defiance to combat,
+all of you."
+
+The mule was shy, and was so frightened at her bridle being seized
+that rearing up she flung her rider to the ground over her haunches.
+An attendant who was on foot, seeing the encamisado fall, began to
+abuse Don Quixote, who now moved to anger, without any more ado,
+laying his lance in rest charged one of the men in mourning and
+brought him badly wounded to the ground, and as he wheeled round
+upon the others the agility with which he attacked and routed them was
+a sight to see, for it seemed just as if wings had that instant
+grown upon Rocinante, so lightly and proudly did he bear himself.
+The encamisados were all timid folk and unarmed, so they speedily made
+their escape from the fray and set off at a run across the plain
+with their lighted torches, looking exactly like maskers running on
+some gala or festival night. The mourners, too, enveloped and
+swathed in their skirts and gowns, were unable to bestir themselves,
+and so with entire safety to himself Don Quixote belaboured them all
+and drove them off against their will, for they all thought it was
+no man but a devil from hell come to carry away the dead body they had
+in the litter.
+
+Sancho beheld all this in astonishment at the intrepidity of his
+lord, and said to himself, "Clearly this master of mine is as bold and
+valiant as he says he is."
+
+A burning torch lay on the ground near the first man whom the mule
+had thrown, by the light of which Don Quixote perceived him, and
+coming up to him he presented the point of the lance to his face,
+calling on him to yield himself prisoner, or else he would kill him;
+to which the prostrate man replied, "I am prisoner enough as it is;
+I cannot stir, for one of my legs is broken: I entreat you, if you
+be a Christian gentleman, not to kill me, which will be committing
+grave sacrilege, for I am a licentiate and I hold first orders."
+
+"Then what the devil brought you here, being a churchman?" said
+Don Quixote.
+
+"What, senor?" said the other. "My bad luck."
+
+"Then still worse awaits you," said Don Quixote, "if you do not
+satisfy me as to all I asked you at first."
+
+"You shall be soon satisfied," said the licentiate; "you must
+know, then, that though just now I said I was a licentiate, I am
+only a bachelor, and my name is Alonzo Lopez; I am a native of
+Alcobendas, I come from the city of Baeza with eleven others, priests,
+the same who fled with the torches, and we are going to the city of
+Segovia accompanying a dead body which is in that litter, and is
+that of a gentleman who died in Baeza, where he was interred; and now,
+as I said, we are taking his bones to their burial-place, which is
+in Segovia, where he was born."
+
+"And who killed him?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"God, by means of a malignant fever that took him," answered the
+bachelor.
+
+"In that case," said Don Quixote, "the Lord has relieved me of the
+task of avenging his death had any other slain him; but, he who slew
+him having slain him, there is nothing for it but to be silent, and
+shrug one's shoulders; I should do the same were he to slay myself;
+and I would have your reverence know that I am a knight of La
+Mancha, Don Quixote by name, and it is my business and calling to roam
+the world righting wrongs and redressing injuries."
+
+"I do not know how that about righting wrongs can be," said the
+bachelor, "for from straight you have made me crooked, leaving me with
+a broken leg that will never see itself straight again all the days of
+its life; and the injury you have redressed in my case has been to
+leave me injured in such a way that I shall remain injured for ever;
+and the height of misadventure it was to fall in with you who go in
+search of adventures."
+
+"Things do not all happen in the same way," answered Don Quixote;
+"it all came, Sir Bachelor Alonzo Lopez, of your going, as you did, by
+night, dressed in those surplices, with lighted torches, praying,
+covered with mourning, so that naturally you looked like something
+evil and of the other world; and so I could not avoid doing my duty in
+attacking you, and I should have attacked you even had I known
+positively that you were the very devils of hell, for such I certainly
+believed and took you to be."
+
+"As my fate has so willed it," said the bachelor, "I entreat you,
+sir knight-errant, whose errand has been such an evil one for me, to
+help me to get from under this mule that holds one of my legs caught
+between the stirrup and the saddle."
+
+"I would have talked on till to-morrow," said Don Quixote; "how long
+were you going to wait before telling me of your distress?"
+
+He at once called to Sancho, who, however, had no mind to come, as
+he was just then engaged in unloading a sumpter mule, well laden
+with provender, which these worthy gentlemen had brought with them.
+Sancho made a bag of his coat, and, getting together as much as he
+could, and as the bag would hold, he loaded his beast, and then
+hastened to obey his master's call, and helped him to remove the
+bachelor from under the mule; then putting him on her back he gave him
+the torch, and Don Quixote bade him follow the track of his
+companions, and beg pardon of them on his part for the wrong which
+he could not help doing them.
+
+And said Sancho, "If by chance these gentlemen should want to know
+who was the hero that served them so, your worship may tell them
+that he is the famous Don Quixote of La Mancha, otherwise called the
+Knight of the Rueful Countenance."
+
+The bachelor then took his departure.
+
+I forgot to mention that before he did so he said to Don Quixote,
+"Remember that you stand excommunicated for having laid violent
+hands on a holy thing, juxta illud, si quis, suadente diabolo."
+
+"I do not understand that Latin," answered Don Quixote, "but I
+know well I did not lay hands, only this pike; besides, I did not
+think I was committing an assault upon priests or things of the
+Church, which, like a Catholic and faithful Christian as I am, I
+respect and revere, but upon phantoms and spectres of the other world;
+but even so, I remember how it fared with Cid Ruy Diaz when he broke
+the chair of the ambassador of that king before his Holiness the Pope,
+who excommunicated him for the same; and yet the good Roderick of
+Vivar bore himself that day like a very noble and valiant knight."
+
+On hearing this the bachelor took his departure, as has been said,
+without making any reply; and Don Quixote asked Sancho what had
+induced him to call him the "Knight of the Rueful Countenance" more
+then than at any other time.
+
+"I will tell you," answered Sancho; "it was because I have been
+looking at you for some time by the light of the torch held by that
+unfortunate, and verily your worship has got of late the most
+ill-favoured countenance I ever saw: it must be either owing to the
+fatigue of this combat, or else to the want of teeth and grinders."
+
+"It is not that," replied Don Quixote, "but because the sage whose
+duty it will be to write the history of my achievements must have
+thought it proper that I should take some distinctive name as all
+knights of yore did; one being 'He of the Burning Sword,' another
+'He of the Unicorn,' this one 'He of the Damsels,' that 'He of the
+Phoenix,' another 'The Knight of the Griffin,' and another 'He of
+the Death,' and by these names and designations they were known all
+the world round; and so I say that the sage aforesaid must have put it
+into your mouth and mind just now to call me 'The Knight of the Rueful
+Countenance,' as I intend to call myself from this day forward; and
+that the said name may fit me better, I mean, when the opportunity
+offers, to have a very rueful countenance painted on my shield."
+
+"There is no occasion, senor, for wasting time or money on making
+that countenance," said Sancho; "for all that need be done is for your
+worship to show your own, face to face, to those who look at you,
+and without anything more, either image or shield, they will call
+you 'Him of the Rueful Countenance' and believe me I am telling you
+the truth, for I assure you, senor (and in good part be it said),
+hunger and the loss of your grinders have given you such an
+ill-favoured face that, as I say, the rueful picture may be very
+well spared."
+
+Don Quixote laughed at Sancho's pleasantry; nevertheless he resolved
+to call himself by that name, and have his shield or buckler painted
+as he had devised.
+
+Don Quixote would have looked to see whether the body in the
+litter were bones or not, but Sancho would not have it, saying:
+
+"Senor, you have ended this perilous adventure more safely for
+yourself than any of those I have seen: perhaps these people, though
+beaten and routed, may bethink themselves that it is a single man that
+has beaten them, and feeling sore and ashamed of it may take heart and
+come in search of us and give us trouble enough. The ass is in
+proper trim, the mountains are near at hand, hunger presses, we have
+nothing more to do but make good our retreat, and, as the saying is,
+the dead to the grave and the living to the loaf."
+
+And driving his ass before him he begged his master to follow,
+who, feeling that Sancho was right, did so without replying; and after
+proceeding some little distance between two hills they found
+themselves in a wide and retired valley, where they alighted, and
+Sancho unloaded his beast, and stretched upon the green grass, with
+hunger for sauce, they breakfasted, dined, lunched, and supped all
+at once, satisfying their appetites with more than one store of cold
+meat which the dead man's clerical gentlemen (who seldom put
+themselves on short allowance) had brought with them on their
+sumpter mule. But another piece of ill-luck befell them, which
+Sancho held the worst of all, and that was that they had no wine to
+drink, nor even water to moisten their lips; and as thirst tormented
+them, Sancho, observing that the meadow where they were was full of
+green and tender grass, said what will be told in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+OF THE UNEXAMPLED AND UNHEARD-OF ADVENTURE WHICH WAS ACHIEVED BY THE
+VALIANT DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA WITH LESS PERIL THAN ANY EVER
+ACHIEVED BY ANY FAMOUS KNIGHT IN THE WORLD
+
+"It cannot be, senor, but that this grass is a proof that there must
+be hard by some spring or brook to give it moisture, so it would be
+well to move a little farther on, that we may find some place where we
+may quench this terrible thirst that plagues us, which beyond a
+doubt is more distressing than hunger."
+
+The advice seemed good to Don Quixote, and, he leading Rocinante
+by the bridle and Sancho the ass by the halter, after he had packed
+away upon him the remains of the supper, they advanced the meadow
+feeling their way, for the darkness of the night made it impossible to
+see anything; but they had not gone two hundred paces when a loud
+noise of water, as if falling from great rocks, struck their ears. The
+sound cheered them greatly; but halting to make out by listening
+from what quarter it came they heard unseasonably another noise
+which spoiled the satisfaction the sound of the water gave them,
+especially for Sancho, who was by nature timid and faint-hearted. They
+heard, I say, strokes falling with a measured beat, and a certain
+rattling of iron and chains that, together with the furious din of the
+water, would have struck terror into any heart but Don Quixote's.
+The night was, as has been said, dark, and they had happened to
+reach a spot in among some tall trees, whose leaves stirred by a
+gentle breeze made a low ominous sound; so that, what with the
+solitude, the place, the darkness, the noise of the water, and the
+rustling of the leaves, everything inspired awe and dread; more
+especially as they perceived that the strokes did not cease, nor the
+wind lull, nor morning approach; to all which might be added their
+ignorance as to where they were. But Don Quixote, supported by his
+intrepid heart, leaped on Rocinante, and bracing his buckler on his
+arm, brought his pike to the slope, and said, "Friend Sancho, know
+that I by Heaven's will have been born in this our iron age to
+revive revive in it the age of gold, or the golden as it is called;
+I am he for whom perils, mighty achievements, and valiant deeds are
+reserved; I am, I say again, he who is to revive the Knights of the
+Round Table, the Twelve of France and the Nine Worthies; and he who is
+to consign to oblivion the Platirs, the Tablantes, the Olivantes and
+Tirantes, the Phoebuses and Belianises, with the whole herd of
+famous knights-errant of days gone by, performing in these in which
+I live such exploits, marvels, and feats of arms as shall obscure
+their brightest deeds. Thou dost mark well, faithful and trusty
+squire, the gloom of this night, its strange silence, the dull
+confused murmur of those trees, the awful sound of that water in quest
+of which we came, that seems as though it were precipitating and
+dashing itself down from the lofty mountains of the Moon, and that
+incessant hammering that wounds and pains our ears; which things all
+together and each of itself are enough to instil fear, dread, and
+dismay into the breast of Mars himself, much more into one not used to
+hazards and adventures of the kind. Well, then, all this that I put
+before thee is but an incentive and stimulant to my spirit, making
+my heart burst in my bosom through eagerness to engage in this
+adventure, arduous as it promises to be; therefore tighten Rocinante's
+girths a little, and God be with thee; wait for me here three days and
+no more, and if in that time I come not back, thou canst return to our
+village, and thence, to do me a favour and a service, thou wilt go
+to El Toboso, where thou shalt say to my incomparable lady Dulcinea
+that her captive knight hath died in attempting things that might make
+him worthy of being called hers."
+
+When Sancho heard his master's words he began to weep in the most
+pathetic way, saying:
+
+"Senor, I know not why your worship wants to attempt this so
+dreadful adventure; it is night now, no one sees us here, we can
+easily turn about and take ourselves out of danger, even if we don't
+drink for three days to come; and as there is no one to see us, all
+the less will there be anyone to set us down as cowards; besides, I
+have many a time heard the curate of our village, whom your worship
+knows well, preach that he who seeks danger perishes in it; so it is
+not right to tempt God by trying so tremendous a feat from which there
+can be no escape save by a miracle, and Heaven has performed enough of
+them for your worship in delivering you from being blanketed as I was,
+and bringing you out victorious and safe and sound from among all
+those enemies that were with the dead man; and if all this does not
+move or soften that hard heart, let this thought and reflection move
+it, that you will have hardly quitted this spot when from pure fear
+I shall yield my soul up to anyone that will take it. I left home
+and wife and children to come and serve your worship, trusting to do
+better and not worse; but as covetousness bursts the bag, it has
+rent my hopes asunder, for just as I had them highest about getting
+that wretched unlucky island your worship has so often promised me,
+I see that instead and in lieu of it you mean to desert me now in a
+place so far from human reach: for God's sake, master mine, deal not
+so unjustly by me, and if your worship will not entirely give up
+attempting this feat, at least put it off till morning, for by what
+the lore I learned when I was a shepherd tells me it cannot want three
+hours of dawn now, because the mouth of the Horn is overhead and makes
+midnight in the line of the left arm."
+
+"How canst thou see, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "where it makes that
+line, or where this mouth or this occiput is that thou talkest of,
+when the night is so dark that there is not a star to be seen in the
+whole heaven?"
+
+"That's true," said Sancho, "but fear has sharp eyes, and sees
+things underground, much more above in heavens; besides, there is good
+reason to show that it now wants but little of day."
+
+"Let it want what it may," replied Don Quixote, "it shall not be
+said of me now or at any time that tears or entreaties turned me aside
+from doing what was in accordance with knightly usage; and so I beg of
+thee, Sancho, to hold thy peace, for God, who has put it into my heart
+to undertake now this so unexampled and terrible adventure, will
+take care to watch over my safety and console thy sorrow; what thou
+hast to do is to tighten Rocinante's girths well, and wait here, for I
+shall come back shortly, alive or dead."
+
+Sancho perceiving it his master's final resolve, and how little
+his tears, counsels, and entreaties prevailed with him, determined
+to have recourse to his own ingenuity and compel him, if he could,
+to wait till daylight; and so, while tightening the girths of the
+horse, he quietly and without being felt, with his ass' halter tied
+both Rocinante's legs, so that when Don Quixote strove to go he was
+unable as the horse could only move by jumps. Seeing the success of
+his trick, Sancho Panza said:
+
+"See there, senor! Heaven, moved by my tears and prayers, has so
+ordered it that Rocinante cannot stir; and if you will be obstinate,
+and spur and strike him, you will only provoke fortune, and kick, as
+they say, against the pricks."
+
+Don Quixote at this grew desperate, but the more he drove his
+heels into the horse, the less he stirred him; and not having any
+suspicion of the tying, he was fain to resign himself and wait till
+daybreak or until Rocinante could move, firmly persuaded that all this
+came of something other than Sancho's ingenuity. So he said to him,
+"As it is so, Sancho, and as Rocinante cannot move, I am content to
+wait till dawn smiles upon us, even though I weep while it delays
+its coming."
+
+"There is no need to weep," answered Sancho, "for I will amuse
+your worship by telling stories from this till daylight, unless indeed
+you like to dismount and lie down to sleep a little on the green grass
+after the fashion of knights-errant, so as to be fresher when day
+comes and the moment arrives for attempting this extraordinary
+adventure you are looking forward to."
+
+"What art thou talking about dismounting or sleeping for?" said
+Don Quixote. "Am I, thinkest thou, one of those knights that take
+their rest in the presence of danger? Sleep thou who art born to
+sleep, or do as thou wilt, for I will act as I think most consistent
+with my character."
+
+"Be not angry, master mine," replied Sancho, "I did not mean to
+say that;" and coming close to him he laid one hand on the pommel of
+the saddle and the other on the cantle so that he held his master's
+left thigh in his embrace, not daring to separate a finger's width
+from him; so much afraid was he of the strokes which still resounded
+with a regular beat. Don Quixote bade him tell some story to amuse him
+as he had proposed, to which Sancho replied that he would if his dread
+of what he heard would let him; "Still," said he, "I will strive to
+tell a story which, if I can manage to relate it, and nobody
+interferes with the telling, is the best of stories, and let your
+worship give me your attention, for here I begin. What was, was; and
+may the good that is to come be for all, and the evil for him who goes
+to look for it -your worship must know that the beginning the old folk
+used to put to their tales was not just as each one pleased; it was
+a maxim of Cato Zonzorino the Roman, that says 'the evil for him
+that goes to look for it,' and it comes as pat to the purpose now as
+ring to finger, to show that your worship should keep quiet and not go
+looking for evil in any quarter, and that we should go back by some
+other road, since nobody forces us to follow this in which so many
+terrors affright us."
+
+"Go on with thy story, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and leave the
+choice of our road to my care."
+
+"I say then," continued Sancho, "that in a village of Estremadura
+there was a goat-shepherd -that is to say, one who tended goats- which
+shepherd or goatherd, as my story goes, was called Lope Ruiz, and this
+Lope Ruiz was in love with a shepherdess called Torralva, which
+shepherdess called Torralva was the daughter of a rich grazier, and
+this rich grazier-"
+
+"If that is the way thou tellest thy tale, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote, "repeating twice all thou hast to say, thou wilt not have
+done these two days; go straight on with it, and tell it like a
+reasonable man, or else say nothing."
+
+"Tales are always told in my country in the very way I am telling
+this," answered Sancho, "and I cannot tell it in any other, nor is
+it right of your worship to ask me to make new customs."
+
+"Tell it as thou wilt," replied Don Quixote; "and as fate will
+have it that I cannot help listening to thee, go on."
+
+"And so, lord of my soul," continued Sancho, as I have said, this
+shepherd was in love with Torralva the shepherdess, who was a wild
+buxom lass with something of the look of a man about her, for she
+had little moustaches; I fancy I see her now."
+
+"Then you knew her?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"I did not know her," said Sancho, "but he who told me the story
+said it was so true and certain that when I told it to another I might
+safely declare and swear I had seen it all myself. And so in course of
+time, the devil, who never sleeps and puts everything in confusion,
+contrived that the love the shepherd bore the shepherdess turned
+into hatred and ill-will, and the reason, according to evil tongues,
+was some little jealousy she caused him that crossed the line and
+trespassed on forbidden ground; and so much did the shepherd hate
+her from that time forward that, in order to escape from her, he
+determined to quit the country and go where he should never set eyes
+on her again. Torralva, when she found herself spurned by Lope, was
+immediately smitten with love for him, though she had never loved
+him before."
+
+"That is the natural way of women," said Don Quixote, "to scorn
+the one that loves them, and love the one that hates them: go on,
+Sancho."
+
+"It came to pass," said Sancho, "that the shepherd carried out his
+intention, and driving his goats before him took his way across the
+plains of Estremadura to pass over into the Kingdom of Portugal.
+Torralva, who knew of it, went after him, and on foot and barefoot
+followed him at a distance, with a pilgrim's staff in her hand and a
+scrip round her neck, in which she carried, it is said, a bit of
+looking-glass and a piece of a comb and some little pot or other of
+paint for her face; but let her carry what she did, I am not going
+to trouble myself to prove it; all I say is, that the shepherd, they
+say, came with his flock to cross over the river Guadiana, which was
+at that time swollen and almost overflowing its banks, and at the spot
+he came to there was neither ferry nor boat nor anyone to carry him or
+his flock to the other side, at which he was much vexed, for he
+perceived that Torralva was approaching and would give him great
+annoyance with her tears and entreaties; however, he went looking
+about so closely that he discovered a fisherman who had alongside of
+him a boat so small that it could only hold one person and one goat;
+but for all that he spoke to him and agreed with him to carry
+himself and his three hundred goats across. The fisherman got into the
+boat and carried one goat over; he came back and carried another over;
+he came back again, and again brought over another- let your worship
+keep count of the goats the fisherman is taking across, for if one
+escapes the memory there will be an end of the story, and it will be
+impossible to tell another word of it. To proceed, I must tell you the
+landing place on the other side was miry and slippery, and the
+fisherman lost a great deal of time in going and coming; still he
+returned for another goat, and another, and another."
+
+"Take it for granted he brought them all across," said Don
+Quixote, "and don't keep going and coming in this way, or thou wilt
+not make an end of bringing them over this twelvemonth."
+
+"How many have gone across so far?" said Sancho.
+
+"How the devil do I know?" replied Don Quixote.
+
+"There it is," said Sancho, "what I told you, that you must keep a
+good count; well then, by God, there is an end of the story, for there
+is no going any farther."
+
+"How can that be?" said Don Quixote; "is it so essential to the
+story to know to a nicety the goats that have crossed over, that if
+there be a mistake of one in the reckoning, thou canst not go on
+with it?"
+
+"No, senor, not a bit," replied Sancho; "for when I asked your
+worship to tell me how many goats had crossed, and you answered you
+did not know, at that very instant all I had to say passed away out of
+my memory, and, faith, there was much virtue in it, and
+entertainment."
+
+"So, then," said Don Quixote, "the story has come to an end?"
+
+"As much as my mother has," said Sancho.
+
+"In truth," said Don Quixote, "thou hast told one of the rarest
+stories, tales, or histories, that anyone in the world could have
+imagined, and such a way of telling it and ending it was never seen
+nor will be in a lifetime; though I expected nothing else from thy
+excellent understanding. But I do not wonder, for perhaps those
+ceaseless strokes may have confused thy wits."
+
+"All that may be," replied Sancho, "but I know that as to my
+story, all that can be said is that it ends there where the mistake in
+the count of the passage of the goats begins."
+
+"Let it end where it will, well and good," said Don Quixote, "and
+let us see if Rocinante can go;" and again he spurred him, and again
+Rocinante made jumps and remained where he was, so well tied was he.
+
+Just then, whether it was the cold of the morning that was now
+approaching, or that he had eaten something laxative at supper, or
+that it was only natural (as is most likely), Sancho felt a desire
+to do what no one could do for him; but so great was the fear that had
+penetrated his heart, he dared not separate himself from his master by
+as much as the black of his nail; to escape doing what he wanted
+was, however, also impossible; so what he did for peace's sake was
+to remove his right hand, which held the back of the saddle, and
+with it to untie gently and silently the running string which alone
+held up his breeches, so that on loosening it they at once fell down
+round his feet like fetters; he then raised his shirt as well as he
+could and bared his hind quarters, no slim ones. But, this
+accomplished, which he fancied was all he had to do to get out of this
+terrible strait and embarrassment, another still greater difficulty
+presented itself, for it seemed to him impossible to relieve himself
+without making some noise, and he ground his teeth and squeezed his
+shoulders together, holding his breath as much as he could; but in
+spite of his precautions he was unlucky enough after all to make a
+little noise, very different from that which was causing him so much
+fear.
+
+Don Quixote, hearing it, said, "What noise is that, Sancho?"
+
+"I don't know, senor," said he; "it must be something new, for
+adventures and misadventures never begin with a trifle." Once more
+he tried his luck, and succeeded so well, that without any further
+noise or disturbance he found himself relieved of the burden that
+had given him so much discomfort. But as Don Quixote's sense of
+smell was as acute as his hearing, and as Sancho was so closely linked
+with him that the fumes rose almost in a straight line, it could not
+be but that some should reach his nose, and as soon as they did he
+came to its relief by compressing it between his fingers, saying in
+a rather snuffing tone, "Sancho, it strikes me thou art in great
+fear."
+
+"I am," answered Sancho; "but how does your worship perceive it
+now more than ever?"
+
+"Because just now thou smellest stronger than ever, and not of
+ambergris," answered Don Quixote.
+
+"Very likely," said Sancho, "but that's not my fault, but your
+worship's, for leading me about at unseasonable hours and at such
+unwonted paces."
+
+"Then go back three or four, my friend," said Don Quixote, all the
+time with his fingers to his nose; "and for the future pay more
+attention to thy person and to what thou owest to mine; for it is my
+great familiarity with thee that has bred this contempt."
+
+"I'll bet," replied Sancho, "that your worship thinks I have done
+something I ought not with my person."
+
+"It makes it worse to stir it, friend Sancho," returned Don Quixote.
+
+With this and other talk of the same sort master and man passed
+the night, till Sancho, perceiving that daybreak was coming on
+apace, very cautiously untied Rocinante and tied up his breeches. As
+soon as Rocinante found himself free, though by nature he was not at
+all mettlesome, he seemed to feel lively and began pawing- for as to
+capering, begging his pardon, he knew not what it meant. Don
+Quixote, then, observing that Rocinante could move, took it as a
+good sign and a signal that he should attempt the dread adventure.
+By this time day had fully broken and everything showed distinctly,
+and Don Quixote saw that he was among some tall trees, chestnuts,
+which cast a very deep shade; he perceived likewise that the sound
+of the strokes did not cease, but could not discover what caused it,
+and so without any further delay he let Rocinante feel the spur, and
+once more taking leave of Sancho, he told him to wait for him there
+three days at most, as he had said before, and if he should not have
+returned by that time, he might feel sure it had been God's will
+that he should end his days in that perilous adventure. He again
+repeated the message and commission with which he was to go on his
+behalf to his lady Dulcinea, and said he was not to be uneasy as to
+the payment of his services, for before leaving home he had made his
+will, in which he would find himself fully recompensed in the matter
+of wages in due proportion to the time he had served; but if God
+delivered him safe, sound, and unhurt out of that danger, he might
+look upon the promised island as much more than certain. Sancho
+began to weep afresh on again hearing the affecting words of his
+good master, and resolved to stay with him until the final issue and
+end of the business. From these tears and this honourable resolve of
+Sancho Panza's the author of this history infers that he must have
+been of good birth and at least an old Christian; and the feeling he
+displayed touched his but not so much as to make him show any
+weakness; on the contrary, hiding what he felt as well as he could, he
+began to move towards that quarter whence the sound of the water and
+of the strokes seemed to come.
+
+Sancho followed him on foot, leading by the halter, as his custom
+was, his ass, his constant comrade in prosperity or adversity; and
+advancing some distance through the shady chestnut trees they came
+upon a little meadow at the foot of some high rocks, down which a
+mighty rush of water flung itself. At the foot of the rocks were
+some rudely constructed houses looking more like ruins than houses,
+from among which came, they perceived, the din and clatter of blows,
+which still continued without intermission. Rocinante took fright at
+the noise of the water and of the blows, but quieting him Don
+Quixote advanced step by step towards the houses, commending himself
+with all his heart to his lady, imploring her support in that dread
+pass and enterprise, and on the way commending himself to God, too,
+not to forget him. Sancho who never quitted his side, stretched his
+neck as far as he could and peered between the legs of Rocinante to
+see if he could now discover what it was that caused him such fear and
+apprehension. They went it might be a hundred paces farther, when on
+turning a corner the true cause, beyond the possibility of any
+mistake, of that dread-sounding and to them awe-inspiring noise that
+had kept them all the night in such fear and perplexity, appeared
+plain and obvious; and it was (if, reader, thou art not disgusted
+and disappointed) six fulling hammers which by their alternate strokes
+made all the din.
+
+When Don Quixote perceived what it was, he was struck dumb and rigid
+from head to foot. Sancho glanced at him and saw him with his head
+bent down upon his breast in manifest mortification; and Don Quixote
+glanced at Sancho and saw him with his cheeks puffed out and his mouth
+full of laughter, and evidently ready to explode with it, and in spite
+of his vexation he could not help laughing at the sight of him; and
+when Sancho saw his master begin he let go so heartily that he had
+to hold his sides with both hands to keep himself from bursting with
+laughter. Four times he stopped, and as many times did his laughter
+break out afresh with the same violence as at first, whereat Don
+Quixote grew furious, above all when he heard him say mockingly, "Thou
+must know, friend Sancho, that of Heaven's will I was born in this our
+iron age to revive in it the golden or age of gold; I am he for whom
+are reserved perils, mighty achievements, valiant deeds;" and here
+he went on repeating the words that Don Quixote uttered the first time
+they heard the awful strokes.
+
+Don Quixote, then, seeing that Sancho was turning him into ridicule,
+was so mortified and vexed that he lifted up his pike and smote him
+two such blows that if, instead of catching them on his shoulders,
+he had caught them on his head there would have been no wages to
+pay, unless indeed to his heirs. Sancho seeing that he was getting
+an awkward return in earnest for his jest, and fearing his master
+might carry it still further, said to him very humbly, "Calm yourself,
+sir, for by God I am only joking."
+
+"Well, then, if you are joking I am not," replied Don Quixote. "Look
+here, my lively gentleman, if these, instead of being fulling hammers,
+had been some perilous adventure, have I not, think you, shown the
+courage required for the attempt and achievement? Am I, perchance,
+being, as I am, a gentleman, bound to know and distinguish sounds
+and tell whether they come from fulling mills or not; and that, when
+perhaps, as is the case, I have never in my life seen any as you have,
+low boor as you are, that have been born and bred among them? But turn
+me these six hammers into six giants, and bring them to beard me,
+one by one or all together, and if I do not knock them head over
+heels, then make what mockery you like of me."
+
+"No more of that, senor," returned Sancho; "I own I went a little
+too far with the joke. But tell me, your worship, now that peace is
+made between us (and may God bring you out of all the adventures
+that may befall you as safe and sound as he has brought you out of
+this one), was it not a thing to laugh at, and is it not a good story,
+the great fear we were in?- at least that I was in; for as to your
+worship I see now that you neither know nor understand what either
+fear or dismay is."
+
+"I do not deny," said Don Quixote, "that what happened to us may
+be worth laughing at, but it is not worth making a story about, for it
+is not everyone that is shrewd enough to hit the right point of a
+thing."
+
+"At any rate," said Sancho, "your worship knew how to hit the
+right point with your pike, aiming at my head and hitting me on the
+shoulders, thanks be to God and my own smartness in dodging it. But
+let that pass; all will come out in the scouring; for I have heard say
+'he loves thee well that makes thee weep;' and moreover that it is the
+way with great lords after any hard words they give a servant to
+give him a pair of breeches; though I do not know what they give after
+blows, unless it be that knights-errant after blows give islands, or
+kingdoms on the mainland."
+
+"It may be on the dice," said Don Quixote, "that all thou sayest
+will come true; overlook the past, for thou art shrewd enough to
+know that our first movements are not in our own control; and one
+thing for the future bear in mind, that thou curb and restrain thy
+loquacity in my company; for in all the books of chivalry that I
+have read, and they are innumerable, I never met with a squire who
+talked so much to his lord as thou dost to thine; and in fact I feel
+it to be a great fault of thine and of mine: of thine, that thou
+hast so little respect for me; of mine, that I do not make myself more
+respected. There was Gandalin, the squire of Amadis of Gaul, that
+was Count of the Insula Firme, and we read of him that he always
+addressed his lord with his cap in his hand, his head bowed down and
+his body bent double, more turquesco. And then, what shall we say of
+Gasabal, the squire of Galaor, who was so silent that in order to
+indicate to us the greatness of his marvellous taciturnity his name is
+only once mentioned in the whole of that history, as long as it is
+truthful? From all I have said thou wilt gather, Sancho, that there
+must be a difference between master and man, between lord and
+lackey, between knight and squire: so that from this day forward in
+our intercourse we must observe more respect and take less
+liberties, for in whatever way I may be provoked with you it will be
+bad for the pitcher. The favours and benefits that I have promised you
+will come in due time, and if they do not your wages at least will not
+be lost, as I have already told you."
+
+"All that your worship says is very well," said Sancho, "but I
+should like to know (in case the time of favours should not come,
+and it might be necessary to fall back upon wages) how much did the
+squire of a knight-errant get in those days, and did they agree by the
+month, or by the day like bricklayers?"
+
+"I do not believe," replied Don Quixote, "that such squires were
+ever on wages, but were dependent on favour; and if I have now
+mentioned thine in the sealed will I have left at home, it was with
+a view to what may happen; for as yet I know not how chivalry will
+turn out in these wretched times of ours, and I do not wish my soul to
+suffer for trifles in the other world; for I would have thee know,
+Sancho, that in this there is no condition more hazardous than that of
+adventurers."
+
+"That is true," said Sancho, "since the mere noise of the hammers of
+a fulling mill can disturb and disquiet the heart of such a valiant
+errant adventurer as your worship; but you may be sure I will not open
+my lips henceforward to make light of anything of your worship's,
+but only to honour you as my master and natural lord."
+
+"By so doing," replied Don Quixote, "shalt thou live long on the
+face of the earth; for next to parents, masters are to be respected as
+though they were parents."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE EXALTED ADVENTURE AND RICH PRIZE OF MAMBRINO'S
+HELMET, TOGETHER WITH OTHER THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO OUR INVINCIBLE
+KNIGHT
+
+It now began to rain a little, and Sancho was for going into the
+fulling mills, but Don Quixote had taken such an abhorrence to them on
+account of the late joke that he would not enter them on any
+account; so turning aside to right they came upon another road,
+different from that which they had taken the night before. Shortly
+afterwards Don Quixote perceived a man on horseback who wore on his
+head something that shone like gold, and the moment he saw him he
+turned to Sancho and said:
+
+"I think, Sancho, there is no proverb that is not true, all being
+maxims drawn from experience itself, the mother of all the sciences,
+especially that one that says, 'Where one door shuts, another
+opens.' I say so because if last night fortune shut the door of the
+adventure we were looking for against us, cheating us with the fulling
+mills, it now opens wide another one for another better and more
+certain adventure, and if I do not contrive to enter it, it will be my
+own fault, and I cannot lay it to my ignorance of fulling mills, or
+the darkness of the night. I say this because, if I mistake not, there
+comes towards us one who wears on his head the helmet of Mambrino,
+concerning which I took the oath thou rememberest."
+
+"Mind what you say, your worship, and still more what you do,"
+said Sancho, "for I don't want any more fulling mills to finish off
+fulling and knocking our senses out."
+
+"The devil take thee, man," said Don Quixote; "what has a helmet
+to do with fulling mills?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Sancho, "but, faith, if I might speak as I
+used, perhaps I could give such reasons that your worship would see
+you were mistaken in what you say."
+
+"How can I be mistaken in what I say, unbelieving traitor?" returned
+Don Quixote; "tell me, seest thou not yonder knight coming towards
+us on a dappled grey steed, who has upon his head a helmet of gold?"
+
+"What I see and make out," answered Sancho, "is only a man on a grey
+ass like my own, who has something that shines on his head."
+
+"Well, that is the helmet of Mambrino," said Don Quixote; "stand
+to one side and leave me alone with him; thou shalt see how, without
+saying a word, to save time, I shall bring this adventure to an
+issue and possess myself of the helmet I have so longed for."
+
+"I will take care to stand aside," said Sancho; "but God grant, I
+say once more, that it may be marjoram and not fulling mills."
+
+"I have told thee, brother, on no account to mention those fulling
+mills to me again," said Don Quixote, "or I vow- and I say no more-
+I'll full the soul out of you."
+
+Sancho held his peace in dread lest his master should carry out
+the vow he had hurled like a bowl at him.
+
+The fact of the matter as regards the helmet, steed, and knight that
+Don Quixote saw, was this. In that neighbourhood there were two
+villages, one of them so small that it had neither apothecary's shop
+nor barber, which the other that was close to it had, so the barber of
+the larger served the smaller, and in it there was a sick man who
+required to be bled and another man who wanted to be shaved, and on
+this errand the barber was going, carrying with him a brass basin; but
+as luck would have it, as he was on the way it began to rain, and
+not to spoil his hat, which probably was a new one, he put the basin
+on his head, and being clean it glittered at half a league's distance.
+He rode upon a grey ass, as Sancho said, and this was what made it
+seem to Don Quixote to be a dapple-grey steed and a knight and a
+golden helmet; for everything he saw he made to fall in with his crazy
+chivalry and ill-errant notions; and when he saw the poor knight
+draw near, without entering into any parley with him, at Rocinante's
+top speed he bore down upon him with the pike pointed low, fully
+determined to run him through and through, and as he reached him,
+without checking the fury of his charge, he cried to him:
+
+"Defend thyself, miserable being, or yield me of thine own accord
+that which is so reasonably my due."
+
+The barber, who without any expectation or apprehension of it saw
+this apparition coming down upon him, had no other way of saving
+himself from the stroke of the lance but to let himself fall off his
+ass; and no sooner had he touched the ground than he sprang up more
+nimbly than a deer and sped away across the plain faster than the
+wind.
+
+He left the basin on the ground, with which Don Quixote contented
+himself, saying that the pagan had shown his discretion and imitated
+the beaver, which finding itself pressed by the hunters bites and cuts
+off with its teeth that for which, by its natural instinct, it knows
+it is pursued.
+
+He told Sancho to pick up the helmet, and he taking it in his
+hands said:
+
+"By God the basin is a good one, and worth a real of eight if it
+is worth a maravedis," and handed it to his master, who immediately
+put it on his head, turning it round, now this way, now that, in
+search of fitment, and not finding it he said, "Clearly the pagan to
+whose measure this famous head-piece was first forged must have had
+a very large head; but the worst of it is half of it is wanting."
+
+When Sancho heard him call the basin a headpiece he was unable to
+restrain his laughter, but remembering his master's wrath he checked
+himself in the midst of it.
+
+"What art thou laughing at, Sancho?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"I am laughing," said he, "to think of the great head the pagan must
+have had who owned this helmet, for it looks exactly like a regular
+barber's basin."
+
+"Dost thou know what I suspect, Sancho?" said Don Quixote; "that
+this wonderful piece of this enchanted helmet must by some strange
+accident have come into the hands of some one who was unable to
+recognise or realise its value, and who, not knowing what he did,
+and seeing it to be of the purest gold, must have melted down one half
+for the sake of what it might be worth, and of the other made this
+which is like a barber's basin as thou sayest; but be it as it may, to
+me who recognise it, its transformation makes no difference, for I
+will set it to rights at the first village where there is a
+blacksmith, and in such style that that helmet the god of smithies
+forged for the god of battles shall not surpass it or even come up
+to it; and in the meantime I will wear it as well as I can, for
+something is better than nothing; all the more as it will be quite
+enough to protect me from any chance blow of a stone."
+
+"That is," said Sancho, "if it is not shot with a sling as they were
+in the battle of the two armies, when they signed the cross on your
+worship's grinders and smashed the flask with that blessed draught
+that made me vomit my bowels up."
+
+"It does not grieve me much to have lost it," said Don Quixote, "for
+thou knowest, Sancho, that I have the receipt in my memory."
+
+"So have I," answered Sancho, "but if ever I make it, or try it
+again as long as I live, may this be my last hour; moreover, I have no
+intention of putting myself in the way of wanting it, for I mean, with
+all my five senses, to keep myself from being wounded or from wounding
+anyone: as to being blanketed again I say nothing, for it is hard to
+prevent mishaps of that sort, and if they come there is nothing for it
+but to squeeze our shoulders together, hold our breath, shut our eyes,
+and let ourselves go where luck and the blanket may send us."
+
+"Thou art a bad Christian, Sancho," said Don Quixote on hearing
+this, "for once an injury has been done thee thou never forgettest it:
+but know that it is the part of noble and generous hearts not to
+attach importance to trifles. What lame leg hast thou got by it,
+what broken rib, what cracked head, that thou canst not forget that
+jest? For jest and sport it was, properly regarded, and had I not seen
+it in that light I would have returned and done more mischief in
+revenging thee than the Greeks did for the rape of Helen, who, if
+she were alive now, or if my Dulcinea had lived then, might depend
+upon it she would not be so famous for her beauty as she is;" and here
+he heaved a sigh and sent it aloft; and said Sancho, "Let it pass
+for a jest as it cannot be revenged in earnest, but I know what sort
+of jest and earnest it was, and I know it will never be rubbed out
+of my memory any more than off my shoulders. But putting that aside,
+will your worship tell me what are we to do with this dapple-grey
+steed that looks like a grey ass, which that Martino that your worship
+overthrew has left deserted here? for, from the way he took to his
+heels and bolted, he is not likely ever to come back for it; and by my
+beard but the grey is a good one."
+
+"I have never been in the habit," said Don Quixote, "of taking spoil
+of those whom I vanquish, nor is it the practice of chivalry to take
+away their horses and leave them to go on foot, unless indeed it be
+that the victor have lost his own in the combat, in which case it is
+lawful to take that of the vanquished as a thing won in lawful war;
+therefore, Sancho, leave this horse, or ass, or whatever thou wilt
+have it to be; for when its owner sees us gone hence he will come back
+for it."
+
+"God knows I should like to take it," returned Sancho, "or at
+least to change it for my own, which does not seem to me as good a
+one: verily the laws of chivalry are strict, since they cannot be
+stretched to let one ass be changed for another; I should like to know
+if I might at least change trappings."
+
+"On that head I am not quite certain," answered Don Quixote, "and
+the matter being doubtful, pending better information, I say thou
+mayest change them, if so be thou hast urgent need of them."
+
+"So urgent is it," answered Sancho, "that if they were for my own
+person I could not want them more;" and forthwith, fortified by this
+licence, he effected the mutatio capparum, rigging out his beast to
+the ninety-nines and making quite another thing of it. This done, they
+broke their fast on the remains of the spoils of war plundered from
+the sumpter mule, and drank of the brook that flowed from the
+fulling mills, without casting a look in that direction, in such
+loathing did they hold them for the alarm they had caused them; and,
+all anger and gloom removed, they mounted and, without taking any
+fixed road (not to fix upon any being the proper thing for true
+knights-errant), they set out, guided by Rocinante's will, which
+carried along with it that of his master, not to say that of the
+ass, which always followed him wherever he led, lovingly and sociably;
+nevertheless they returned to the high road, and pursued it at a
+venture without any other aim.
+
+As they went along, then, in this way Sancho said to his master,
+"Senor, would your worship give me leave to speak a little to you? For
+since you laid that hard injunction of silence on me several things
+have gone to rot in my stomach, and I have now just one on the tip
+of my tongue that I don't want to be spoiled."
+
+"Say, on, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and be brief in thy discourse,
+for there is no pleasure in one that is long."
+
+"Well then, senor," returned Sancho, "I say that for some days
+past I have been considering how little is got or gained by going in
+search of these adventures that your worship seeks in these wilds
+and cross-roads, where, even if the most perilous are victoriously
+achieved, there is no one to see or know of them, and so they must
+be left untold for ever, to the loss of your worship's object and
+the credit they deserve; therefore it seems to me it would be better
+(saving your worship's better judgment) if we were to go and serve
+some emperor or other great prince who may have some war on hand, in
+whose service your worship may prove the worth of your person, your
+great might, and greater understanding, on perceiving which the lord
+in whose service we may be will perforce have to reward us, each
+according to his merits; and there you will not be at a loss for
+some one to set down your achievements in writing so as to preserve
+their memory for ever. Of my own I say nothing, as they will not go
+beyond squirely limits, though I make bold to say that, if it be the
+practice in chivalry to write the achievements of squires, I think
+mine must not be left out."
+
+"Thou speakest not amiss, Sancho," answered Don Quixote, "but before
+that point is reached it is requisite to roam the world, as it were on
+probation, seeking adventures, in order that, by achieving some,
+name and fame may be acquired, such that when he betakes himself to
+the court of some great monarch the knight may be already known by his
+deeds, and that the boys, the instant they see him enter the gate of
+the city, may all follow him and surround him, crying, 'This is the
+Knight of the Sun'-or the Serpent, or any other title under which he
+may have achieved great deeds. 'This,' they will say, 'is he who
+vanquished in single combat the gigantic Brocabruno of mighty
+strength; he who delivered the great Mameluke of Persia out of the
+long enchantment under which he had been for almost nine hundred
+years.' So from one to another they will go proclaiming his
+achievements; and presently at the tumult of the boys and the others
+the king of that kingdom will appear at the windows of his royal
+palace, and as soon as he beholds the knight, recognising him by his
+arms and the device on his shield, he will as a matter of course
+say, 'What ho! Forth all ye, the knights of my court, to receive the
+flower of chivalry who cometh hither!' At which command all will issue
+forth, and he himself, advancing half-way down the stairs, will
+embrace him closely, and salute him, kissing him on the cheek, and
+will then lead him to the queen's chamber, where the knight will
+find her with the princess her daughter, who will be one of the most
+beautiful and accomplished damsels that could with the utmost pains be
+discovered anywhere in the known world. Straightway it will come to
+pass that she will fix her eyes upon the knight and he his upon her,
+and each will seem to the other something more divine than human, and,
+without knowing how or why they will be taken and entangled in the
+inextricable toils of love, and sorely distressed in their hearts
+not to see any way of making their pains and sufferings known by
+speech. Thence they will lead him, no doubt, to some richly adorned
+chamber of the palace, where, having removed his armour, they will
+bring him a rich mantle of scarlet wherewith to robe himself, and if
+he looked noble in his armour he will look still more so in a doublet.
+When night comes he will sup with the king, queen, and princess; and
+all the time he will never take his eyes off her, stealing stealthy
+glances, unnoticed by those present, and she will do the same, and
+with equal cautiousness, being, as I have said, a damsel of great
+discretion. The tables being removed, suddenly through the door of the
+hall there will enter a hideous and diminutive dwarf followed by a
+fair dame, between two giants, who comes with a certain adventure, the
+work of an ancient sage; and he who shall achieve it shall be deemed
+the best knight in the world.
+
+"The king will then command all those present to essay it, and
+none will bring it to an end and conclusion save the stranger
+knight, to the great enhancement of his fame, whereat the princess
+will be overjoyed and will esteem herself happy and fortunate in
+having fixed and placed her thoughts so high. And the best of it is
+that this king, or prince, or whatever he is, is engaged in a very
+bitter war with another as powerful as himself, and the stranger
+knight, after having been some days at his court, requests leave
+from him to go and serve him in the said war. The king will grant it
+very readily, and the knight will courteously kiss his hands for the
+favour done to him; and that night he will take leave of his lady
+the princess at the grating of the chamber where she sleeps, which
+looks upon a garden, and at which he has already many times
+conversed with her, the go-between and confidante in the matter
+being a damsel much trusted by the princess. He will sigh, she will
+swoon, the damsel will fetch water, much distressed because morning
+approaches, and for the honour of her lady he would not that they were
+discovered; at last the princess will come to herself and will present
+her white hands through the grating to the knight, who will kiss
+them a thousand and a thousand times, bathing them with his tears.
+It will be arranged between them how they are to inform each other
+of their good or evil fortunes, and the princess will entreat him to
+make his absence as short as possible, which he will promise to do
+with many oaths; once more he kisses her hands, and takes his leave in
+such grief that he is well-nigh ready to die. He betakes him thence to
+his chamber, flings himself on his bed, cannot sleep for sorrow at
+parting, rises early in the morning, goes to take leave of the king,
+queen, and princess, and, as he takes his leave of the pair, it is
+told him that the princess is indisposed and cannot receive a visit;
+the knight thinks it is from grief at his departure, his heart is
+pierced, and he is hardly able to keep from showing his pain. The
+confidante is present, observes all, goes to tell her mistress, who
+listens with tears and says that one of her greatest distresses is not
+knowing who this knight is, and whether he is of kingly lineage or
+not; the damsel assures her that so much courtesy, gentleness, and
+gallantry of bearing as her knight possesses could not exist in any
+save one who was royal and illustrious; her anxiety is thus
+relieved, and she strives to be of good cheer lest she should excite
+suspicion in her parents, and at the end of two days she appears in
+public. Meanwhile the knight has taken his departure; he fights in the
+war, conquers the king's enemy, wins many cities, triumphs in many
+battles, returns to the court, sees his lady where he was wont to
+see her, and it is agreed that he shall demand her in marriage of
+her parents as the reward of his services; the king is unwilling to
+give her, as he knows not who he is, but nevertheless, whether carried
+off or in whatever other way it may be, the princess comes to be his
+bride, and her father comes to regard it as very good fortune; for
+it so happens that this knight is proved to be the son of a valiant
+king of some kingdom, I know not what, for I fancy it is not likely to
+be on the map. The father dies, the princess inherits, and in two
+words the knight becomes king. And here comes in at once the
+bestowal of rewards upon his squire and all who have aided him in
+rising to so exalted a rank. He marries his squire to a damsel of
+the princess's, who will be, no doubt, the one who was confidante in
+their amour, and is daughter of a very great duke."
+
+"That's what I want, and no mistake about it!" said Sancho.
+"That's what I'm waiting for; for all this, word for word, is in store
+for your worship under the title of the Knight of the Rueful
+Countenance."
+
+"Thou needst not doubt it, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "for in the
+same manner, and by the same steps as I have described here,
+knights-errant rise and have risen to be kings and emperors; all we
+want now is to find out what king, Christian or pagan, is at war and
+has a beautiful daughter; but there will be time enough to think of
+that, for, as I have told thee, fame must be won in other quarters
+before repairing to the court. There is another thing, too, that is
+wanting; for supposing we find a king who is at war and has a
+beautiful daughter, and that I have won incredible fame throughout the
+universe, I know not how it can be made out that I am of royal
+lineage, or even second cousin to an emperor; for the king will not be
+willing to give me his daughter in marriage unless he is first
+thoroughly satisfied on this point, however much my famous deeds may
+deserve it; so that by this deficiency I fear I shall lose what my arm
+has fairly earned. True it is I am a gentleman of known house, of
+estate and property, and entitled to the five hundred sueldos mulct;
+and it may be that the sage who shall write my history will so clear
+up my ancestry and pedigree that I may find myself fifth or sixth in
+descent from a king; for I would have thee know, Sancho, that there
+are two kinds of lineages in the world; some there be tracing and
+deriving their descent from kings and princes, whom time has reduced
+little by little until they end in a point like a pyramid upside down;
+and others who spring from the common herd and go on rising step by
+step until they come to be great lords; so that the difference is that
+the one were what they no longer are, and the others are what they
+formerly were not. And I may be of such that after investigation my
+origin may prove great and famous, with which the king, my
+father-in-law that is to be, ought to be satisfied; and should he
+not be, the princess will so love me that even though she well knew me
+to be the son of a water-carrier, she will take me for her lord and
+husband in spite of her father; if not, then it comes to seizing her
+and carrying her off where I please; for time or death will put an end
+to the wrath of her parents."
+
+"It comes to this, too," said Sancho, "what some naughty people say,
+'Never ask as a favour what thou canst take by force;' though it would
+fit better to say, 'A clear escape is better than good men's prayers.'
+I say so because if my lord the king, your worship's father-in-law,
+will not condescend to give you my lady the princess, there is nothing
+for it but, as your worship says, to seize her and transport her.
+But the mischief is that until peace is made and you come into the
+peaceful enjoyment of your kingdom, the poor squire is famishing as
+far as rewards go, unless it be that the confidante damsel that is
+to be his wife comes with the princess, and that with her he tides
+over his bad luck until Heaven otherwise orders things; for his
+master, I suppose, may as well give her to him at once for a lawful
+wife."
+
+"Nobody can object to that," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Then since that may be," said Sancho, "there is nothing for it
+but to commend ourselves to God, and let fortune take what course it
+will."
+
+"God guide it according to my wishes and thy wants," said Don
+Quixote, "and mean be he who thinks himself mean."
+
+"In God's name let him be so," said Sancho: "I am an old
+Christian, and to fit me for a count that's enough."
+
+"And more than enough for thee," said Don Quixote; "and even wert
+thou not, it would make no difference, because I being the king can
+easily give thee nobility without purchase or service rendered by
+thee, for when I make thee a count, then thou art at once a gentleman;
+and they may say what they will, but by my faith they will have to
+call thee 'your lordship,' whether they like it or not."
+
+"Not a doubt of it; and I'll know how to support the tittle," said
+Sancho.
+
+"Title thou shouldst say, not tittle," said his master.
+
+"So be it," answered Sancho. "I say I will know how to behave, for
+once in my life I was beadle of a brotherhood, and the beadle's gown
+sat so well on me that all said I looked as if I was to be steward
+of the same brotherhood. What will it be, then, when I put a duke's
+robe on my back, or dress myself in gold and pearls like a count? I
+believe they'll come a hundred leagues to see me."
+
+"Thou wilt look well," said Don Quixote, "but thou must shave thy
+beard often, for thou hast it so thick and rough and unkempt, that
+if thou dost not shave it every second day at least, they will see
+what thou art at the distance of a musket shot."
+
+"What more will it be," said Sancho, "than having a barber, and
+keeping him at wages in the house? and even if it be necessary, I will
+make him go behind me like a nobleman's equerry."
+
+"Why, how dost thou know that noblemen have equerries behind
+them?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"I will tell you," answered Sancho. "Years ago I was for a month
+at the capital and there I saw taking the air a very small gentleman
+who they said was a very great man, and a man following him on
+horseback in every turn he took, just as if he was his tail. I asked
+why this man did not join the other man, instead of always going
+behind him; they answered me that he was his equerry, and that it
+was the custom with nobles to have such persons behind them, and
+ever since then I know it, for I have never forgotten it."
+
+"Thou art right," said Don Quixote, "and in the same way thou mayest
+carry thy barber with thee, for customs did not come into use all
+together, nor were they all invented at once, and thou mayest be the
+first count to have a barber to follow him; and, indeed, shaving one's
+beard is a greater trust than saddling one's horse."
+
+"Let the barber business be my look-out," said Sancho; "and your
+worship's be it to strive to become a king, and make me a count."
+
+"So it shall be," answered Don Quixote, and raising his eyes he
+saw what will be told in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+OF THE FREEDOM DON QUIXOTE CONFERRED ON SEVERAL UNFORTUNATES WHO
+AGAINST THEIR WILL WERE BEING CARRIED WHERE THEY HAD NO WISH TO GO
+
+Cide Hamete Benengeli, the Arab and Manchegan author, relates in
+this most grave, high-sounding, minute, delightful, and original
+history that after the discussion between the famous Don Quixote of La
+Mancha and his squire Sancho Panza which is set down at the end of
+chapter twenty-one, Don Quixote raised his eyes and saw coming along
+the road he was following some dozen men on foot strung together by
+the neck, like beads, on a great iron chain, and all with manacles
+on their hands. With them there came also two men on horseback and two
+on foot; those on horseback with wheel-lock muskets, those on foot
+with javelins and swords, and as soon as Sancho saw them he said:
+
+"That is a chain of galley slaves, on the way to the galleys by
+force of the king's orders."
+
+"How by force?" asked Don Quixote; "is it possible that the king
+uses force against anyone?"
+
+"I do not say that," answered Sancho, "but that these are people
+condemned for their crimes to serve by force in the king's galleys."
+
+"In fact," replied Don Quixote, "however it may be, these people are
+going where they are taking them by force, and not of their own will."
+
+"Just so," said Sancho.
+
+"Then if so," said Don Quixote, "here is a case for the exercise
+of my office, to put down force and to succour and help the wretched."
+
+"Recollect, your worship," said Sancho, "Justice, which is the
+king himself, is not using force or doing wrong to such persons, but
+punishing them for their crimes."
+
+The chain of galley slaves had by this time come up, and Don Quixote
+in very courteous language asked those who were in custody of it to be
+good enough to tell him the reason or reasons for which they were
+conducting these people in this manner. One of the guards on horseback
+answered that they were galley slaves belonging to his majesty, that
+they were going to the galleys, and that was all that was to be said
+and all he had any business to know.
+
+"Nevertheless," replied Don Quixote, "I should like to know from
+each of them separately the reason of his misfortune;" to this he
+added more to the same effect to induce them to tell him what he
+wanted so civilly that the other mounted guard said to him:
+
+"Though we have here the register and certificate of the sentence of
+every one of these wretches, this is no time to take them out or
+read them; come and ask themselves; they can tell if they choose,
+and they will, for these fellows take a pleasure in doing and
+talking about rascalities."
+
+With this permission, which Don Quixote would have taken even had
+they not granted it, he approached the chain and asked the first for
+what offences he was now in such a sorry case.
+
+He made answer that it was for being a lover.
+
+"For that only?" replied Don Quixote; "why, if for being lovers they
+send people to the galleys I might have been rowing in them long ago."
+
+"The love is not the sort your worship is thinking of," said the
+galley slave; "mine was that I loved a washerwoman's basket of clean
+linen so well, and held it so close in my embrace, that if the arm
+of the law had not forced it from me, I should never have let it go of
+my own will to this moment; I was caught in the act, there was no
+occasion for torture, the case was settled, they treated me to a
+hundred lashes on the back, and three years of gurapas besides, and
+that was the end of it."
+
+"What are gurapas?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"Gurapas are galleys," answered the galley slave, who was a young
+man of about four-and-twenty, and said he was a native of Piedrahita.
+
+Don Quixote asked the same question of the second, who made no
+reply, so downcast and melancholy was he; but the first answered for
+him, and said, "He, sir, goes as a canary, I mean as a musician and
+a singer."
+
+"What!" said Don Quixote, "for being musicians and singers are
+people sent to the galleys too?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the galley slave, "for there is nothing worse
+than singing under suffering."
+
+"On the contrary, I have heard say," said Don Quixote, "that he
+who sings scares away his woes."
+
+"Here it is the reverse," said the galley slave; "for he who sings
+once weeps all his life."
+
+"I do not understand it," said Don Quixote; but one of the guards
+said to him, "Sir, to sing under suffering means with the non sancta
+fraternity to confess under torture; they put this sinner to the
+torture and he confessed his crime, which was being a cuatrero, that
+is a cattle-stealer, and on his confession they sentenced him to six
+years in the galleys, besides two bundred lashes that he has already
+had on the back; and he is always dejected and downcast because the
+other thieves that were left behind and that march here ill-treat, and
+snub, and jeer, and despise him for confessing and not having spirit
+enough to say nay; for, say they, 'nay' has no more letters in it than
+'yea,' and a culprit is well off when life or death with him depends
+on his own tongue and not on that of witnesses or evidence; and to
+my thinking they are not very far out."
+
+"And I think so too," answered Don Quixote; then passing on to the
+third he asked him what he had asked the others, and the man
+answered very readily and unconcernedly, "I am going for five years to
+their ladyships the gurapas for the want of ten ducats."
+
+"I will give twenty with pleasure to get you out of that trouble,"
+said Don Quixote.
+
+"That," said the galley slave, "is like a man having money at sea
+when he is dying of hunger and has no way of buying what he wants; I
+say so because if at the right time I had had those twenty ducats that
+your worship now offers me, I would have greased the notary's pen
+and freshened up the attorney's wit with them, so that to-day I should
+be in the middle of the plaza of the Zocodover at Toledo, and not on
+this road coupled like a greyhound. But God is great; patience- there,
+that's enough of it."
+
+Don Quixote passed on to the fourth, a man of venerable aspect
+with a white beard falling below his breast, who on hearing himself
+asked the reason of his being there began to weep without answering
+a word, but the fifth acted as his tongue and said, "This worthy man
+is going to the galleys for four years, after having gone the rounds
+in ceremony and on horseback."
+
+ "That means," said Sancho Panza, "as I take it, to have been
+exposed to shame in public."
+
+"Just so," replied the galley slave, "and the offence for which they
+gave him that punishment was having been an ear-broker, nay
+body-broker; I mean, in short, that this gentleman goes as a pimp, and
+for having besides a certain touch of the sorcerer about him."
+
+"If that touch had not been thrown in," said Don Quixote, "be
+would not deserve, for mere pimping, to row in the galleys, but rather
+to command and be admiral of them; for the office of pimp is no
+ordinary one, being the office of persons of discretion, one very
+necessary in a well-ordered state, and only to be exercised by persons
+of good birth; nay, there ought to be an inspector and overseer of
+them, as in other offices, and recognised number, as with the
+brokers on change; in this way many of the evils would be avoided
+which are caused by this office and calling being in the hands of
+stupid and ignorant people, such as women more or less silly, and
+pages and jesters of little standing and experience, who on the most
+urgent occasions, and when ingenuity of contrivance is needed, let the
+crumbs freeze on the way to their mouths, and know not which is
+their right hand. I should like to go farther, and give reasons to
+show that it is advisable to choose those who are to hold so necessary
+an office in the state, but this is not the fit place for it; some day
+I will expound the matter to some one able to see to and rectify it;
+all I say now is, that the additional fact of his being a sorcerer has
+removed the sorrow it gave me to see these white hairs and this
+venerable countenance in so painful a position on account of his being
+a pimp; though I know well there are no sorceries in the world that
+can move or compel the will as some simple folk fancy, for our will is
+free, nor is there herb or charm that can force it. All that certain
+silly women and quacks do is to turn men mad with potions and poisons,
+pretending that they have power to cause love, for, as I say, it is an
+impossibility to compel the will."
+
+"It is true," said the good old man, "and indeed, sir, as far as the
+charge of sorcery goes I was not guilty; as to that of being a pimp
+I cannot deny it; but I never thought I was doing any harm by it,
+for my only object was that all the world should enjoy itself and live
+in peace and quiet, without quarrels or troubles; but my good
+intentions were unavailing to save me from going where I never
+expect to come back from, with this weight of years upon me and a
+urinary ailment that never gives me a moment's ease;" and again he
+fell to weeping as before, and such compassion did Sancho feel for him
+that he took out a real of four from his bosom and gave it to him in
+alms.
+
+Don Quixote went on and asked another what his crime was, and the
+man answered with no less but rather much more sprightliness than
+the last one.
+
+"I am here because I carried the joke too far with a couple of
+cousins of mine, and with a couple of other cousins who were none of
+mine; in short, I carried the joke so far with them all that it
+ended in such a complicated increase of kindred that no accountant
+could make it clear: it was all proved against me, I got no favour,
+I had no money, I was near having my neck stretched, they sentenced me
+to the galleys for six years, I accepted my fate, it is the punishment
+of my fault; I am a young man; let life only last, and with that all
+will come right. If you, sir, have anything wherewith to help the
+poor, God will repay it to you in heaven, and we on earth will take
+care in our petitions to him to pray for the life and health of your
+worship, that they may be as long and as good as your amiable
+appearance deserves."
+
+This one was in the dress of a student, and one of the guards said
+he was a great talker and a very elegant Latin scholar.
+
+Behind all these there came a man of thirty, a very personable
+fellow, except that when he looked, his eyes turned in a little one
+towards the other. He was bound differently from the rest, for he
+had to his leg a chain so long that it was wound all round his body,
+and two rings on his neck, one attached to the chain, the other to
+what they call a "keep-friend" or "friend's foot," from which hung two
+irons reaching to his waist with two manacles fixed to them in which
+his hands were secured by a big padlock, so that he could neither
+raise his hands to his mouth nor lower his head to his hands. Don
+Quixote asked why this man carried so many more chains than the
+others. The guard replied that it was because he alone had committed
+more crimes than all the rest put together, and was so daring and such
+a villain, that though they marched him in that fashion they did not
+feel sure of him, but were in dread of his making his escape.
+
+"What crimes can he have committed," said Don Quixote, "if they have
+not deserved a heavier punishment than being sent to the galleys?"
+
+"He goes for ten years," replied the guard, "which is the same thing
+as civil death, and all that need be said is that this good fellow
+is the famous Gines de Pasamonte, otherwise called Ginesillo de
+Parapilla."
+
+"Gently, senor commissary," said the galley slave at this, "let us
+have no fixing of names or surnames; my name is Gines, not
+Ginesillo, and my family name is Pasamonte, not Parapilla as you
+say; let each one mind his own business, and he will be doing enough."
+
+"Speak with less impertinence, master thief of extra measure,"
+replied the commissary, "if you don't want me to make you hold your
+tongue in spite of your teeth."
+
+"It is easy to see," returned the galley slave, "that man goes as
+God pleases, but some one shall know some day whether I am called
+Ginesillo de Parapilla or not."
+
+"Don't they call you so, you liar?" said the guard.
+
+"They do," returned Gines, "but I will make them give over calling
+me so, or I will be shaved, where, I only say behind my teeth. If you,
+sir, have anything to give us, give it to us at once, and God speed
+you, for you are becoming tiresome with all this inquisitiveness about
+the lives of others; if you want to know about mine, let me tell you I
+am Gines de Pasamonte, whose life is written by these fingers."
+
+"He says true," said the commissary, "for he has himself written his
+story as grand as you please, and has left the book in the prison in
+pawn for two hundred reals."
+
+"And I mean to take it out of pawn," said Gines, "though it were
+in for two hundred ducats."
+
+"Is it so good?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"So good is it," replied Gines, "that a fig for 'Lazarillo de
+Tormes,' and all of that kind that have been written, or shall be
+written compared with it: all I will say about it is that it deals
+with facts, and facts so neat and diverting that no lies could match
+them."
+
+"And how is the book entitled?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"The 'Life of Gines de Pasamonte,'" replied the subject of it.
+
+"And is it finished?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"How can it be finished," said the other, "when my life is not yet
+finished? All that is written is from my birth down to the point
+when they sent me to the galleys this last time."
+
+"Then you have been there before?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"In the service of God and the king I have been there for four years
+before now, and I know by this time what the biscuit and courbash
+are like," replied Gines; "and it is no great grievance to me to go
+back to them, for there I shall have time to finish my book; I have
+still many things left to say, and in the galleys of Spain there is
+more than enough leisure; though I do not want much for what I have to
+write, for I have it by heart."
+
+"You seem a clever fellow," said Don Quixote.
+
+"And an unfortunate one," replied Gines, "for misfortune always
+persecutes good wit."
+
+"It persecutes rogues," said the commissary.
+
+"I told you already to go gently, master commissary," said
+Pasamonte; "their lordships yonder never gave you that staff to
+ill-treat us wretches here, but to conduct and take us where his
+majesty orders you; if not, by the life of-never mind-; it may be that
+some day the stains made in the inn will come out in the scouring; let
+everyone hold his tongue and behave well and speak better; and now let
+us march on, for we have had quite enough of this entertainment."
+
+The commissary lifted his staff to strike Pasamonte in return for
+his threats, but Don Quixote came between them, and begged him not
+to ill-use him, as it was not too much to allow one who had his
+hands tied to have his tongue a trifle free; and turning to the
+whole chain of them he said:
+
+"From all you have told me, dear brethren, make out clearly that
+though they have punished you for your faults, the punishments you are
+about to endure do not give you much pleasure, and that you go to them
+very much against the grain and against your will, and that perhaps
+this one's want of courage under torture, that one's want of money,
+the other's want of advocacy, and lastly the perverted judgment of the
+judge may have been the cause of your ruin and of your failure to
+obtain the justice you had on your side. All which presents itself now
+to my mind, urging, persuading, and even compelling me to
+demonstrate in your case the purpose for which Heaven sent me into the
+world and caused me to make profession of the order of chivalry to
+which I belong, and the vow I took therein to give aid to those in
+need and under the oppression of the strong. But as I know that it
+is a mark of prudence not to do by foul means what may be done by
+fair, I will ask these gentlemen, the guards and commissary, to be
+so good as to release you and let you go in peace, as there will be no
+lack of others to serve the king under more favourable
+circumstances; for it seems to me a hard case to make slaves of
+those whom God and nature have made free. Moreover, sirs of the
+guard," added Don Quixote, "these poor fellows have done nothing to
+you; let each answer for his own sins yonder; there is a God in Heaven
+who will not forget to punish the wicked or reward the good; and it is
+not fitting that honest men should be the instruments of punishment to
+others, they being therein no way concerned. This request I make
+thus gently and quietly, that, if you comply with it, I may have
+reason for thanking you; and, if you will not voluntarily, this
+lance and sword together with the might of my arm shall compel you
+to comply with it by force."
+
+"Nice nonsense!" said the commissary; "a fine piece of pleasantry he
+has come out with at last! He wants us to let the king's prisoners go,
+as if we had any authority to release them, or he to order us to do
+so! Go your way, sir, and good luck to you; put that basin straight
+that you've got on your head, and don't go looking for three feet on a
+cat."
+
+'Tis you that are the cat, rat, and rascal," replied Don Quixote,
+and acting on the word he fell upon him so suddenly that without
+giving him time to defend himself he brought him to the ground
+sorely wounded with a lance-thrust; and lucky it was for him that it
+was the one that had the musket. The other guards stood
+thunderstruck and amazed at this unexpected event, but recovering
+presence of mind, those on horseback seized their swords, and those on
+foot their javelins, and attacked Don Quixote, who was waiting for
+them with great calmness; and no doubt it would have gone badly with
+him if the galley slaves, seeing the chance before them of
+liberating themselves, had not effected it by contriving to break
+the chain on which they were strung. Such was the confusion, that
+the guards, now rushing at the galley slaves who were breaking
+loose, now to attack Don Quixote who was waiting for them, did nothing
+at all that was of any use. Sancho, on his part, gave a helping hand
+to release Gines de Pasamonte, who was the first to leap forth upon
+the plain free and unfettered, and who, attacking the prostrate
+commissary, took from him his sword and the musket, with which, aiming
+at one and levelling at another, he, without ever discharging it,
+drove every one of the guards off the field, for they took to
+flight, as well to escape Pasamonte's musket, as the showers of stones
+the now released galley slaves were raining upon them. Sancho was
+greatly grieved at the affair, because he anticipated that those who
+had fled would report the matter to the Holy Brotherhood, who at the
+summons of the alarm-bell would at once sally forth in quest of the
+offenders; and he said so to his master, and entreated him to leave
+the place at once, and go into hiding in the sierra that was close by.
+
+"That is all very well," said Don Quixote, "but I know what must
+be done now;" and calling together all the galley slaves, who were now
+running riot, and had stripped the commissary to the skin, he
+collected them round him to hear what he had to say, and addressed
+them as follows: "To be grateful for benefits received is the part
+of persons of good birth, and one of the sins most offensive to God is
+ingratitude; I say so because, sirs, ye have already seen by
+manifest proof the benefit ye have received of me; in return for which
+I desire, and it is my good pleasure that, laden with that chain which
+I have taken off your necks, ye at once set out and proceed to the
+city of El Toboso, and there present yourselves before the lady
+Dulcinea del Toboso, and say to her that her knight, he of the
+Rueful Countenance, sends to commend himself to her; and that ye
+recount to her in full detail all the particulars of this notable
+adventure, up to the recovery of your longed-for liberty; and this
+done ye may go where ye will, and good fortune attend you."
+
+Gines de Pasamonte made answer for all, saying, "That which you,
+sir, our deliverer, demand of us, is of all impossibilities the most
+impossible to comply with, because we cannot go together along the
+roads, but only singly and separate, and each one his own way,
+endeavouring to hide ourselves in the bowels of the earth to escape
+the Holy Brotherhood, which, no doubt, will come out in search of
+us. What your worship may do, and fairly do, is to change this service
+and tribute as regards the lady Dulcinea del Toboso for a certain
+quantity of ave-marias and credos which we will say for your worship's
+intention, and this is a condition that can be complied with by
+night as by day, running or resting, in peace or in war; but to
+imagine that we are going now to return to the flesh-pots of Egypt,
+I mean to take up our chain and set out for El Toboso, is to imagine
+that it is now night, though it is not yet ten in the morning, and
+to ask this of us is like asking pears of the elm tree."
+
+"Then by all that's good," said Don Quixote (now stirred to
+wrath), "Don son of a bitch, Don Ginesillo de Paropillo, or whatever
+your name is, you will have to go yourself alone, with your tail
+between your legs and the whole chain on your back."
+
+Pasamonte, who was anything but meek (being by this time
+thoroughly convinced that Don Quixote was not quite right in his
+head as he had committed such a vagary as to set them free), finding
+himself abused in this fashion, gave the wink to his companions, and
+falling back they began to shower stones on Don Quixote at such a rate
+that he was quite unable to protect himself with his buckler, and poor
+Rocinante no more heeded the spur than if he had been made of brass.
+Sancho planted himself behind his ass, and with him sheltered
+himself from the hailstorm that poured on both of them. Don Quixote
+was unable to shield himself so well but that more pebbles than I
+could count struck him full on the body with such force that they
+brought him to the ground; and the instant he fell the student pounced
+upon him, snatched the basin from his head, and with it struck three
+or four blows on his shoulders, and as many more on the ground,
+knocking it almost to pieces. They then stripped him of a jacket
+that he wore over his armour, and they would have stripped off his
+stockings if his greaves had not prevented them. From Sancho they took
+his coat, leaving him in his shirt-sleeves; and dividing among
+themselves the remaining spoils of the battle, they went each one
+his own way, more solicitous about keeping clear of the Holy
+Brotherhood they dreaded, than about burdening themselves with the
+chain, or going to present themselves before the lady Dulcinea del
+Toboso. The ass and Rocinante, Sancho and Don Quixote, were all that
+were left upon the spot; the ass with drooping head, serious,
+shaking his ears from time to time as if he thought the storm of
+stones that assailed them was not yet over; Rocinante stretched beside
+his master, for he too had been brought to the ground by a stone;
+Sancho stripped, and trembling with fear of the Holy Brotherhood;
+and Don Quixote fuming to find himself so served by the very persons
+for whom he had done so much.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+OF WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE IN THE SIERRA MORENA, WHICH WAS ONE OF
+THE RAREST ADVENTURES RELATED IN THIS VERACIOUS HISTORY
+
+Seeing himself served in this way, Don Quixote said to his squire,
+"I have always heard it said, Sancho, that to do good to boors is to
+throw water into the sea. If I had believed thy words, I should have
+avoided this trouble; but it is done now, it is only to have
+patience and take warning for the future."
+
+"Your worship will take warning as much as I am a Turk," returned
+Sancho; "but, as you say this mischief might have been avoided if
+you had believed me, believe me now, and a still greater one will be
+avoided; for I tell you chivalry is of no account with the Holy
+Brotherhood, and they don't care two maravedis for all the
+knights-errant in the world; and I can tell you I fancy I hear their
+arrows whistling past my ears this minute."
+
+"Thou art a coward by nature, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "but lest
+thou shouldst say I am obstinate, and that I never do as thou dost
+advise, this once I will take thy advice, and withdraw out of reach of
+that fury thou so dreadest; but it must be on one condition, that
+never, in life or in death, thou art to say to anyone that I retired
+or withdrew from this danger out of fear, but only in compliance
+with thy entreaties; for if thou sayest otherwise thou wilt lie
+therein, and from this time to that, and from that to this, I give
+thee lie, and say thou liest and wilt lie every time thou thinkest
+or sayest it; and answer me not again; for at the mere thought that
+I am withdrawing or retiring from any danger, above all from this,
+which does seem to carry some little shadow of fear with it, I am
+ready to take my stand here and await alone, not only that Holy
+Brotherhood you talk of and dread, but the brothers of the twelve
+tribes of Israel, and the Seven Maccabees, and Castor and Pollux,
+and all the brothers and brotherhoods in the world."
+
+"Senor," replied Sancho, "to retire is not to flee, and there is
+no wisdom in waiting when danger outweighs hope, and it is the part of
+wise men to preserve themselves to-day for to-morrow, and not risk all
+in one day; and let me tell you, though I am a clown and a boor, I
+have got some notion of what they call safe conduct; so repent not
+of having taken my advice, but mount Rocinante if you can, and if
+not I will help you; and follow me, for my mother-wit tells me we have
+more need of legs than hands just now."
+
+Don Quixote mounted without replying, and, Sancho leading the way on
+his ass, they entered the side of the Sierra Morena, which was close
+by, as it was Sancho's design to cross it entirely and come out
+again at El Viso or Almodovar del Campo, and hide for some days
+among its crags so as to escape the search of the Brotherhood should
+they come to look for them. He was encouraged in this by perceiving
+that the stock of provisions carried by the ass had come safe out of
+the fray with the galley slaves, a circumstance that he regarded as
+a miracle, seeing how they pillaged and ransacked.
+
+That night they reached the very heart of the Sierra Morena, where
+it seemed prudent to Sancho to pass the night and even some days, at
+least as many as the stores he carried might last, and so they
+encamped between two rocks and among some cork trees; but fatal
+destiny, which, according to the opinion of those who have not the
+light of the true faith, directs, arranges, and settles everything
+in its own way, so ordered it that Gines de Pasamonte, the famous
+knave and thief who by the virtue and madness of Don Quixote had
+been released from the chain, driven by fear of the Holy
+Brotherhood, which he had good reason to dread, resolved to take
+hiding in the mountains; and his fate and fear led him to the same
+spot to which Don Quixote and Sancho Panza had been led by theirs,
+just in time to recognise them and leave them to fall asleep: and as
+the wicked are always ungrateful, and necessity leads to evildoing,
+and immediate advantage overcomes all considerations of the future,
+Gines, who was neither grateful nor well-principled, made up his
+mind to steal Sancho Panza's ass, not troubling himself about
+Rocinante, as being a prize that was no good either to pledge or sell.
+While Sancho slept he stole his ass, and before day dawned he was
+far out of reach.
+
+Aurora made her appearance bringing gladness to the earth but
+sadness to Sancho Panza, for he found that his Dapple was missing, and
+seeing himself bereft of him he began the saddest and most doleful
+lament in the world, so loud that Don Quixote awoke at his
+exclamations and heard him saying, "O son of my bowels, born in my
+very house, my children's plaything, my wife's joy, the envy of my
+neighbours, relief of my burdens, and lastly, half supporter of
+myself, for with the six-and-twenty maravedis thou didst earn me daily
+I met half my charges."
+
+Don Quixote, when he heard the lament and learned the cause,
+consoled Sancho with the best arguments he could, entreating him to be
+patient, and promising to give him a letter of exchange ordering three
+out of five ass-colts that he had at home to be given to him. Sancho
+took comfort at this, dried his tears, suppressed his sobs, and
+returned thanks for the kindness shown him by Don Quixote. He on his
+part was rejoiced to the heart on entering the mountains, as they
+seemed to him to be just the place for the adventures he was in
+quest of. They brought back to his memory the marvellous adventures
+that had befallen knights-errant in like solitudes and wilds, and he
+went along reflecting on these things, so absorbed and carried away by
+them that he had no thought for anything else. Nor had Sancho any
+other care (now that he fancied he was travelling in a safe quarter)
+than to satisfy his appetite with such remains as were left of the
+clerical spoils, and so he marched behind his master laden with what
+Dapple used to carry, emptying the sack and packing his paunch, and so
+long as he could go that way, he would not have given a farthing to
+meet with another adventure.
+
+While so engaged he raised his eyes and saw that his master had
+halted, and was trying with the point of his pike to lift some bulky
+object that lay upon the ground, on which he hastened to join him
+and help him if it were needful, and reached him just as with the
+point of the pike he was raising a saddle-pad with a valise attached
+to it, half or rather wholly rotten and torn; but so heavy were they
+that Sancho had to help to take them up, and his master directed him
+to see what the valise contained. Sancho did so with great alacrity,
+and though the valise was secured by a chain and padlock, from its
+torn and rotten condition he was able to see its contents, which
+were four shirts of fine holland, and other articles of linen no
+less curious than clean; and in a handkerchief he found a good lot
+of gold crowns, and as soon as he saw them he exclaimed:
+
+"Blessed be all Heaven for sending us an adventure that is good
+for something!"
+
+Searching further he found a little memorandum book richly bound;
+this Don Quixote asked of him, telling him to take the money and
+keep it for himself. Sancho kissed his hands for the favour, and
+cleared the valise of its linen, which he stowed away in the provision
+sack. Considering the whole matter, Don Quixote observed:
+
+"It seems to me, Sancho- and it is impossible it can be otherwise-
+that some strayed traveller must have crossed this sierra and been
+attacked and slain by footpads, who brought him to this remote spot to
+bury him."
+
+"That cannot be," answered Sancho, "because if they had been robbers
+they would not have left this money."
+
+"Thou art right," said Don Quixote, "and I cannot guess or explain
+what this may mean; but stay; let us see if in this memorandum book
+there is anything written by which we may be able to trace out or
+discover what we want to know."
+
+He opened it, and the first thing he found in it, written roughly
+but in a very good hand, was a sonnet, and reading it aloud that
+Sancho might hear it, he found that it ran as follows:
+
+
+SONNET
+Or Love is lacking in intelligence,
+  Or to the height of cruelty attains,
+  Or else it is my doom to suffer pains
+Beyond the measure due to my offence.
+But if Love be a God, it follows thence
+  That he knows all, and certain it remains
+  No God loves cruelty; then who ordains
+This penance that enthrals while it torments?
+It were a falsehood, Chloe, thee to name;
+  Such evil with such goodness cannot live;
+And against Heaven I dare not charge the blame,
+  I only know it is my fate to die.
+  To him who knows not whence his malady
+  A miracle alone a cure can give.
+
+
+"There is nothing to be learned from that rhyme," said Sancho,
+"unless by that clue there's in it, one may draw out the ball of the
+whole matter."
+
+"What clue is there?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"I thought your worship spoke of a clue in it," said Sancho.
+
+"I only said Chloe," replied Don Quixote; "and that no doubt, is the
+name of the lady of whom the author of the sonnet complains; and,
+faith, he must be a tolerable poet, or I know little of the craft."
+
+"Then your worship understands rhyming too?"
+
+"And better than thou thinkest," replied Don Quixote, "as thou shalt
+see when thou carriest a letter written in verse from beginning to end
+to my lady Dulcinea del Toboso, for I would have thee know, Sancho,
+that all or most of the knights-errant in days of yore were great
+troubadours and great musicians, for both of these accomplishments, or
+more properly speaking gifts, are the peculiar property of
+lovers-errant: true it is that the verses of the knights of old have
+more spirit than neatness in them."
+
+"Read more, your worship," said Sancho, "and you will find something
+that will enlighten us."
+
+Don Quixote turned the page and said, "This is prose and seems to be
+a letter."
+
+"A correspondence letter, senor?"
+
+"From the beginning it seems to be a love letter," replied Don
+Quixote.
+
+"Then let your worship read it aloud," said Sancho, "for I am very
+fond of love matters."
+
+"With all my heart," said Don Quixote, and reading it aloud as
+Sancho had requested him, he found it ran thus:
+
+
+Thy false promise and my sure misforutne carry me to a place
+whence the news of my death will reach thy ears before the words of my
+complaint. Ungrateful one, thou hast rejected me for one more wealthy,
+but not more worthy; but if virtue were esteemed wealth I should
+neither envy the fortunes of others nor weep for misfortunes of my
+own. What thy beauty raised up thy deeds have laid low; by it I
+believed thee to be an angel, by them I know thou art a woman. Peace
+be with thee who hast sent war to me, and Heaven grant that the deceit
+of thy husband be ever hidden from thee, so that thou repent not of
+what thou hast done, and I reap not a revenge I would not have.
+
+When he had finished the letter, Don Quixote said, "There is less to
+be gathered from this than from the verses, except that he who wrote
+it is some rejected lover;" and turning over nearly all the pages of
+the book he found more verses and letters, some of which he could
+read, while others he could not; but they were all made up of
+complaints, laments, misgivings, desires and aversions, favours and
+rejections, some rapturous, some doleful. While Don Quixote examined
+the book, Sancho examined the valise, not leaving a corner in the
+whole of it or in the pad that he did not search, peer into, and
+explore, or seam that he did not rip, or tuft of wool that he did
+not pick to pieces, lest anything should escape for want of care and
+pains; so keen was the covetousness excited in him by the discovery of
+the crowns, which amounted to near a hundred; and though he found no
+more booty, he held the blanket flights, balsam vomits, stake
+benedictions, carriers' fisticuffs, missing alforjas, stolen coat, and
+all the hunger, thirst, and weariness he had endured in the service of
+his good master, cheap at the price; as he considered himself more
+than fully indemnified for all by the payment he received in the
+gift of the treasure-trove.
+
+The Knight of the Rueful Countenance was still very anxious to
+find out who the owner of the valise could be, conjecturing from the
+sonnet and letter, from the money in gold, and from the fineness of
+the shirts, that he must be some lover of distinction whom the scorn
+and cruelty of his lady had driven to some desperate course; but as in
+that uninhabited and rugged spot there was no one to be seen of whom
+he could inquire, he saw nothing else for it but to push on, taking
+whatever road Rocinante chose- which was where he could make his
+way- firmly persuaded that among these wilds he could not fail to meet
+some rare adventure. As he went along, then, occupied with these
+thoughts, he perceived on the summit of a height that rose before
+their eyes a man who went springing from rock to rock and from tussock
+to tussock with marvellous agility. As well as he could make out he
+was unclad, with a thick black beard, long tangled hair, and bare legs
+and feet, his thighs were covered by breeches apparently of tawny
+velvet but so ragged that they showed his skin in several places. He
+was bareheaded, and notwithstanding the swiftness with which he passed
+as has been described, the Knight of the Rueful Countenance observed
+and noted all these trifles, and though he made the attempt, he was
+unable to follow him, for it was not granted to the feebleness of
+Rocinante to make way over such rough ground, he being, moreover,
+slow-paced and sluggish by nature. Don Quixote at once came to the
+conclusion that this was the owner of the saddle-pad and of the
+valise, and made up his mind to go in search of him, even though he
+should have to wander a year in those mountains before he found him,
+and so he directed Sancho to take a short cut over one side of the
+mountain, while he himself went by the other, and perhaps by this
+means they might light upon this man who had passed so quickly out
+of their sight.
+
+"I could not do that," said Sancho, "for when I separate from your
+worship fear at once lays hold of me, and assails me with all sorts of
+panics and fancies; and let what I now say be a notice that from
+this time forth I am not going to stir a finger's width from your
+presence."
+
+"It shall be so," said he of the Rueful Countenance, "and I am
+very glad that thou art willing to rely on my courage, which will
+never fail thee, even though the soul in thy body fail thee; so come
+on now behind me slowly as well as thou canst, and make lanterns of
+thine eyes; let us make the circuit of this ridge; perhaps we shall
+light upon this man that we saw, who no doubt is no other than the
+owner of what we found."
+
+To which Sancho made answer, "Far better would it be not to look for
+him, for, if we find him, and he happens to be the owner of the money,
+it is plain I must restore it; it would be better, therefore, that
+without taking this needless trouble, I should keep possession of it
+until in some other less meddlesome and officious way the real owner
+may be discovered; and perhaps that will be when I shall have spent
+it, and then the king will hold me harmless."
+
+"Thou art wrong there, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "for now that we
+have a suspicion who the owner is, and have him almost before us, we
+are bound to seek him and make restitution; and if we do not see
+him, the strong suspicion we have as to his being the owner makes us
+as guilty as if he were so; and so, friend Sancho, let not our
+search for him give thee any uneasiness, for if we find him it will
+relieve mine."
+
+And so saying he gave Rocinante the spur, and Sancho followed him on
+foot and loaded, and after having partly made the circuit of the
+mountain they found lying in a ravine, dead and half devoured by
+dogs and pecked by jackdaws, a mule saddled and bridled, all which
+still further strengthened their suspicion that he who had fled was
+the owner of the mule and the saddle-pad.
+
+As they stood looking at it they heard a whistle like that of a
+shepherd watching his flock, and suddenly on their left there appeared
+a great number of goats and behind them on the summit of the
+mountain the goatherd in charge of them, a man advanced in years.
+Don Quixote called aloud to him and begged him to come down to where
+they stood. He shouted in return, asking what had brought them to that
+spot, seldom or never trodden except by the feet of goats, or of the
+wolves and other wild beasts that roamed around. Sancho in return bade
+him come down, and they would explain all to him.
+
+The goatherd descended, and reaching the place where Don Quixote
+stood, he said, "I will wager you are looking at that hack mule that
+lies dead in the hollow there, and, faith, it has been lying there now
+these six months; tell me, have you come upon its master about here?"
+
+"We have come upon nobody," answered Don Quixote, "nor on anything
+except a saddle-pad and a little valise that we found not far from
+this."
+
+"I found it too," said the goatherd, "but I would not lift it nor go
+near it for fear of some ill-luck or being charged with theft, for the
+devil is crafty, and things rise up under one's feet to make one
+fall without knowing why or wherefore."
+
+"That's exactly what I say," said Sancho; "I found it too, and I
+would not go within a stone's throw of it; there I left it, and
+there it lies just as it was, for I don't want a dog with a bell."
+
+"Tell me, good man," said Don Quixote, "do you know who is the owner
+of this property?"
+
+"All I can tell you," said the goatherd, "is that about six months
+ago, more or less, there arrived at a shepherd's hut three leagues,
+perhaps, away from this, a youth of well-bred appearance and
+manners, mounted on that same mule which lies dead here, and with
+the same saddle-pad and valise which you say you found and did not
+touch. He asked us what part of this sierra was the most rugged and
+retired; we told him that it was where we now are; and so in truth
+it is, for if you push on half a league farther, perhaps you will
+not be able to find your way out; and I am wondering how you have
+managed to come here, for there is no road or path that leads to
+this spot. I say, then, that on hearing our answer the youth turned
+about and made for the place we pointed out to him, leaving us all
+charmed with his good looks, and wondering at his question and the
+haste with which we saw him depart in the direction of the sierra; and
+after that we saw him no more, until some days afterwards he crossed
+the path of one of our shepherds, and without saying a word to him,
+came up to him and gave him several cuffs and kicks, and then turned
+to the ass with our provisions and took all the bread and cheese it
+carried, and having done this made off back again into the sierra with
+extraordinary swiftness. When some of us goatherds learned this we
+went in search of him for about two days through the most remote
+portion of this sierra, at the end of which we found him lodged in the
+hollow of a large thick cork tree. He came out to meet us with great
+gentleness, with his dress now torn and his face so disfigured and
+burned by the sun, that we hardly recognised him but that his clothes,
+though torn, convinced us, from the recollection we had of them,
+that he was the person we were looking for. He saluted us courteously,
+and in a few well-spoken words he told us not to wonder at seeing
+him going about in this guise, as it was binding upon him in order
+that he might work out a penance which for his many sins had been
+imposed upon him. We asked him to tell us who he was, but we were
+never able to find out from him: we begged of him too, when he was
+in want of food, which he could not do without, to tell us where we
+should find him, as we would bring it to him with all good-will and
+readiness; or if this were not to his taste, at least to come and
+ask it of us and not take it by force from the shepherds. He thanked
+us for the offer, begged pardon for the late assault, and promised for
+the future to ask it in God's name without offering violence to
+anybody. As for fixed abode, he said he had no other than that which
+chance offered wherever night might overtake him; and his words
+ended in an outburst of weeping so bitter that we who listened to
+him must have been very stones had we not joined him in it,
+comparing what we saw of him the first time with what we saw now; for,
+as I said, he was a graceful and gracious youth, and in his
+courteous and polished language showed himself to be of good birth and
+courtly breeding, and rustics as we were that listened to him, even to
+our rusticity his gentle bearing sufficed to make it plain.
+
+"But in the midst of his conversation he stopped and became
+silent, keeping his eyes fixed upon the ground for some time, during
+which we stood still waiting anxiously to see what would come of
+this abstraction; and with no little pity, for from his behaviour, now
+staring at the ground with fixed gaze and eyes wide open without
+moving an eyelid, again closing them, compressing his lips and raising
+his eyebrows, we could perceive plainly that a fit of madness of
+some kind had come upon him; and before long he showed that what we
+imagined was the truth, for he arose in a fury from the ground where
+he had thrown himself, and attacked the first he found near him with
+such rage and fierceness that if we had not dragged him off him, he
+would have beaten or bitten him to death, all the while exclaiming,
+'Oh faithless Fernando, here, here shalt thou pay the penalty of the
+wrong thou hast done me; these hands shall tear out that heart of
+thine, abode and dwelling of all iniquity, but of deceit and fraud
+above all; and to these he added other words all in effect
+upbraiding this Fernando and charging him with treachery and
+faithlessness.
+
+"We forced him to release his hold with no little difficulty, and
+without another word he left us, and rushing off plunged in among
+these brakes and brambles, so as to make it impossible for us to
+follow him; from this we suppose that madness comes upon him from time
+to time, and that some one called Fernando must have done him a
+wrong of a grievous nature such as the condition to which it had
+brought him seemed to show. All this has been since then confirmed
+on those occasions, and they have been many, on which he has crossed
+our path, at one time to beg the shepherds to give him some of the
+food they carry, at another to take it from them by force; for when
+there is a fit of madness upon him, even though the shepherds offer it
+freely, he will not accept it but snatches it from them by dint of
+blows; but when he is in his senses he begs it for the love of God,
+courteously and civilly, and receives it with many thanks and not a
+few tears. And to tell you the truth, sirs," continued the goatherd,
+"it was yesterday that we resolved, I and four of the lads, two of
+them our servants, and the other two friends of mine, to go in
+search of him until we find him, and when we do to take him, whether
+by force or of his own consent, to the town of Almodovar, which is
+eight leagues from this, and there strive to cure him (if indeed his
+malady admits of a cure), or learn when he is in his senses who he is,
+and if he has relatives to whom we may give notice of his
+misfortune. This, sirs, is all I can say in answer to what you have
+asked me; and be sure that the owner of the articles you found is he
+whom you saw pass by with such nimbleness and so naked."
+
+For Don Quixote had already described how he had seen the man go
+bounding along the mountain side, and he was now filled with amazement
+at what he heard from the goatherd, and more eager than ever to
+discover who the unhappy madman was; and in his heart he resolved,
+as he had done before, to search for him all over the mountain, not
+leaving a corner or cave unexamined until he had found him. But chance
+arranged matters better than he expected or hoped, for at that very
+moment, in a gorge on the mountain that opened where they stood, the
+youth he wished to find made his appearance, coming along talking to
+himself in a way that would have been unintelligible near at hand,
+much more at a distance. His garb was what has been described, save
+that as he drew near, Don Quixote perceived that a tattered doublet
+which he wore was amber-tanned, from which he concluded that one who
+wore such garments could not be of very low rank.
+
+Approaching them, the youth greeted them in a harsh and hoarse voice
+but with great courtesy. Don Quixote returned his salutation with
+equal politeness, and dismounting from Rocinante advanced with
+well-bred bearing and grace to embrace him, and held him for some time
+close in his arms as if he had known him for a long time. The other,
+whom we may call the Ragged One of the Sorry Countenance, as Don
+Quixote was of the Rueful, after submitting to the embrace pushed
+him back a little and, placing his hands on Don Quixote's shoulders,
+stood gazing at him as if seeking to see whether he knew him, not less
+amazed, perhaps, at the sight of the face, figure, and armour of Don
+Quixote than Don Quixote was at the sight of him. To be brief, the
+first to speak after embracing was the Ragged One, and he said what
+will be told farther on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+IN WHICH IS CONTINUED THE ADVENTURE OF THE SIERRA MORENA
+
+The history relates that it was with the greatest attention Don
+Quixote listened to the ragged knight of the Sierra, who began by
+saying:
+
+"Of a surety, senor, whoever you are, for I know you not, I thank
+you for the proofs of kindness and courtesy you have shown me, and
+would I were in a condition to requite with something more than
+good-will that which you have displayed towards me in the cordial
+reception you have given me; but my fate does not afford me any
+other means of returning kindnesses done me save the hearty desire
+to repay them."
+
+"Mine," replied Don Quixote, "is to be of service to you, so much so
+that I had resolved not to quit these mountains until I had found you,
+and learned of you whether there is any kind of relief to be found for
+that sorrow under which from the strangeness of your life you seem
+to labour; and to search for you with all possible diligence, if
+search had been necessary. And if your misfortune should prove to be
+one of those that refuse admission to any sort of consolation, it
+was my purpose to join you in lamenting and mourning over it, so far
+as I could; for it is still some comfort in misfortune to find one who
+can feel for it. And if my good intentions deserve to be
+acknowledged with any kind of courtesy, I entreat you, senor, by
+that which I perceive you possess in so high a degree, and likewise
+conjure you by whatever you love or have loved best in life, to tell
+me who you are and the cause that has brought you to live or die in
+these solitudes like a brute beast, dwelling among them in a manner so
+foreign to your condition as your garb and appearance show. And I
+swear," added Don Quixote, "by the order of knighthood which I have
+received, and by my vocation of knight-errant, if you gratify me in
+this, to serve you with all the zeal my calling demands of me,
+either in relieving your misfortune if it admits of relief, or in
+joining you in lamenting it as I promised to do."
+
+The Knight of the Thicket, hearing him of the Rueful Countenance
+talk in this strain, did nothing but stare at him, and stare at him
+again, and again survey him from head to foot; and when he had
+thoroughly examined him, he said to him:
+
+"If you have anything to give me to eat, for God's sake give it
+me, and after I have eaten I will do all you ask in acknowledgment
+of the goodwill you have displayed towards me."
+
+Sancho from his sack, and the goatherd from his pouch, furnished the
+Ragged One with the means of appeasing his hunger, and what they
+gave him he ate like a half-witted being, so hastily that he took no
+time between mouthfuls, gorging rather than swallowing; and while he
+ate neither he nor they who observed him uttered a word. As soon as he
+had done he made signs to them to follow him, which they did, and he
+led them to a green plot which lay a little farther off round the
+corner of a rock. On reaching it he stretched himself upon the
+grass, and the others did the same, all keeping silence, until the
+Ragged One, settling himself in his place, said:
+
+"If it is your wish, sirs, that I should disclose in a few words the
+surpassing extent of my misfortunes, you must promise not to break the
+thread of my sad story with any question or other interruption, for
+the instant you do so the tale I tell will come to an end."
+
+These words of the Ragged One reminded Don Quixote of the tale his
+squire had told him, when he failed to keep count of the goats that
+had crossed the river and the story remained unfinished; but to return
+to the Ragged One, he went on to say:
+
+"I give you this warning because I wish to pass briefly over the
+story of my misfortunes, for recalling them to memory only serves to
+add fresh ones, and the less you question me the sooner shall I make
+an end of the recital, though I shall not omit to relate anything of
+importance in order fully to satisfy your curiosity."
+
+Don Quixote gave the promise for himself and the others, and with
+this assurance he began as follows:
+
+"My name is Cardenio, my birthplace one of the best cities of this
+Andalusia, my family noble, my parents rich, my misfortune so great
+that my parents must have wept and my family grieved over it without
+being able by their wealth to lighten it; for the gifts of fortune can
+do little to relieve reverses sent by Heaven. In that same country
+there was a heaven in which love had placed all the glory I could
+desire; such was the beauty of Luscinda, a damsel as noble and as rich
+as I, but of happier fortunes, and of less firmness than was due to so
+worthy a passion as mine. This Luscinda I loved, worshipped, and
+adored from my earliest and tenderest years, and she loved me in all
+the innocence and sincerity of childhood. Our parents were aware of
+our feelings, and were not sorry to perceive them, for they saw
+clearly that as they ripened they must lead at last to a marriage
+between us, a thing that seemed almost prearranged by the equality
+of our families and wealth. We grew up, and with our growth grew the
+love between us, so that the father of Luscinda felt bound for
+propriety's sake to refuse me admission to his house, in this
+perhaps imitating the parents of that Thisbe so celebrated by the
+poets, and this refusal but added love to love and flame to flame; for
+though they enforced silence upon our tongues they could not impose it
+upon our pens, which can make known the heart's secrets to a loved one
+more freely than tongues; for many a time the presence of the object
+of love shakes the firmest will and strikes dumb the boldest tongue.
+Ah heavens! how many letters did I write her, and how many dainty
+modest replies did I receive! how many ditties and love-songs did I
+compose in which my heart declared and made known its feelings,
+described its ardent longings, revelled in its recollections and
+dallied with its desires! At length growing impatient and feeling my
+heart languishing with longing to see her, I resolved to put into
+execution and carry out what seemed to me the best mode of winning
+my desired and merited reward, to ask her of her father for my
+lawful wife, which I did. To this his answer was that he thanked me
+for the disposition I showed to do honour to him and to regard
+myself as honoured by the bestowal of his treasure; but that as my
+father was alive it was his by right to make this demand, for if it
+were not in accordance with his full will and pleasure, Luscinda was
+not to be taken or given by stealth. I thanked him for his kindness,
+reflecting that there was reason in what he said, and that my father
+would assent to it as soon as I should tell him, and with that view
+I went the very same instant to let him know what my desires were.
+When I entered the room where he was I found him with an open letter
+in his hand, which, before I could utter a word, he gave me, saying,
+'By this letter thou wilt see, Cardenio, the disposition the Duke
+Ricardo has to serve thee.' This Duke Ricardo, as you, sirs,
+probably know already, is a grandee of Spain who has his seat in the
+best part of this Andalusia. I took and read the letter, which was
+couched in terms so flattering that even I myself felt it would be
+wrong in my father not to comply with the request the duke made in it,
+which was that he would send me immediately to him, as he wished me to
+become the companion, not servant, of his eldest son, and would take
+upon himself the charge of placing me in a position corresponding to
+the esteem in which he held me. On reading the letter my voice
+failed me, and still more when I heard my father say, 'Two days
+hence thou wilt depart, Cardenio, in accordance with the duke's
+wish, and give thanks to God who is opening a road to thee by which
+thou mayest attain what I know thou dost deserve; and to these words
+he added others of fatherly counsel. The time for my departure
+arrived; I spoke one night to Luscinda, I told her all that had
+occurred, as I did also to her father, entreating him to allow some
+delay, and to defer the disposal of her hand until I should see what
+the Duke Ricardo sought of me: he gave me the promise, and she
+confirmed it with vows and swoonings unnumbered. Finally, I
+presented myself to the duke, and was received and treated by him so
+kindly that very soon envy began to do its work, the old servants
+growing envious of me, and regarding the duke's inclination to show me
+favour as an injury to themselves. But the one to whom my arrival gave
+the greatest pleasure was the duke's second son, Fernando by name, a
+gallant youth, of noble, generous, and amorous disposition, who very
+soon made so intimate a friend of me that it was remarked by
+everybody; for though the elder was attached to me, and showed me
+kindness, he did not carry his affectionate treatment to the same
+length as Don Fernando. It so happened, then, that as between
+friends no secret remains unshared, and as the favour I enjoyed with
+Don Fernando had grown into friendship, he made all his thoughts known
+to me, and in particular a love affair which troubled his mind a
+little. He was deeply in love with a peasant girl, a vassal of his
+father's, the daughter of wealthy parents, and herself so beautiful,
+modest, discreet, and virtuous, that no one who knew her was able to
+decide in which of these respects she was most highly gifted or most
+excelled. The attractions of the fair peasant raised the passion of
+Don Fernando to such a point that, in order to gain his object and
+overcome her virtuous resolutions, he determined to pledge his word to
+her to become her husband, for to attempt it in any other way was to
+attempt an impossibility. Bound to him as I was by friendship, I
+strove by the best arguments and the most forcible examples I could
+think of to restrain and dissuade him from such a course; but
+perceiving I produced no effect I resolved to make the Duke Ricardo,
+his father, acquainted with the matter; but Don Fernando, being
+sharp-witted and shrewd, foresaw and apprehended this, perceiving that
+by my duty as a good servant I was bound not to keep concealed a thing
+so much opposed to the honour of my lord the duke; and so, to
+mislead and deceive me, he told me he could find no better way of
+effacing from his mind the beauty that so enslaved him than by
+absenting himself for some months, and that he wished the absence to
+be effected by our going, both of us, to my father's house under the
+pretence, which he would make to the duke, of going to see and buy
+some fine horses that there were in my city, which produces the best
+in the world. When I heard him say so, even if his resolution had
+not been so good a one I should have hailed it as one of the
+happiest that could be imagined, prompted by my affection, seeing what
+a favourable chance and opportunity it offered me of returning to
+see my Luscinda. With this thought and wish I commended his idea and
+encouraged his design, advising him to put it into execution as
+quickly as possible, as, in truth, absence produced its effect in
+spite of the most deeply rooted feelings. But, as afterwards appeared,
+when he said this to me he had already enjoyed the peasant girl
+under the title of husband, and was waiting for an opportunity of
+making it known with safety to himself, being in dread of what his
+father the duke would do when he came to know of his folly. It
+happened, then, that as with young men love is for the most part
+nothing more than appetite, which, as its final object is enjoyment,
+comes to an end on obtaining it, and that which seemed to be love
+takes to flight, as it cannot pass the limit fixed by nature, which
+fixes no limit to true love- what I mean is that after Don Fernando
+had enjoyed this peasant girl his passion subsided and his eagerness
+cooled, and if at first he feigned a wish to absent himself in order
+to cure his love, he was now in reality anxious to go to avoid keeping
+his promise.
+
+"The duke gave him permission, and ordered me to accompany him; we
+arrived at my city, and my father gave him the reception due to his
+rank; I saw Luscinda without delay, and, though it had not been dead
+or deadened, my love gathered fresh life. To my sorrow I told the
+story of it to Don Fernando, for I thought that in virtue of the great
+friendship he bore me I was bound to conceal nothing from him. I
+extolled her beauty, her gaiety, her wit, so warmly, that my praises
+excited in him a desire to see a damsel adorned by such attractions.
+To my misfortune I yielded to it, showing her to him one night by
+the light of a taper at a window where we used to talk to one another.
+As she appeared to him in her dressing-gown, she drove all the
+beauties he had seen until then out of his recollection; speech failed
+him, his head turned, he was spell-bound, and in the end love-smitten,
+as you will see in the course of the story of my misfortune; and to
+inflame still further his passion, which he hid from me and revealed
+to Heaven alone, it so happened that one day he found a note of hers
+entreating me to demand her of her father in marriage, so delicate, so
+modest, and so tender, that on reading it he told me that in
+Luscinda alone were combined all the charms of beauty and
+understanding that were distributed among all the other women in the
+world. It is true, and I own it now, that though I knew what good
+cause Don Fernando had to praise Luscinda, it gave me uneasiness to
+hear these praises from his mouth, and I began to fear, and with
+reason to feel distrust of him, for there was no moment when he was
+not ready to talk of Luscinda, and he would start the subject
+himself even though he dragged it in unseasonably, a circumstance that
+aroused in me a certain amount of jealousy; not that I feared any
+change in the constancy or faith of Luscinda; but still my fate led me
+to forebode what she assured me against. Don Fernando contrived always
+to read the letters I sent to Luscinda and her answers to me, under
+the pretence that he enjoyed the wit and sense of both. It so
+happened, then, that Luscinda having begged of me a book of chivalry
+to read, one that she was very fond of, Amadis of Gaul-"
+
+Don Quixote no sooner heard a book of chivalry mentioned, than he
+said:
+
+"Had your worship told me at the beginning of your story that the
+Lady Luscinda was fond of books of chivalry, no other laudation
+would have been requisite to impress upon me the superiority of her
+understanding, for it could not have been of the excellence you
+describe had a taste for such delightful reading been wanting; so,
+as far as I am concerned, you need waste no more words in describing
+her beauty, worth, and intelligence; for, on merely hearing what her
+taste was, I declare her to be the most beautiful and the most
+intelligent woman in the world; and I wish your worship had, along
+with Amadis of Gaul, sent her the worthy Don Rugel of Greece, for I
+know the Lady Luscinda would greatly relish Daraida and Garaya, and
+the shrewd sayings of the shepherd Darinel, and the admirable verses
+of his bucolics, sung and delivered by him with such sprightliness,
+wit, and ease; but a time may come when this omission can be remedied,
+and to rectify it nothing more is needed than for your worship to be
+so good as to come with me to my village, for there I can give you
+more than three hundred books which are the delight of my soul and the
+entertainment of my life;- though it occurs to me that I have not
+got one of them now, thanks to the spite of wicked and envious
+enchanters;- but pardon me for having broken the promise we made not
+to interrupt your discourse; for when I hear chivalry or
+knights-errant mentioned, I can no more help talking about them than
+the rays of the sun can help giving heat, or those of the moon
+moisture; pardon me, therefore, and proceed, for that is more to the
+purpose now."
+
+While Don Quixote was saying this, Cardenio allowed his head to fall
+upon his breast, and seemed plunged in deep thought; and though
+twice Don Quixote bade him go on with his story, he neither looked
+up nor uttered a word in reply; but after some time he raised his head
+and said, "I cannot get rid of the idea, nor will anyone in the
+world remove it, or make me think otherwise -and he would be a
+blockhead who would hold or believe anything else than that that
+arrant knave Master Elisabad made free with Queen Madasima."
+
+"That is not true, by all that's good," said Don Quixote in high
+wrath, turning upon him angrily, as his way was; "and it is a very
+great slander, or rather villainy. Queen Madasima was a very
+illustrious lady, and it is not to be supposed that so exalted a
+princess would have made free with a quack; and whoever maintains
+the contrary lies like a great scoundrel, and I will give him to
+know it, on foot or on horseback, armed or unarmed, by night or by
+day, or as he likes best."
+
+Cardenio was looking at him steadily, and his mad fit having now
+come upon him, he had no disposition to go on with his story, nor
+would Don Quixote have listened to it, so much had what he had heard
+about Madasima disgusted him. Strange to say, he stood up for her as
+if she were in earnest his veritable born lady; to such a pass had his
+unholy books brought him. Cardenio, then, being, as I said, now mad,
+when he heard himself given the lie, and called a scoundrel and
+other insulting names, not relishing the jest, snatched up a stone
+that he found near him, and with it delivered such a blow on Don
+Quixote's breast that he laid him on his back. Sancho Panza, seeing
+his master treated in this fashion, attacked the madman with his
+closed fist; but the Ragged One received him in such a way that with a
+blow of his fist he stretched him at his feet, and then mounting
+upon him crushed his ribs to his own satisfaction; the goatherd, who
+came to the rescue, shared the same fate; and having beaten and
+pummelled them all he left them and quietly withdrew to his
+hiding-place on the mountain. Sancho rose, and with the rage he felt
+at finding himself so belaboured without deserving it, ran to take
+vengeance on the goatherd, accusing him of not giving them warning
+that this man was at times taken with a mad fit, for if they had known
+it they would have been on their guard to protect themselves. The
+goatherd replied that he had said so, and that if he had not heard
+him, that was no fault of his. Sancho retorted, and the goatherd
+rejoined, and the altercation ended in their seizing each other by the
+beard, and exchanging such fisticuffs that if Don Quixote had not made
+peace between them, they would have knocked one another to pieces.
+
+"Leave me alone, Sir Knight of the Rueful Countenance," said Sancho,
+grappling with the goatherd, "for of this fellow, who is a clown
+like myself, and no dubbed knight, I can safely take satisfaction
+for the affront he has offered me, fighting with him hand to hand like
+an honest man."
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote, "but I know that he is not to
+blame for what has happened."
+
+With this he pacified them, and again asked the goatherd if it would
+be possible to find Cardenio, as he felt the greatest anxiety to
+know the end of his story. The goatherd told him, as he had told him
+before, that there was no knowing of a certainty where his lair was;
+but that if he wandered about much in that neighbourhood he could
+not fail to fall in with him either in or out of his senses.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE STRANGE THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO THE STOUT KNIGHT
+OF LA MANCHA IN THE SIERRA MORENA, AND OF HIS IMITATION OF THE PENANCE
+OF BELTENEBROS
+
+Don Quixote took leave of the goatherd, and once more mounting
+Rocinante bade Sancho follow him, which he having no ass, did very
+discontentedly. They proceeded slowly, making their way into the
+most rugged part of the mountain, Sancho all the while dying to have a
+talk with his master, and longing for him to begin, so that there
+should be no breach of the injunction laid upon him; but unable to
+keep silence so long he said to him:
+
+"Senor Don Quixote, give me your worship's blessing and dismissal,
+for I'd like to go home at once to my wife and children with whom I
+can at any rate talk and converse as much as I like; for to want me to
+go through these solitudes day and night and not speak to you when I
+have a mind is burying me alive. If luck would have it that animals
+spoke as they did in the days of Guisopete, it would not be so bad,
+because I could talk to Rocinante about whatever came into my head,
+and so put up with my ill-fortune; but it is a hard case, and not to
+be borne with patience, to go seeking adventures all one's life and
+get nothing but kicks and blanketings, brickbats and punches, and with
+all this to have to sew up one's mouth without daring to say what is
+in one's heart, just as if one were dumb."
+
+"I understand thee, Sancho," replied Don Quixote; "thou art dying to
+have the interdict I placed upon thy tongue removed; consider it
+removed, and say what thou wilt while we are wandering in these
+mountains."
+
+"So be it," said Sancho; "let me speak now, for God knows what
+will happen by-and-by; and to take advantage of the permit at once,
+I ask, what made your worship stand up so for that Queen Majimasa,
+or whatever her name is, or what did it matter whether that abbot
+was a friend of hers or not? for if your worship had let that pass
+-and you were not a judge in the matter- it is my belief the madman
+would have gone on with his story, and the blow of the stone, and
+the kicks, and more than half a dozen cuffs would have been escaped."
+
+"In faith, Sancho," answered Don Quixote, "if thou knewest as I do
+what an honourable and illustrious lady Queen Madasima was, I know
+thou wouldst say I had great patience that I did not break in pieces
+the mouth that uttered such blasphemies, for a very great blasphemy it
+is to say or imagine that a queen has made free with a surgeon. The
+truth of the story is that that Master Elisabad whom the madman
+mentioned was a man of great prudence and sound judgment, and served
+as governor and physician to the queen, but to suppose that she was
+his mistress is nonsense deserving very severe punishment; and as a
+proof that Cardenio did not know what he was saying, remember when
+he said it he was out of his wits."
+
+"That is what I say," said Sancho; "there was no occasion for
+minding the words of a madman; for if good luck had not helped your
+worship, and he had sent that stone at your head instead of at your
+breast, a fine way we should have been in for standing up for my
+lady yonder, God confound her! And then, would not Cardenio have
+gone free as a madman?"
+
+"Against men in their senses or against madmen," said Don Quixote,
+"every knight-errant is bound to stand up for the honour of women,
+whoever they may be, much more for queens of such high degree and
+dignity as Queen Madasima, for whom I have a particular regard on
+account of her amiable qualities; for, besides being extremely
+beautiful, she was very wise, and very patient under her
+misfortunes, of which she had many; and the counsel and society of the
+Master Elisabad were a great help and support to her in enduring her
+afflictions with wisdom and resignation; hence the ignorant and
+ill-disposed vulgar took occasion to say and think that she was his
+mistress; and they lie, I say it once more, and will lie two hundred
+times more, all who think and say so."
+
+"I neither say nor think so," said Sancho; "let them look to it;
+with their bread let them eat it; they have rendered account to God
+whether they misbehaved or not; I come from my vineyard, I know
+nothing; I am not fond of prying into other men's lives; he who buys
+and lies feels it in his purse; moreover, naked was I born, naked I
+find myself, I neither lose nor gain; but if they did, what is that to
+me? many think there are flitches where there are no hooks; but who
+can put gates to the open plain? moreover they said of God-"
+
+"God bless me," said Don Quixote, "what a set of absurdities thou
+art stringing together! What has what we are talking about got to do
+with the proverbs thou art threading one after the other? for God's
+sake hold thy tongue, Sancho, and henceforward keep to prodding thy
+ass and don't meddle in what does not concern thee; and understand
+with all thy five senses that everything I have done, am doing, or
+shall do, is well founded on reason and in conformity with the rules
+of chivalry, for I understand them better than all the world that
+profess them."
+
+"Senor," replied Sancho, "is it a good rule of chivalry that we
+should go astray through these mountains without path or road, looking
+for a madman who when he is found will perhaps take a fancy to
+finish what he began, not his story, but your worship's head and my
+ribs, and end by breaking them altogether for us?"
+
+"Peace, I say again, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "for let me tell
+thee it is not so much the desire of finding that madman that leads me
+into these regions as that which I have of performing among them an
+achievement wherewith I shall win eternal name and fame throughout the
+known world; and it shall be such that I shall thereby set the seal on
+all that can make a knight-errant perfect and famous."
+
+"And is it very perilous, this achievement?"
+
+"No," replied he of the Rueful Countenance; "though it may be in the
+dice that we may throw deuce-ace instead of sixes; but all will depend
+on thy diligence."
+
+"On my diligence!" said Sancho.
+
+"Yes," said Don Quixote, "for if thou dost return soon from the
+place where I mean to send thee, my penance will be soon over, and
+my glory will soon begin. But as it is not right to keep thee any
+longer in suspense, waiting to see what comes of my words, I would
+have thee know, Sancho, that the famous Amadis of Gaul was one of
+the most perfect knights-errant- I am wrong to say he was one; he
+stood alone, the first, the only one, the lord of all that were in the
+world in his time. A fig for Don Belianis, and for all who say he
+equalled him in any respect, for, my oath upon it, they are
+deceiving themselves! I say, too, that when a painter desires to
+become famous in his art he endeavours to copy the originals of the
+rarest painters that he knows; and the same rule holds good for all
+the most important crafts and callings that serve to adorn a state;
+thus must he who would be esteemed prudent and patient imitate
+Ulysses, in whose person and labours Homer presents to us a lively
+picture of prudence and patience; as Virgil, too, shows us in the
+person of AEneas the virtue of a pious son and the sagacity of a brave
+and skilful captain; not representing or describing them as they were,
+but as they ought to be, so as to leave the example of their virtues
+to posterity. In the same way Amadis was the polestar, day-star, sun
+of valiant and devoted knights, whom all we who fight under the banner
+of love and chivalry are bound to imitate. This, then, being so, I
+consider, friend Sancho, that the knight-errant who shall imitate
+him most closely will come nearest to reaching the perfection of
+chivalry. Now one of the instances in which this knight most
+conspicuously showed his prudence, worth, valour, endurance,
+fortitude, and love, was when he withdrew, rejected by the Lady
+Oriana, to do penance upon the Pena Pobre, changing his name into that
+of Beltenebros, a name assuredly significant and appropriate to the
+life which he had voluntarily adopted. So, as it is easier for me to
+imitate him in this than in cleaving giants asunder, cutting off
+serpents' heads, slaying dragons, routing armies, destroying fleets,
+and breaking enchantments, and as this place is so well suited for a
+similar purpose, I must not allow the opportunity to escape which
+now so conveniently offers me its forelock."
+
+"What is it in reality," said Sancho, "that your worship means to do
+in such an out-of-the-way place as this?"
+
+"Have I not told thee," answered Don Quixote, "that I mean to
+imitate Amadis here, playing the victim of despair, the madman, the
+maniac, so as at the same time to imitate the valiant Don Roland, when
+at the fountain he had evidence of the fair Angelica having
+disgraced herself with Medoro and through grief thereat went mad,
+and plucked up trees, troubled the waters of the clear springs, slew
+destroyed flocks, burned down huts, levelled houses, dragged mares
+after him, and perpetrated a hundred thousand other outrages worthy of
+everlasting renown and record? And though I have no intention of
+imitating Roland, or Orlando, or Rotolando (for he went by all these
+names), step by step in all the mad things he did, said, and
+thought, I will make a rough copy to the best of my power of all
+that seems to me most essential; but perhaps I shall content myself
+with the simple imitation of Amadis, who without giving way to any
+mischievous madness but merely to tears and sorrow, gained as much
+fame as the most famous."
+
+"It seems to me," said Sancho, "that the knights who behaved in this
+way had provocation and cause for those follies and penances; but what
+cause has your worship for going mad? What lady has rejected you, or
+what evidence have you found to prove that the lady Dulcinea del
+Toboso has been trifling with Moor or Christian?"
+
+"There is the point," replied Don Quixote, "and that is the beauty
+of this business of mine; no thanks to a knight-errant for going mad
+when he has cause; the thing is to turn crazy without any provocation,
+and let my lady know, if I do this in the dry, what I would do in
+the moist; moreover I have abundant cause in the long separation I
+have endured from my lady till death, Dulcinea del Toboso; for as thou
+didst hear that shepherd Ambrosio say the other day, in absence all
+ills are felt and feared; and so, friend Sancho, waste no time in
+advising me against so rare, so happy, and so unheard-of an imitation;
+mad I am, and mad I must be until thou returnest with the answer to
+a letter that I mean to send by thee to my lady Dulcinea; and if it be
+such as my constancy deserves, my insanity and penance will come to an
+end; and if it be to the opposite effect, I shall become mad in
+earnest, and, being so, I shall suffer no more; thus in whatever way
+she may answer I shall escape from the struggle and affliction in
+which thou wilt leave me, enjoying in my senses the boon thou
+bearest me, or as a madman not feeling the evil thou bringest me.
+But tell me, Sancho, hast thou got Mambrino's helmet safe? for I saw
+thee take it up from the ground when that ungrateful wretch tried to
+break it in pieces but could not, by which the fineness of its
+temper may be seen."
+
+To which Sancho made answer, "By the living God, Sir Knight of the
+Rueful Countenance, I cannot endure or bear with patience some of
+the things that your worship says; and from them I begin to suspect
+that all you tell me about chivalry, and winning kingdoms and empires,
+and giving islands, and bestowing other rewards and dignities after
+the custom of knights-errant, must be all made up of wind and lies,
+and all pigments or figments, or whatever we may call them; for what
+would anyone think that heard your worship calling a barber's basin
+Mambrino's helmet without ever seeing the mistake all this time, but
+that one who says and maintains such things must have his brains
+addled? I have the basin in my sack all dinted, and I am taking it
+home to have it mended, to trim my beard in it, if, by God's grace,
+I am allowed to see my wife and children some day or other."
+
+"Look here, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "by him thou didst swear by
+just now I swear thou hast the most limited understanding that any
+squire in the world has or ever had. Is it possible that all this time
+thou hast been going about with me thou hast never found out that
+all things belonging to knights-errant seem to be illusions and
+nonsense and ravings, and to go always by contraries? And not
+because it really is so, but because there is always a swarm of
+enchanters in attendance upon us that change and alter everything with
+us, and turn things as they please, and according as they are disposed
+to aid or destroy us; thus what seems to thee a barber's basin seems
+to me Mambrino's helmet, and to another it will seem something else;
+and rare foresight it was in the sage who is on my side to make what
+is really and truly Mambrine's helmet seem a basin to everybody,
+for, being held in such estimation as it is, all the world would
+pursue me to rob me of it; but when they see it is only a barber's
+basin they do not take the trouble to obtain it; as was plainly
+shown by him who tried to break it, and left it on the ground
+without taking it, for, by my faith, had he known it he would never
+have left it behind. Keep it safe, my friend, for just now I have no
+need of it; indeed, I shall have to take off all this armour and
+remain as naked as I was born, if I have a mind to follow Roland
+rather than Amadis in my penance."
+
+Thus talking they reached the foot of a high mountain which stood
+like an isolated peak among the others that surrounded it. Past its
+base there flowed a gentle brook, all around it spread a meadow so
+green and luxuriant that it was a delight to the eyes to look upon it,
+and forest trees in abundance, and shrubs and flowers, added to the
+charms of the spot. Upon this place the Knight of the Rueful
+Countenance fixed his choice for the performance of his penance, and
+as he beheld it exclaimed in a loud voice as though he were out of his
+senses:
+
+"This is the place, oh, ye heavens, that I select and choose for
+bewailing the misfortune in which ye yourselves have plunged me:
+this is the spot where the overflowings of mine eyes shall swell the
+waters of yon little brook, and my deep and endless sighs shall stir
+unceasingly the leaves of these mountain trees, in testimony and token
+of the pain my persecuted heart is suffering. Oh, ye rural deities,
+whoever ye be that haunt this lone spot, give ear to the complaint
+of a wretched lover whom long absence and brooding jealousy have
+driven to bewail his fate among these wilds and complain of the hard
+heart of that fair and ungrateful one, the end and limit of all
+human beauty! Oh, ye wood nymphs and dryads, that dwell in the
+thickets of the forest, so may the nimble wanton satyrs by whom ye are
+vainly wooed never disturb your sweet repose, help me to lament my
+hard fate or at least weary not at listening to it! Oh, Dulcinea del
+Toboso, day of my night, glory of my pain, guide of my path, star of
+my fortune, so may Heaven grant thee in full all thou seekest of it,
+bethink thee of the place and condition to which absence from thee has
+brought me, and make that return in kindness that is due to my
+fidelity! Oh, lonely trees, that from this day forward shall bear me
+company in my solitude, give me some sign by the gentle movement of
+your boughs that my presence is not distasteful to you! Oh, thou, my
+squire, pleasant companion in my prosperous and adverse fortunes,
+fix well in thy memory what thou shalt see me do here, so that thou
+mayest relate and report it to the sole cause of all," and so saying
+he dismounted from Rocinante, and in an instant relieved him of saddle
+and bridle, and giving him a slap on the croup, said, "He gives thee
+freedom who is bereft of it himself, oh steed as excellent in deed
+as thou art unfortunate in thy lot; begone where thou wilt, for thou
+bearest written on thy forehead that neither Astolfo's hippogriff, nor
+the famed Frontino that cost Bradamante so dear, could equal thee in
+speed."
+
+Seeing this Sancho said, "Good luck to him who has saved us the
+trouble of stripping the pack-saddle off Dapple! By my faith he
+would not have gone without a slap on the croup and something said
+in his praise; though if he were here I would not let anyone strip
+him, for there would be no occasion, as he had nothing of the lover or
+victim of despair about him, inasmuch as his master, which I was while
+it was God's pleasure, was nothing of the sort; and indeed, Sir Knight
+of the Rueful Countenance, if my departure and your worship's
+madness are to come off in earnest, it will be as well to saddle
+Rocinante again in order that he may supply the want of Dapple,
+because it will save me time in going and returning: for if I go on
+foot I don't know when I shall get there or when I shall get back,
+as I am, in truth, a bad walker."
+
+"I declare, Sancho," returned Don Quixote, "it shall be as thou
+wilt, for thy plan does not seem to me a bad one, and three days hence
+thou wilt depart, for I wish thee to observe in the meantime what I do
+and say for her sake, that thou mayest be able to tell it."
+
+"But what more have I to see besides what I have seen?" said Sancho.
+
+"Much thou knowest about it!" said Don Quixote. "I have now got to
+tear up my garments, to scatter about my armour, knock my head against
+these rocks, and more of the same sort of thing, which thou must
+witness."
+
+"For the love of God," said Sancho, "be careful, your worship, how
+you give yourself those knocks on the head, for you may come across
+such a rock, and in such a way, that the very first may put an end
+to the whole contrivance of this penance; and I should think, if
+indeed knocks on the head seem necessary to you, and this business
+cannot be done without them, you might be content -as the whole
+thing is feigned, and counterfeit, and in joke- you might be
+content, I say, with giving them to yourself in the water, or
+against something soft, like cotton; and leave it all to me; for
+I'll tell my lady that your worship knocked your head against a
+point of rock harder than a diamond."
+
+"I thank thee for thy good intentions, friend Sancho," answered
+Don Quixote, "but I would have thee know that all these things I am
+doing are not in joke, but very much in earnest, for anything else
+would be a transgression of the ordinances of chivalry, which forbid
+us to tell any lie whatever under the penalties due to apostasy; and
+to do one thing instead of another is just the same as lying; so my
+knocks on the head must be real, solid, and valid, without anything
+sophisticated or fanciful about them, and it will be needful to
+leave me some lint to dress my wounds, since fortune has compelled
+us to do without the balsam we lost."
+
+"It was worse losing the ass," replied Sancho, "for with him lint
+and all were lost; but I beg of your worship not to remind me again of
+that accursed liquor, for my soul, not to say my stomach, turns at
+hearing the very name of it; and I beg of you, too, to reckon as
+past the three days you allowed me for seeing the mad things you do,
+for I take them as seen already and pronounced upon, and I will tell
+wonderful stories to my lady; so write the letter and send me off at
+once, for I long to return and take your worship out of this purgatory
+where I am leaving you."
+
+"Purgatory dost thou call it, Sancho?" said Don Quixote, "rather
+call it hell, or even worse if there be anything worse."
+
+"For one who is in hell," said Sancho, "nulla est retentio, as I
+have heard say."
+
+"I do not understand what retentio means," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Retentio," answered Sancho, "means that whoever is in hell never
+comes nor can come out of it, which will be the opposite case with
+your worship or my legs will be idle, that is if I have spurs to
+enliven Rocinante: let me once get to El Toboso and into the
+presence of my lady Dulcinea, and I will tell her such things of the
+follies and madnesses (for it is all one) that your worship has done
+and is still doing, that I will manage to make her softer than a glove
+though I find her harder than a cork tree; and with her sweet and
+honeyed answer I will come back through the air like a witch, and take
+your worship out of this purgatory that seems to be hell but is not,
+as there is hope of getting out of it; which, as I have said, those in
+hell have not, and I believe your worship will not say anything to the
+contrary."
+
+"That is true," said he of the Rueful Countenance, "but how shall we
+manage to write the letter?"
+
+"And the ass-colt order too," added Sancho.
+
+"All shall be included," said Don Quixote; "and as there is no
+paper, it would be well done to write it on the leaves of trees, as
+the ancients did, or on tablets of wax; though that would be as hard
+to find just now as paper. But it has just occurred to me how it may
+be conveniently and even more than conveniently written, and that is
+in the note-book that belonged to Cardenio, and thou wilt take care to
+have it copied on paper, in a good hand, at the first village thou
+comest to where there is a schoolmaster, or if not, any sacristan will
+copy it; but see thou give it not to any notary to copy, for they
+write a law hand that Satan could not make out."
+
+"But what is to be done about the signature?" said Sancho.
+
+"The letters of Amadis were never signed," said Don Quixote.
+
+"That is all very well," said Sancho, "but the order must needs be
+signed, and if it is copied they will say the signature is false,
+and I shall be left without ass-colts."
+
+"The order shall go signed in the same book," said Don Quixote, "and
+on seeing it my niece will make no difficulty about obeying it; as
+to the loveletter thou canst put by way of signature, 'Yours till
+death, the Knight of the Rueful Countenance.' And it will be no
+great matter if it is in some other person's hand, for as well as I
+recollect Dulcinea can neither read nor write, nor in the whole course
+of her life has she seen handwriting or letter of mine, for my love
+and hers have been always platonic, not going beyond a modest look,
+and even that so seldom that I can safely swear I have not seen her
+four times in all these twelve years I have been loving her more
+than the light of these eyes that the earth will one day devour; and
+perhaps even of those four times she has not once perceived that I was
+looking at her: such is the retirement and seclusion in which her
+father Lorenzo Corchuelo and her mother Aldonza Nogales have brought
+her up."
+
+"So, so!" said Sancho; "Lorenzo Corchuelo's daughter is the lady
+Dulcinea del Toboso, otherwise called Aldonza Lorenzo?"
+
+"She it is," said Don Quixote, "and she it is that is worthy to be
+lady of the whole universe."
+
+"I know her well," said Sancho, "and let me tell you she can fling a
+crowbar as well as the lustiest lad in all the town. Giver of all
+good! but she is a brave lass, and a right and stout one, and fit to
+be helpmate to any knight-errant that is or is to be, who may make her
+his lady: the whoreson wench, what sting she has and what a voice! I
+can tell you one day she posted herself on the top of the belfry of
+the village to call some labourers of theirs that were in a ploughed
+field of her father's, and though they were better than half a
+league off they heard her as well as if they were at the foot of the
+tower; and the best of her is that she is not a bit prudish, for she
+has plenty of affability, and jokes with everybody, and has a grin and
+a jest for everything. So, Sir Knight of the Rueful Countenance, I say
+you not only may and ought to do mad freaks for her sake, but you have
+a good right to give way to despair and hang yourself; and no one
+who knows of it but will say you did well, though the devil should
+take you; and I wish I were on my road already, simply to see her, for
+it is many a day since I saw her, and she must be altered by this
+time, for going about the fields always, and the sun and the air spoil
+women's looks greatly. But I must own the truth to your worship, Senor
+Don Quixote; until now I have been under a great mistake, for I
+believed truly and honestly that the lady Dulcinea must be some
+princess your worship was in love with, or some person great enough to
+deserve the rich presents you have sent her, such as the Biscayan
+and the galley slaves, and many more no doubt, for your worship must
+have won many victories in the time when I was not yet your squire.
+But all things considered, what good can it do the lady Aldonza
+Lorenzo, I mean the lady Dulcinea del Toboso, to have the vanquished
+your worship sends or will send coming to her and going down on
+their knees before her? Because may be when they came she'd be
+hackling flax or threshing on the threshing floor, and they'd be
+ashamed to see her, and she'd laugh, or resent the present."
+
+"I have before now told thee many times, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote, "that thou art a mighty great chatterer, and that with a
+blunt wit thou art always striving at sharpness; but to show thee what
+a fool thou art and how rational I am, I would have thee listen to a
+short story. Thou must know that a certain widow, fair, young,
+independent, and rich, and above all free and easy, fell in love
+with a sturdy strapping young lay-brother; his superior came to know
+of it, and one day said to the worthy widow by way of brotherly
+remonstrance, 'I am surprised, senora, and not without good reason,
+that a woman of such high standing, so fair, and so rich as you are,
+should have fallen in love with such a mean, low, stupid fellow as
+So-and-so, when in this house there are so many masters, graduates,
+and divinity students from among whom you might choose as if they were
+a lot of pears, saying this one I'll take, that I won't take;' but she
+replied to him with great sprightliness and candour, 'My dear sir, you
+are very much mistaken, and your ideas are very old-fashioned, if
+you think that I have made a bad choice in So-and-so, fool as he
+seems; because for all I want with him he knows as much and more
+philosophy than Aristotle.' In the same way, Sancho, for all I want
+with Dulcinea del Toboso she is just as good as the most exalted
+princess on earth. It is not to be supposed that all those poets who
+sang the praises of ladies under the fancy names they give them, had
+any such mistresses. Thinkest thou that the Amarillises, the
+Phillises, the Sylvias, the Dianas, the Galateas, the Filidas, and all
+the rest of them, that the books, the ballads, the barber's shops, the
+theatres are full of, were really and truly ladies of flesh and blood,
+and mistresses of those that glorify and have glorified them?
+Nothing of the kind; they only invent them for the most part to
+furnish a subject for their verses, and that they may pass for lovers,
+or for men valiant enough to be so; and so it suffices me to think and
+believe that the good Aldonza Lorenzo is fair and virtuous; and as
+to her pedigree it is very little matter, for no one will examine into
+it for the purpose of conferring any order upon her, and I, for my
+part, reckon her the most exalted princess in the world. For thou
+shouldst know, Sancho, if thou dost not know, that two things alone
+beyond all others are incentives to love, and these are great beauty
+and a good name, and these two things are to be found in Dulcinea in
+the highest degree, for in beauty no one equals her and in good name
+few approach her; and to put the whole thing in a nutshell, I persuade
+myself that all I say is as I say, neither more nor less, and I
+picture her in my imagination as I would have her to be, as well in
+beauty as in condition; Helen approaches her not nor does Lucretia
+come up to her, nor any other of the famous women of times past,
+Greek, Barbarian, or Latin; and let each say what he will, for if in
+this I am taken to task by the ignorant, I shall not be censured by
+the critical."
+
+"I say that your worship is entirely right," said Sancho, "and
+that I am an ass. But I know not how the name of ass came into my
+mouth, for a rope is not to be mentioned in the house of him who has
+been hanged; but now for the letter, and then, God be with you, I am
+off."
+
+Don Quixote took out the note-book, and, retiring to one side,
+very deliberately began to write the letter, and when he had
+finished it he called to Sancho, saying he wished to read it to him,
+so that he might commit it to memory, in case of losing it on the
+road; for with evil fortune like his anything might be apprehended. To
+which Sancho replied, "Write it two or three times there in the book
+and give it to me, and I will carry it very carefully, because to
+expect me to keep it in my memory is all nonsense, for I have such a
+bad one that I often forget my own name; but for all that repeat it to
+me, as I shall like to hear it, for surely it will run as if it was in
+print."
+
+"Listen," said Don Quixote, "this is what it says:
+
+
+"DON QUIXOTE'S LETTER TO DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO
+
+
+"Sovereign and exalted Lady,- The pierced by the point of absence,
+the wounded to the heart's core, sends thee, sweetest Dulcinea del
+Toboso, the health that he himself enjoys not. If thy beauty
+despises me, if thy worth is not for me, if thy scorn is my
+affliction, though I be sufficiently long-suffering, hardly shall I
+endure this anxiety, which, besides being oppressive, is protracted.
+My good squire Sancho will relate to thee in full, fair ingrate,
+dear enemy, the condition to which I am reduced on thy account: if
+it be thy pleasure to give me relief, I am thine; if not, do as may be
+pleasing to thee; for by ending my life I shall satisfy thy cruelty
+and my desire.
+
+"Thine till death,
+
+"The Knight of the Rueful Countenance."
+
+
+
+"By the life of my father," said Sancho, when he heard the letter,
+"it is the loftiest thing I ever heard. Body of me! how your worship
+says everything as you like in it! And how well you fit in 'The Knight
+of the Rueful Countenance' into the signature. I declare your worship
+is indeed the very devil, and there is nothing you don't know."
+
+"Everything is needed for the calling I follow," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Now then," said Sancho, "let your worship put the order for the
+three ass-colts on the other side, and sign it very plainly, that they
+may recognise it at first sight."
+
+"With all my heart," said Don Quixote, and as he had written it he
+read it to this effect:
+
+"Mistress Niece,- By this first of ass-colts please pay to Sancho
+Panza, my squire, three of the five I left at home in your charge:
+said three ass-colts to be paid and delivered for the same number
+received here in hand, which upon this and upon his receipt shall be
+duly paid. Done in the heart of the Sierra Morena, the
+twenty-seventh of August of this present year."
+
+"That will do," said Sancho; "now let your worship sign it."
+
+"There is no need to sign it," said Don Quixote, "but merely to
+put my flourish, which is the same as a signature, and enough for
+three asses, or even three hundred."
+
+"I can trust your worship," returned Sancho; "let me go and saddle
+Rocinante, and be ready to give me your blessing, for I mean to go
+at once without seeing the fooleries your worship is going to do; I'll
+say I saw you do so many that she will not want any more."
+
+"At any rate, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "I should like- and there
+is reason for it- I should like thee, I say, to see me stripped to the
+skin and performing a dozen or two of insanities, which I can get done
+in less than half an hour; for having seen them with thine own eyes,
+thou canst then safely swear to the rest that thou wouldst add; and
+I promise thee thou wilt not tell of as many as I mean to perform."
+
+"For the love of God, master mine," said Sancho, "let me not see
+your worship stripped, for it will sorely grieve me, and I shall not
+be able to keep from tears, and my head aches so with all I shed
+last night for Dapple, that I am not fit to begin any fresh weeping;
+but if it is your worship's pleasure that I should see some
+insanities, do them in your clothes, short ones, and such as come
+readiest to hand; for I myself want nothing of the sort, and, as I
+have said, it will be a saving of time for my return, which will be
+with the news your worship desires and deserves. If not, let the
+lady Dulcinea look to it; if she does not answer reasonably, I swear
+as solemnly as I can that I will fetch a fair answer out of her
+stomach with kicks and cuffs; for why should it be borne that a
+knight-errant as famous as your worship should go mad without rhyme or
+reason for a -? Her ladyship had best not drive me to say it, for by
+God I will speak out and let off everything cheap, even if it
+doesn't sell: I am pretty good at that! she little knows me; faith, if
+she knew me she'd be in awe of me."
+
+"In faith, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "to all appearance thou art no
+sounder in thy wits than I."
+
+"I am not so mad," answered Sancho, "but I am more peppery; but
+apart from all this, what has your worship to eat until I come back?
+Will you sally out on the road like Cardenio to force it from the
+shepherds?"
+
+"Let not that anxiety trouble thee," replied Don Quixote, "for
+even if I had it I should not eat anything but the herbs and the
+fruits which this meadow and these trees may yield me; the beauty of
+this business of mine lies in not eating, and in performing other
+mortifications."
+
+"Do you know what I am afraid of?" said Sancho upon this; "that I
+shall not be able to find my way back to this spot where I am
+leaving you, it is such an out-of-the-way place."
+
+"Observe the landmarks well," said Don Quixote, "for I will try
+not to go far from this neighbourhood, and I will even take care to
+mount the highest of these rocks to see if I can discover thee
+returning; however, not to miss me and lose thyself, the best plan
+will be to cut some branches of the broom that is so abundant about
+here, and as thou goest to lay them at intervals until thou hast
+come out upon the plain; these will serve thee, after the fashion of
+the clue in the labyrinth of Theseus, as marks and signs for finding
+me on thy return."
+
+"So I will," said Sancho Panza, and having cut some, he asked his
+master's blessing, and not without many tears on both sides, took
+his leave of him, and mounting Rocinante, of whom Don Quixote
+charged him earnestly to have as much care as of his own person, he
+set out for the plain, strewing at intervals the branches of broom
+as his master had recommended him; and so he went his way, though
+Don Quixote still entreated him to see him do were it only a couple of
+mad acts. He had not gone a hundred paces, however, when he returned
+and said:
+
+"I must say, senor, your worship said quite right, that in order
+to be able to swear without a weight on my conscience that I had
+seen you do mad things, it would be well for me to see if it were only
+one; though in your worship's remaining here I have seen a very
+great one."
+
+"Did I not tell thee so?" said Don Quixote. "Wait, Sancho, and I
+will do them in the saying of a credo," and pulling off his breeches
+in all haste he stripped himself to his skin and his shirt, and
+then, without more ado, he cut a couple of gambados in the air, and
+a couple of somersaults, heels over head, making such a display
+that, not to see it a second time, Sancho wheeled Rocinante round, and
+felt easy, and satisfied in his mind that he could swear he had left
+his master mad; and so we will leave him to follow his road until
+his return, which was a quick one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+IN WHICH ARE CONTINUED THE REFINEMENTS WHEREWITH DON QUIXOTE
+PLAYED THE PART OF A LOVER IN THE SIERRA MORENA
+
+Returning to the proceedings of him of the Rueful Countenance when
+he found himself alone, the history says that when Don Quixote had
+completed the performance of the somersaults or capers, naked from the
+waist down and clothed from the waist up, and saw that Sancho had gone
+off without waiting to see any more crazy feats, he climbed up to
+the top of a high rock, and there set himself to consider what he
+had several times before considered without ever coming to any
+conclusion on the point, namely whether it would be better and more to
+his purpose to imitate the outrageous madness of Roland, or the
+melancholy madness of Amadis; and communing with himself he said:
+
+"What wonder is it if Roland was so good a knight and so valiant
+as everyone says he was, when, after all, he was enchanted, and nobody
+could kill him save by thrusting a corking pin into the sole of his
+foot, and he always wore shoes with seven iron soles? Though cunning
+devices did not avail him against Bernardo del Carpio, who knew all
+about them, and strangled him in his arms at Roncesvalles. But putting
+the question of his valour aside, let us come to his losing his
+wits, for certain it is that he did lose them in consequence of the
+proofs he discovered at the fountain, and the intelligence the
+shepherd gave him of Angelica having slept more than two siestas
+with Medoro, a little curly-headed Moor, and page to Agramante. If
+he was persuaded that this was true, and that his lady had wronged
+him, it is no wonder that he should have gone mad; but I, how am I
+to imitate him in his madness, unless I can imitate him in the cause
+of it? For my Dulcinea, I will venture to swear, never saw a Moor in
+her life, as he is, in his proper costume, and she is this day as
+the mother that bore her, and I should plainly be doing her a wrong
+if, fancying anything else, I were to go mad with the same kind of
+madness as Roland the Furious. On the other hand, I see that Amadis of
+Gaul, without losing his senses and without doing anything mad,
+acquired as a lover as much fame as the most famous; for, according to
+his history, on finding himself rejected by his lady Oriana, who had
+ordered him not to appear in her presence until it should be her
+pleasure, all he did was to retire to the Pena Pobre in company with a
+hermit, and there he took his fill of weeping until Heaven sent him
+relief in the midst of his great grief and need. And if this be
+true, as it is, why should I now take the trouble to strip stark
+naked, or do mischief to these trees which have done me no harm, or
+why am I to disturb the clear waters of these brooks which will give
+me to drink whenever I have a mind? Long live the memory of Amadis and
+let him be imitated so far as is possible by Don Quixote of La Mancha,
+of whom it will be said, as was said of the other, that if he did
+not achieve great things, he died in attempting them; and if I am
+not repulsed or rejected by my Dulcinea, it is enough for me, as I
+have said, to be absent from her. And so, now to business; come to
+my memory ye deeds of Amadis, and show me how I am to begin to imitate
+you. I know already that what he chiefly did was to pray and commend
+himself to God; but what am I to do for a rosary, for I have not got
+one?"
+
+And then it occurred to him how he might make one, and that was by
+tearing a great strip off the tail of his shirt which hung down, and
+making eleven knots on it, one bigger than the rest, and this served
+him for a rosary all the time he was there, during which he repeated
+countless ave-marias. But what distressed him greatly was not having
+another hermit there to confess him and receive consolation from;
+and so he solaced himself with pacing up and down the little meadow,
+and writing and carving on the bark of the trees and on the fine
+sand a multitude of verses all in harmony with his sadness, and some
+in praise of Dulcinea; but, when he was found there afterwards, the
+only ones completely legible that could be discovered were those
+that follow here:
+
+Ye on the mountain side that grow,
+  Ye green things all, trees, shrubs, and bushes,
+Are ye aweary of the woe
+  That this poor aching bosom crushes?
+If it disturb you, and I owe
+    Some reparation, it may be a
+Defence for me to let you know
+Don Quixote's tears are on the flow,
+    And all for distant Dulcinea
+                         Del Toboso.
+
+The lealest lover time can show,
+  Doomed for a lady-love to languish,
+Among these solitudes doth go,
+  A prey to every kind of anguish.
+Why Love should like a spiteful foe
+  Thus use him, he hath no idea,
+But hogsheads full- this doth he know-
+Don Quixote's tears are on the flow,
+    And all for distant Dulcinea
+                       Del Toboso.
+
+Adventure-seeking doth he go
+  Up rugged heights, down rocky valleys,
+But hill or dale, or high or low,
+  Mishap attendeth all his sallies:
+Love still pursues him to and fro,
+  And plies his cruel scourge- ah me! a
+Relentless fate, an endless woe;
+Don Quixote's tears are on the flow,
+    And all for distant Dulcinea
+                       Del Toboso.
+
+
+The addition of "Del Toboso" to Dulcinea's name gave rise to no
+little laughter among those who found the above lines, for they
+suspected Don Quixote must have fancied that unless he added "del
+Toboso" when he introduced the name of Dulcinea the verse would be
+unintelligible; which was indeed the fact, as he himself afterwards
+admitted. He wrote many more, but, as has been said, these three
+verses were all that could be plainly and perfectly deciphered. In
+this way, and in sighing and calling on the fauns and satyrs of the
+woods and the nymphs of the streams, and Echo, moist and mournful,
+to answer, console, and hear him, as well as in looking for herbs to
+sustain him, he passed his time until Sancho's return; and had that
+been delayed three weeks, as it was three days, the Knight of the
+Rueful Countenance would have worn such an altered countenance that
+the mother that bore him would not have known him: and here it will be
+well to leave him, wrapped up in sighs and verses, to relate how
+Sancho Panza fared on his mission.
+
+As for him, coming out upon the high road, he made for El Toboso,
+and the next day reached the inn where the mishap of the blanket had
+befallen him. As soon as he recognised it he felt as if he were once
+more living through the air, and he could not bring himself to enter
+it though it was an hour when he might well have done so, for it was
+dinner-time, and he longed to taste something hot as it had been all
+cold fare with him for many days past. This craving drove him to
+draw near to the inn, still undecided whether to go in or not, and
+as he was hesitating there came out two persons who at once recognised
+him, and said one to the other:
+
+"Senor licentiate, is not he on the horse there Sancho Panza who,
+our adventurer's housekeeper told us, went off with her master as
+esquire?"
+
+"So it is," said the licentiate, "and that is our friend Don
+Quixote's horse;" and if they knew him so well it was because they
+were the curate and the barber of his own village, the same who had
+carried out the scrutiny and sentence upon the books; and as soon as
+they recognised Sancho Panza and Rocinante, being anxious to hear of
+Don Quixote, they approached, and calling him by his name the curate
+said, "Friend Sancho Panza, where is your master?"
+
+Sancho recognised them at once, and determined to keep secret the
+place and circumstances where and under which he had left his
+master, so he replied that his master was engaged in a certain quarter
+on a certain matter of great importance to him which he could not
+disclose for the eyes in his head.
+
+"Nay, nay," said the barber, "if you don't tell us where he is,
+Sancho Panza, we will suspect as we suspect already, that you have
+murdered and robbed him, for here you are mounted on his horse; in
+fact, you must produce the master of the hack, or else take the
+consequences."
+
+"There is no need of threats with me," said Sancho, "for I am not
+a man to rob or murder anybody; let his own fate, or God who made him,
+kill each one; my master is engaged very much to his taste doing
+penance in the midst of these mountains; and then, offhand and without
+stopping, he told them how he had left him, what adventures had
+befallen him, and how he was carrying a letter to the lady Dulcinea
+del Toboso, the daughter of Lorenzo Corchuelo, with whom he was over
+head and ears in love. They were both amazed at what Sancho Panza told
+them; for though they were aware of Don Quixote's madness and the
+nature of it, each time they heard of it they were filled with fresh
+wonder. They then asked Sancho Panza to show them the letter he was
+carrying to the lady Dulcinea del Toboso. He said it was written in
+a note-book, and that his master's directions were that he should have
+it copied on paper at the first village he came to. On this the curate
+said if he showed it to him, he himself would make a fair copy of
+it. Sancho put his hand into his bosom in search of the note-book
+but could not find it, nor, if he had been searching until now,
+could he have found it, for Don Quixote had kept it, and had never
+given it to him, nor had he himself thought of asking for it. When
+Sancho discovered he could not find the book his face grew deadly
+pale, and in great haste he again felt his body all over, and seeing
+plainly it was not to be found, without more ado he seized his beard
+with both hands and plucked away half of it, and then, as quick as
+he could and without stopping, gave himself half a dozen cuffs on
+the face and nose till they were bathed in blood.
+
+Seeing this, the curate and the barber asked him what had happened
+him that he gave himself such rough treatment.
+
+"What should happen me?" replied Sancho, "but to have lost from
+one hand to the other, in a moment, three ass-colts, each of them like
+a castle?"
+
+"How is that?" said the barber.
+
+"I have lost the note-book," said Sancho, "that contained the letter
+to Dulcinea, and an order signed by my master in which he directed his
+niece to give me three ass-colts out of four or five he had at
+home;" and he then told them about the loss of Dapple.
+
+The curate consoled him, telling him that when his master was
+found he would get him to renew the order, and make a fresh draft on
+paper, as was usual and customary; for those made in notebooks were
+never accepted or honoured.
+
+Sancho comforted himself with this, and said if that were so the
+loss of Dulcinea's letter did not trouble him much, for he had it
+almost by heart, and it could be taken down from him wherever and
+whenever they liked.
+
+"Repeat it then, Sancho," said the barber, "and we will write it
+down afterwards."
+
+Sancho Panza stopped to scratch his head to bring back the letter to
+his memory, and balanced himself now on one foot, now the other, one
+moment staring at the ground, the next at the sky, and after having
+half gnawed off the end of a finger and kept them in suspense
+waiting for him to begin, he said, after a long pause, "By God,
+senor licentiate, devil a thing can I recollect of the letter; but
+it said at the beginning, 'Exalted and scrubbing Lady.'"
+
+"It cannot have said 'scrubbing,'" said the barber, "but
+'superhuman' or 'sovereign.'"
+
+"That is it," said Sancho; "then, as well as I remember, it went on,
+'The wounded, and wanting of sleep, and the pierced, kisses your
+worship's hands, ungrateful and very unrecognised fair one; and it
+said something or other about health and sickness that he was
+sending her; and from that it went tailing off until it ended with
+'Yours till death, the Knight of the Rueful Countenance."
+
+It gave them no little amusement, both of them, to see what a good
+memory Sancho had, and they complimented him greatly upon it, and
+begged him to repeat the letter a couple of times more, so that they
+too might get it by heart to write it out by-and-by. Sancho repeated
+it three times, and as he did, uttered three thousand more
+absurdities; then he told them more about his master but he never said
+a word about the blanketing that had befallen himself in that inn,
+into which he refused to enter. He told them, moreover, how his
+lord, if he brought him a favourable answer from the lady Dulcinea del
+Toboso, was to put himself in the way of endeavouring to become an
+emperor, or at least a monarch; for it had been so settled between
+them, and with his personal worth and the might of his arm it was an
+easy matter to come to be one: and how on becoming one his lord was to
+make a marriage for him (for he would be a widower by that time, as
+a matter of course) and was to give him as a wife one of the damsels
+of the empress, the heiress of some rich and grand state on the
+mainland, having nothing to do with islands of any sort, for he did
+not care for them now. All this Sancho delivered with so much
+composure- wiping his nose from time to time- and with so little
+common-sense that his two hearers were again filled with wonder at the
+force of Don Quixote's madness that could run away with this poor
+man's reason. They did not care to take the trouble of disabusing
+him of his error, as they considered that since it did not in any
+way hurt his conscience it would be better to leave him in it, and
+they would have all the more amusement in listening to his
+simplicities; and so they bade him pray to God for his lord's
+health, as it was a very likely and a very feasible thing for him in
+course of time to come to be an emperor, as he said, or at least an
+archbishop or some other dignitary of equal rank.
+
+To which Sancho made answer, "If fortune, sirs, should bring
+things about in such a way that my master should have a mind,
+instead of being an emperor, to be an archbishop, I should like to
+know what archbishops-errant commonly give their squires?"
+
+"They commonly give them," said the curate, some simple benefice
+or cure, or some place as sacristan which brings them a good fixed
+income, not counting the altar fees, which may be reckoned at as
+much more."
+
+"But for that," said Sancho, "the squire must be unmarried, and must
+know, at any rate, how to help at mass, and if that be so, woe is
+me, for I am married already and I don't know the first letter of
+the A B C. What will become of me if my master takes a fancy to be
+an archbishop and not an emperor, as is usual and customary with
+knights-errant?"
+
+"Be not uneasy, friend Sancho," said the barber, "for we will
+entreat your master, and advise him, even urging it upon him as a case
+of conscience, to become an emperor and not an archbishop, because
+it will be easier for him as he is more valiant than lettered."
+
+"So I have thought," said Sancho; "though I can tell you he is fit
+for anything: what I mean to do for my part is to pray to our Lord
+to place him where it may be best for him, and where he may be able to
+bestow most favours upon me."
+
+"You speak like a man of sense," said the curate, "and you will be
+acting like a good Christian; but what must now be done is to take
+steps to coax your master out of that useless penance you say he is
+performing; and we had best turn into this inn to consider what plan
+to adopt, and also to dine, for it is now time."
+
+Sancho said they might go in, but that he would wait there
+outside, and that he would tell them afterwards the reason why he
+was unwilling, and why it did not suit him to enter it; but be
+begged them to bring him out something to eat, and to let it be hot,
+and also to bring barley for Rocinante. They left him and went in, and
+presently the barber brought him out something to eat. By-and-by,
+after they had between them carefully thought over what they should do
+to carry out their object, the curate hit upon an idea very well
+adapted to humour Don Quixote, and effect their purpose; and his
+notion, which he explained to the barber, was that he himself should
+assume the disguise of a wandering damsel, while the other should
+try as best he could to pass for a squire, and that they should thus
+proceed to where Don Quixote was, and he, pretending to be an
+aggrieved and distressed damsel, should ask a favour of him, which
+as a valiant knight-errant he could not refuse to grant; and the
+favour he meant to ask him was that he should accompany her whither
+she would conduct him, in order to redress a wrong which a wicked
+knight had done her, while at the same time she should entreat him not
+to require her to remove her mask, nor ask her any question touching
+her circumstances until he had righted her with the wicked knight. And
+he had no doubt that Don Quixote would comply with any request made in
+these terms, and that in this way they might remove him and take him
+to his own village, where they would endeavour to find out if his
+extraordinary madness admitted of any kind of remedy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+OF HOW THE CURATE AND THE BARBER PROCEEDED WITH THEIR SCHEME;
+TOGETHER WITH OTHER MATTERS WORTHY OF RECORD IN THIS GREAT HISTORY
+
+The curate's plan did not seem a bad one to the barber, but on the
+contrary so good that they immediately set about putting it in
+execution. They begged a petticoat and hood of the landlady, leaving
+her in pledge a new cassock of the curate's; and the barber made a
+beard out of a grey-brown or red ox-tail in which the landlord used to
+stick his comb. The landlady asked them what they wanted these
+things for, and the curate told her in a few words about the madness
+of Don Quixote, and how this disguise was intended to get him away
+from the mountain where he then was. The landlord and landlady
+immediately came to the conclusion that the madman was their guest,
+the balsam man and master of the blanketed squire, and they told the
+curate all that had passed between him and them, not omitting what
+Sancho had been so silent about. Finally the landlady dressed up the
+curate in a style that left nothing to be desired; she put on him a
+cloth petticoat with black velvet stripes a palm broad, all slashed,
+and a bodice of green velvet set off by a binding of white satin,
+which as well as the petticoat must have been made in the time of king
+Wamba. The curate would not let them hood him, but put on his head a
+little quilted linen cap which he used for a night-cap, and bound
+his forehead with a strip of black silk, while with another he made
+a mask with which he concealed his beard and face very well. He then
+put on his hat, which was broad enough to serve him for an umbrella,
+and enveloping himself in his cloak seated himself woman-fashion on
+his mule, while the barber mounted his with a beard down to the
+waist of mingled red and white, for it was, as has been said, the tail
+of a clay-red ox.
+
+They took leave of all, and of the good Maritornes, who, sinner as
+she was, promised to pray a rosary of prayers that God might grant
+them success in such an arduous and Christian undertaking as that they
+had in hand. But hardly had he sallied forth from the inn when it
+struck the curate that he was doing wrong in rigging himself out in
+that fashion, as it was an indecorous thing for a priest to dress
+himself that way even though much might depend upon it; and saying
+so to the barber he begged him to change dresses, as it was fitter
+he should be the distressed damsel, while he himself would play the
+squire's part, which would be less derogatory to his dignity;
+otherwise he was resolved to have nothing more to do with the
+matter, and let the devil take Don Quixote. Just at this moment Sancho
+came up, and on seeing the pair in such a costume he was unable to
+restrain his laughter; the barber, however, agreed to do as the curate
+wished, and, altering their plan, the curate went on to instruct him
+how to play his part and what to say to Don Quixote to induce and
+compel him to come with them and give up his fancy for the place he
+had chosen for his idle penance. The barber told him he could manage
+it properly without any instruction, and as he did not care to dress
+himself up until they were near where Don Quixote was, he folded up
+the garments, and the curate adjusted his beard, and they set out
+under the guidance of Sancho Panza, who went along telling them of the
+encounter with the madman they met in the Sierra, saying nothing,
+however, about the finding of the valise and its contents; for with
+all his simplicity the lad was a trifle covetous.
+
+The next day they reached the place where Sancho had laid the
+broom-branches as marks to direct him to where he had left his master,
+and recognising it he told them that here was the entrance, and that
+they would do well to dress themselves, if that was required to
+deliver his master; for they had already told him that going in this
+guise and dressing in this way were of the highest importance in order
+to rescue his master from the pernicious life he had adopted; and they
+charged him strictly not to tell his master who they were, or that
+he knew them, and should he ask, as ask he would, if he had given
+the letter to Dulcinea, to say that he had, and that, as she did not
+know how to read, she had given an answer by word of mouth, saying
+that she commanded him, on pain of her displeasure, to come and see
+her at once; and it was a very important matter for himself, because
+in this way and with what they meant to say to him they felt sure of
+bringing him back to a better mode of life and inducing him to take
+immediate steps to become an emperor or monarch, for there was no fear
+of his becoming an archbishop. All this Sancho listened to and fixed
+it well in his memory, and thanked them heartily for intending to
+recommend his master to be an emperor instead of an archbishop, for he
+felt sure that in the way of bestowing rewards on their squires
+emperors could do more than archbishops-errant. He said, too, that
+it would be as well for him to go on before them to find him, and give
+him his lady's answer; for that perhaps might be enough to bring him
+away from the place without putting them to all this trouble. They
+approved of what Sancho proposed, and resolved to wait for him until
+he brought back word of having found his master.
+
+Sancho pushed on into the glens of the Sierra, leaving them in one
+through which there flowed a little gentle rivulet, and where the
+rocks and trees afforded a cool and grateful shade. It was an August
+day with all the heat of one, and the heat in those parts is
+intense, and the hour was three in the afternoon, all which made the
+spot the more inviting and tempted them to wait there for Sancho's
+return, which they did. They were reposing, then, in the shade, when a
+voice unaccompanied by the notes of any instrument, but sweet and
+pleasing in its tone, reached their ears, at which they were not a
+little astonished, as the place did not seem to them likely quarters
+for one who sang so well; for though it is often said that shepherds
+of rare voice are to be found in the woods and fields, this is
+rather a flight of the poet's fancy than the truth. And still more
+surprised were they when they perceived that what they heard sung were
+the verses not of rustic shepherds, but of the polished wits of the
+city; and so it proved, for the verses they heard were these:
+
+What makes my quest of happiness seem vain?
+    Disdain.
+What bids me to abandon hope of ease?
+    Jealousies.
+What holds my heart in anguish of suspense?
+    Absence.
+  If that be so, then for my grief
+  Where shall I turn to seek relief,
+  When hope on every side lies slain
+  By Absence, Jealousies, Disdain?
+
+What the prime cause of all my woe doth prove?
+    Love.
+What at my glory ever looks askance?
+    Chance.
+Whence is permission to afflict me given?
+    Heaven.
+  If that be so, I but await
+  The stroke of a resistless fate,
+  Since, working for my woe, these three,
+  Love, Chance and Heaven, in league I see.
+
+What must I do to find a remedy?
+    Die.
+What is the lure for love when coy and strange?
+    Change.
+What, if all fail, will cure the heart of sadness?
+    Madness.
+  If that be so, it is but folly
+  To seek a cure for melancholy:
+  Ask where it lies; the answer saith
+  In Change, in Madness, or in Death.
+
+
+The hour, the summer season, the solitary place, the voice and skill
+of the singer, all contributed to the wonder and delight of the two
+listeners, who remained still waiting to hear something more; finding,
+however, that the silence continued some little time, they resolved to
+go in search of the musician who sang with so fine a voice; but just
+as they were about to do so they were checked by the same voice, which
+once more fell upon their ears, singing this
+
+
+SONNET
+
+When heavenward, holy Friendship, thou didst go
+  Soaring to seek thy home beyond the sky,
+  And take thy seat among the saints on high,
+It was thy will to leave on earth below
+Thy semblance, and upon it to bestow
+  Thy veil, wherewith at times hypocrisy,
+  Parading in thy shape, deceives the eye,
+And makes its vileness bright as virtue show.
+Friendship, return to us, or force the cheat
+  That wears it now, thy livery to restore,
+    By aid whereof sincerity is slain.
+If thou wilt not unmask thy counterfeit,
+  This earth will be the prey of strife once more,
+    As when primaeval discord held its reign.
+
+
+The song ended with a deep sigh, and again the listeners remained
+waiting attentively for the singer to resume; but perceiving that
+the music had now turned to sobs and heart-rending moans they
+determined to find out who the unhappy being could be whose voice
+was as rare as his sighs were piteous, and they had not proceeded
+far when on turning the corner of a rock they discovered a man of
+the same aspect and appearance as Sancho had described to them when he
+told them the story of Cardenio. He, showing no astonishment when he
+saw them, stood still with his head bent down upon his breast like one
+in deep thought, without raising his eyes to look at them after the
+first glance when they suddenly came upon him. The curate, who was
+aware of his misfortune and recognised him by the description, being a
+man of good address, approached him and in a few sensible words
+entreated and urged him to quit a life of such misery, lest he
+should end it there, which would be the greatest of all misfortunes.
+Cardenio was then in his right mind, free from any attack of that
+madness which so frequently carried him away, and seeing them
+dressed in a fashion so unusual among the frequenters of those
+wilds, could not help showing some surprise, especially when he
+heard them speak of his case as if it were a well-known matter (for
+the curate's words gave him to understand as much) so he replied to
+them thus:
+
+"I see plainly, sirs, whoever you may be, that Heaven, whose care it
+is to succour the good, and even the wicked very often, here, in
+this remote spot, cut off from human intercourse, sends me, though I
+deserve it not, those who seek to draw me away from this to some
+better retreat, showing me by many and forcible arguments how
+unreasonably I act in leading the life I do; but as they know, that if
+I escape from this evil I shall fall into another still greater,
+perhaps they will set me down as a weak-minded man, or, what is worse,
+one devoid of reason; nor would it be any wonder, for I myself can
+perceive that the effect of the recollection of my misfortunes is so
+great and works so powerfully to my ruin, that in spite of myself I
+become at times like a stone, without feeling or consciousness; and
+I come to feel the truth of it when they tell me and show me proofs of
+the things I have done when the terrible fit overmasters me; and all I
+can do is bewail my lot in vain, and idly curse my destiny, and
+plead for my madness by telling how it was caused, to any that care to
+hear it; for no reasonable beings on learning the cause will wonder at
+the effects; and if they cannot help me at least they will not blame
+me, and the repugnance they feel at my wild ways will turn into pity
+for my woes. If it be, sirs, that you are here with the same design as
+others have come wah, before you proceed with your wise arguments, I
+entreat you to hear the story of my countless misfortunes, for perhaps
+when you have heard it you will spare yourselves the trouble you would
+take in offering consolation to grief that is beyond the reach of it."
+
+As they, both of them, desired nothing more than to hear from his
+own lips the cause of his suffering, they entreated him to tell it,
+promising not to do anything for his relief or comfort that he did not
+wish; and thereupon the unhappy gentleman began his sad story in
+nearly the same words and manner in which he had related it to Don
+Quixote and the goatherd a few days before, when, through Master
+Elisabad, and Don Quixote's scrupulous observance of what was due to
+chivalry, the tale was left unfinished, as this history has already
+recorded; but now fortunately the mad fit kept off, allowed him to
+tell it to the end; and so, coming to the incident of the note which
+Don Fernando had found in the volume of "Amadis of Gaul," Cardenio
+said that he remembered it perfectly and that it was in these words:
+
+
+"Luscinda to Cardenio.
+
+
+"Every day I discover merits in you that oblige and compel me to
+hold you in higher estimation; so if you desire to relieve me of
+this obligation without cost to my honour, you may easily do so. I
+have a father who knows you and loves me dearly, who without putting
+any constraint on my inclination will grant what will be reasonable
+for you to have, if it be that you value me as you say and as I
+believe you do."
+
+
+"By this letter I was induced, as I told you, to demand Luscinda for
+my wife, and it was through it that Luscinda came to be regarded by
+Don Fernando as one of the most discreet and prudent women of the day,
+and this letter it was that suggested his design of ruining me
+before mine could be carried into effect. I told Don Fernando that all
+Luscinda's father was waiting for was that mine should ask her of him,
+which I did not dare to suggest to him, fearing that he would not
+consent to do so; not because he did not know perfectly well the rank,
+goodness, virtue, and beauty of Luscinda, and that she had qualities
+that would do honour to any family in Spain, but because I was aware
+that he did not wish me to marry so soon, before seeing what the
+Duke Ricardo would do for me. In short, I told him I did not venture
+to mention it to my father, as well on account of that difficulty,
+as of many others that discouraged me though I knew not well what they
+were, only that it seemed to me that what I desired was never to
+come to pass. To all this Don Fernando answered that he would take
+it upon himself to speak to my father, and persuade him to speak to
+Luscinda's father. O, ambitious Marius! O, cruel Catiline! O, wicked
+Sylla! O, perfidious Ganelon! O, treacherous Vellido! O, vindictive
+Julian! O, covetous Judas! Traitor, cruel, vindictive, and perfidious,
+wherein had this poor wretch failed in his fidelity, who with such
+frankness showed thee the secrets and the joys of his heart? What
+offence did I commit? What words did I utter, or what counsels did I
+give that had not the furtherance of thy honour and welfare for
+their aim? But, woe is me, wherefore do I complain? for sure it is
+that when misfortunes spring from the stars, descending from on high
+they fall upon us with such fury and violence that no power on earth
+can check their course nor human device stay their coming. Who could
+have thought that Don Fernando, a highborn gentleman, intelligent,
+bound to me by gratitude for my services, one that could win the
+object of his love wherever he might set his affections, could have
+become so obdurate, as they say, as to rob me of my one ewe lamb
+that was not even yet in my possession? But laying aside these useless
+and unavailing reflections, let us take up the broken thread of my
+unhappy story.
+
+"To proceed, then: Don Fernando finding my presence an obstacle to
+the execution of his treacherous and wicked design, resolved to send
+me to his elder brother under the pretext of asking money from him
+to pay for six horses which, purposely, and with the sole object of
+sending me away that he might the better carry out his infernal
+scheme, he had purchased the very day he offered to speak to my
+father, and the price of which he now desired me to fetch. Could I
+have anticipated this treachery? Could I by any chance have
+suspected it? Nay; so far from that, I offered with the greatest
+pleasure to go at once, in my satisfaction at the good bargain that
+had been made. That night I spoke with Luscinda, and told her what had
+been agreed upon with Don Fernando, and how I had strong hopes of
+our fair and reasonable wishes being realised. She, as unsuspicious as
+I was of the treachery of Don Fernando, bade me try to return
+speedily, as she believed the fulfilment of our desires would be
+delayed only so long as my father put off speaking to hers. I know not
+why it was that on saying this to me her eyes filled with tears, and
+there came a lump in her throat that prevented her from uttering a
+word of many more that it seemed to me she was striving to say to
+me. I was astonished at this unusual turn, which I never before
+observed in her. for we always conversed, whenever good fortune and my
+ingenuity gave us the chance, with the greatest gaiety and
+cheerfulness, mingling tears, sighs, jealousies, doubts, or fears with
+our words; it was all on my part a eulogy of my good fortune that
+Heaven should have given her to me for my mistress; I glorified her
+beauty, I extolled her worth and her understanding; and she paid me
+back by praising in me what in her love for me she thought worthy of
+praise; and besides we had a hundred thousand trifles and doings of
+our neighbours and acquaintances to talk about, and the utmost
+extent of my boldness was to take, almost by force, one of her fair
+white hands and carry it to my lips, as well as the closeness of the
+low grating that separated us allowed me. But the night before the
+unhappy day of my departure she wept, she moaned, she sighed, and
+she withdrew leaving me filled with perplexity and amazement,
+overwhelmed at the sight of such strange and affecting signs of
+grief and sorrow in Luscinda; but not to dash my hopes I ascribed it
+all to the depth of her love for me and the pain that separation gives
+those who love tenderly. At last I took my departure, sad and
+dejected, my heart filled with fancies and suspicions, but not knowing
+well what it was I suspected or fancied; plain omens pointing to the
+sad event and misfortune that was awaiting me.
+
+"I reached the place whither I had been sent, gave the letter to Don
+Fernando's brother, and was kindly received but not promptly
+dismissed, for he desired me to wait, very much against my will, eight
+days in some place where the duke his father was not likely to see me,
+as his brother wrote that the money was to be sent without his
+knowledge; all of which was a scheme of the treacherous Don
+Fernando, for his brother had no want of money to enable him to
+despatch me at once.
+
+"The command was one that exposed me to the temptation of disobeying
+it, as it seemed to me impossible to endure life for so many days
+separated from Luscinda, especially after leaving her in the sorrowful
+mood I have described to you; nevertheless as a dutiful servant I
+obeyed, though I felt it would be at the cost of my well-being. But
+four days later there came a man in quest of me with a letter which he
+gave me, and which by the address I perceived to be from Luscinda,
+as the writing was hers. I opened it with fear and trepidation,
+persuaded that it must be something serious that had impelled her to
+write to me when at a distance, as she seldom did so when I was
+near. Before reading it I asked the man who it was that had given it
+to him, and how long he had been upon the road; he told me that as
+he happened to be passing through one of the streets of the city at
+the hour of noon, a very beautiful lady called to him from a window,
+and with tears in her eyes said to him hurriedly, 'Brother, if you
+are, as you seem to be, a Christian, for the love of God I entreat you
+to have this letter despatched without a moment's delay to the place
+and person named in the address, all which is well known, and by
+this you will render a great service to our Lord; and that you may
+be at no inconvenience in doing so take what is in this handkerchief;'
+and said he, 'with this she threw me a handkerchief out of the
+window in which were tied up a hundred reals and this gold ring
+which I bring here together with the letter I have given you. And then
+without waiting for any answer she left the window, though not
+before she saw me take the letter and the handkerchief, and I had by
+signs let her know that I would do as she bade me; and so, seeing
+myself so well paid for the trouble I would have in bringing it to
+you, and knowing by the address that it was to you it was sent (for,
+senor, I know you very well), and also unable to resist that beautiful
+lady's tears, I resolved to trust no one else, but to come myself
+and give it to you, and in sixteen hours from the time when it was
+given me I have made the journey, which, as you know, is eighteen
+leagues.'
+
+"All the while the good-natured improvised courier was telling me
+this, I hung upon his words, my legs trembling under me so that I
+could scarcely stand. However, I opened the letter and read these
+words:
+
+
+"'The promise Don Fernando gave you to urge your father to speak
+to mine, he has fulfilled much more to his own satisfaction than to
+your advantage. I have to tell you, senor, that be has demanded me for
+a wife, and my father, led away by what he considers Don Fernando's
+superiority over you, has favoured his suit so cordially, that in
+two days hence the betrothal is to take place with such secrecy and so
+privately that the only witnesses are to be the Heavens above and a
+few of the household. Picture to yourself the state I am in; judge
+if it be urgent for you to come; the issue of the affair will show you
+whether I love you or not. God grant this may come to your hand before
+mine shall be forced to link itself with his who keeps so ill the
+faith that he has pledged.'
+
+
+"Such, in brief, were the words of the letter, words that made me
+set out at once without waiting any longer for reply or money; for I
+now saw clearly that it was not the purchase of horses but of his
+own pleasure that had made Don Fernando send me to his brother. The
+exasperation I felt against Don Fernando, joined with the fear of
+losing the prize I had won by so many years of love and devotion, lent
+me wings; so that almost flying I reached home the same day, by the
+hour which served for speaking with Luscinda. I arrived unobserved,
+and left the mule on which I had come at the house of the worthy man
+who had brought me the letter, and fortune was pleased to be for
+once so kind that I found Luscinda at the grating that was the witness
+of our loves. She recognised me at once, and I her, but not as she
+ought to have recognised me, or I her. But who is there in the world
+that can boast of having fathomed or understood the wavering mind
+and unstable nature of a woman? Of a truth no one. To proceed: as soon
+as Luscinda saw me she said, 'Cardenio, I am in my bridal dress, and
+the treacherous Don Fernando and my covetous father are waiting for me
+in the hall with the other witnesses, who shall be the witnesses of my
+death before they witness my betrothal. Be not distressed, my
+friend, but contrive to be present at this sacrifice, and if that
+cannot be prevented by my words, I have a dagger concealed which
+will prevent more deliberate violence, putting an end to my life and
+giving thee a first proof of the love I have borne and bear thee.' I
+replied to her distractedly and hastily, in fear lest I should not
+have time to reply, 'May thy words be verified by thy deeds, lady; and
+if thou hast a dagger to save thy honour, I have a sword to defend
+thee or kill myself if fortune be against us.'
+
+"I think she could not have heard all these words, for I perceived
+that they called her away in haste, as the bridegroom was waiting. Now
+the night of my sorrow set in, the sun of my happiness went down, I
+felt my eyes bereft of sight, my mind of reason. I could not enter the
+house, nor was I capable of any movement; but reflecting how important
+it was that I should be present at what might take place on the
+occasion, I nerved myself as best I could and went in, for I well knew
+all the entrances and outlets; and besides, with the confusion that in
+secret pervaded the house no one took notice of me, so, without
+being seen, I found an opportunity of placing myself in the recess
+formed by a window of the hall itself, and concealed by the ends and
+borders of two tapestries, from between which I could, without being
+seen, see all that took place in the room. Who could describe the
+agitation of heart I suffered as I stood there- the thoughts that came
+to me- the reflections that passed through my mind? They were such
+as cannot be, nor were it well they should be, told. Suffice it to say
+that the bridegroom entered the hall in his usual dress, without
+ornament of any kind; as groomsman he had with him a cousin of
+Luscinda's and except the servants of the house there was no one
+else in the chamber. Soon afterwards Luscinda came out from an
+antechamber, attended by her mother and two of her damsels, arrayed
+and adorned as became her rank and beauty, and in full festival and
+ceremonial attire. My anxiety and distraction did not allow me to
+observe or notice particularly what she wore; I could only perceive
+the colours, which were crimson and white, and the glitter of the gems
+and jewels on her head dress and apparel, surpassed by the rare beauty
+of her lovely auburn hair that vying with the precious stones and
+the light of the four torches that stood in the hall shone with a
+brighter gleam than all. Oh memory, mortal foe of my peace! why
+bring before me now the incomparable beauty of that adored enemy of
+mine? Were it not better, cruel memory, to remind me and recall what
+she then did, that stirred by a wrong so glaring I may seek, if not
+vengeance now, at least to rid myself of life? Be not weary, sirs,
+of listening to these digressions; my sorrow is not one of those
+that can or should be told tersely and briefly, for to me each
+incident seems to call for many words."
+
+To this the curate replied that not only were they not weary of
+listening to him, but that the details he mentioned interested them
+greatly, being of a kind by no means to be omitted and deserving of
+the same attention as the main story.
+
+"To proceed, then," continued Cardenio: "all being assembled in
+the hall, the priest of the parish came in and as he took the pair
+by the hand to perform the requisite ceremony, at the words, 'Will
+you, Senora Luscinda, take Senor Don Fernando, here present, for
+your lawful husband, as the holy Mother Church ordains?' I thrust my
+head and neck out from between the tapestries, and with eager ears and
+throbbing heart set myself to listen to Luscinda's answer, awaiting in
+her reply the sentence of death or the grant of life. Oh, that I had
+but dared at that moment to rush forward crying aloud, 'Luscinda,
+Luscinda! have a care what thou dost; remember what thou owest me;
+bethink thee thou art mine and canst not be another's; reflect that
+thy utterance of "Yes" and the end of my life will come at the same
+instant. O, treacherous Don Fernando! robber of my glory, death of
+my life! What seekest thou? Remember that thou canst not as a
+Christian attain the object of thy wishes, for Luscinda is my bride,
+and I am her husband!' Fool that I am! now that I am far away, and out
+of danger, I say I should have done what I did not do: now that I have
+allowed my precious treasure to be robbed from me, I curse the robber,
+on whom I might have taken vengeance had I as much heart for it as I
+have for bewailing my fate; in short, as I was then a coward and a
+fool, little wonder is it if I am now dying shame-stricken,
+remorseful, and mad.
+
+"The priest stood waiting for the answer of Luscinda, who for a long
+time withheld it; and just as I thought she was taking out the
+dagger to save her honour, or struggling for words to make some
+declaration of the truth on my behalf, I heard her say in a faint
+and feeble voice, 'I will:' Don Fernando said the same, and giving her
+the ring they stood linked by a knot that could never be loosed. The
+bridegroom then approached to embrace his bride; and she, pressing her
+hand upon her heart, fell fainting in her mother's arms. It only
+remains now for me to tell you the state I was in when in that consent
+that I heard I saw all my hopes mocked, the words and promises of
+Luscinda proved falsehoods, and the recovery of the prize I had that
+instant lost rendered impossible for ever. I stood stupefied, wholly
+abandoned, it seemed, by Heaven, declared the enemy of the earth
+that bore me, the air refusing me breath for my sighs, the water
+moisture for my tears; it was only the fire that gathered strength
+so that my whole frame glowed with rage and jealousy. They were all
+thrown into confusion by Luscinda's fainting, and as her mother was
+unlacing her to give her air a sealed paper was discovered in her
+bosom which Don Fernando seized at once and began to read by the light
+of one of the torches. As soon as he had read it he seated himself
+in a chair, leaning his cheek on his hand in the attitude of one
+deep in thought, without taking any part in the efforts that were
+being made to recover his bride from her fainting fit.
+
+"Seeing all the household in confusion, I ventured to come out
+regardless whether I were seen or not, and determined, if I were, to
+do some frenzied deed that would prove to all the world the
+righteous indignation of my breast in the punishment of the
+treacherous Don Fernando, and even in that of the fickle fainting
+traitress. But my fate, doubtless reserving me for greater sorrows, if
+such there be, so ordered it that just then I had enough and to
+spare of that reason which has since been wanting to me; and so,
+without seeking to take vengeance on my greatest enemies (which
+might have been easily taken, as all thought of me was so far from
+their minds), I resolved to take it upon myself, and on myself to
+inflict the pain they deserved, perhaps with even greater severity
+than I should have dealt out to them had I then slain them; for sudden
+pain is soon over, but that which is protracted by tortures is ever
+slaying without ending life. In a word, I quitted the house and
+reached that of the man with whom I had left my mule; I made him
+saddle it for me, mounted without bidding him farewell, and rode out
+of the city, like another Lot, not daring to turn my head to look back
+upon it; and when I found myself alone in the open country, screened
+by the darkness of the night, and tempted by the stillness to give
+vent to my grief without apprehension or fear of being heard or
+seen, then I broke silence and lifted up my voice in maledictions upon
+Luscinda and Don Fernando, as if I could thus avenge the wrong they
+had done me. I called her cruel, ungrateful, false, thankless, but
+above all covetous, since the wealth of my enemy had blinded the
+eyes of her affection, and turned it from me to transfer it to one
+to whom fortune had been more generous and liberal. And yet, in the
+midst of this outburst of execration and upbraiding, I found excuses
+for her, saying it was no wonder that a young girl in the seclusion of
+her parents' house, trained and schooled to obey them always, should
+have been ready to yield to their wishes when they offered her for a
+husband a gentleman of such distinction, wealth, and noble birth, that
+if she had refused to accept him she would have been thought out of
+her senses, or to have set her affection elsewhere, a suspicion
+injurious to her fair name and fame. But then again, I said, had she
+declared I was her husband, they would have seen that in choosing me
+she had not chosen so ill but that they might excuse her, for before
+Don Fernando had made his offer, they themselves could not have
+desired, if their desires had been ruled by reason, a more eligible
+husband for their daughter than I was; and she, before taking the last
+fatal step of giving her hand, might easily have said that I had
+already given her mine, for I should have come forward to support
+any assertion of hers to that effect. In short, I came to the
+conclusion that feeble love, little reflection, great ambition, and
+a craving for rank, had made her forget the words with which she had
+deceived me, encouraged and supported by my firm hopes and
+honourable passion.
+
+"Thus soliloquising and agitated, I journeyed onward for the
+remainder of the night, and by daybreak I reached one of the passes of
+these mountains, among which I wandered for three days more without
+taking any path or road, until I came to some meadows lying on I
+know not which side of the mountains, and there I inquired of some
+herdsmen in what direction the most rugged part of the range lay. They
+told me that it was in this quarter, and I at once directed my
+course hither, intending to end my life here; but as I was making my
+way among these crags, my mule dropped dead through fatigue and
+hunger, or, as I think more likely, in order to have done with such
+a worthless burden as it bore in me. I was left on foot, worn out,
+famishing, without anyone to help me or any thought of seeking help:
+and so thus I lay stretched on the ground, how long I know not,
+after which I rose up free from hunger, and found beside me some
+goatherds, who no doubt were the persons who had relieved me in my
+need, for they told me how they had found me, and how I had been
+uttering ravings that showed plainly I had lost my reason; and since
+then I am conscious that I am not always in full possession of it, but
+at times so deranged and crazed that I do a thousand mad things,
+tearing my clothes, crying aloud in these solitudes, cursing my
+fate, and idly calling on the dear name of her who is my enemy, and
+only seeking to end my life in lamentation; and when I recover my
+senses I find myself so exhausted and weary that I can scarcely
+move. Most commonly my dwelling is the hollow of a cork tree large
+enough to shelter this miserable body; the herdsmen and goatherds
+who frequent these mountains, moved by compassion, furnish me with
+food, leaving it by the wayside or on the rocks, where they think I
+may perhaps pass and find it; and so, even though I may be then out of
+my senses, the wants of nature teach me what is required to sustain
+me, and make me crave it and eager to take it. At other times, so they
+tell me when they find me in a rational mood, I sally out upon the
+road, and though they would gladly give it me, I snatch food by
+force from the shepherds bringing it from the village to their huts.
+Thus do pass the wretched life that remains to me, until it be
+Heaven's will to bring it to a close, or so to order my memory that
+I no longer recollect the beauty and treachery of Luscinda, or the
+wrong done me by Don Fernando; for if it will do this without
+depriving me of life, I will turn my thoughts into some better
+channel; if not, I can only implore it to have full mercy on my
+soul, for in myself I feel no power or strength to release my body
+from this strait in which I have of my own accord chosen to place it.
+
+"Such, sirs, is the dismal story of my misfortune: say if it be
+one that can be told with less emotion than you have seen in me; and
+do not trouble yourselves with urging or pressing upon me what
+reason suggests as likely to serve for my relief, for it will avail me
+as much as the medicine prescribed by a wise physician avails the sick
+man who will not take it. I have no wish for health without
+Luscinda; and since it is her pleasure to be another's, when she is or
+should be mine, let it be mine to be a prey to misery when I might
+have enjoyed happiness. She by her fickleness strove to make my ruin
+irretrievable; I will strive to gratify her wishes by seeking
+destruction; and it will show generations to come that I alone was
+deprived of that of which all others in misfortune have a
+superabundance, for to them the impossibility of being consoled is
+itself a consolation, while to me it is the cause of greater sorrows
+and sufferings, for I think that even in death there will not be an
+end of them."
+
+Here Cardenio brought to a close his long discourse and story, as
+full of misfortune as it was of love; but just as the curate was going
+to address some words of comfort to him, he was stopped by a voice
+that reached his ear, saying in melancholy tones what will be told
+in the Fourth Part of this narrative; for at this point the sage and
+sagacious historian, Cide Hamete Benengeli, brought the Third to a
+conclusion.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE STRANGE AND DELIGHTFUL ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL THE
+CURATE AND THE BARBER IN THE SAME SIERRA
+
+Happy and fortunate were the times when that most daring knight
+Don Quixote of La Mancha was sent into the world; for by reason of his
+having formed a resolution so honourable as that of seeking to
+revive and restore to the world the long-lost and almost defunct order
+of knight-errantry, we now enjoy in this age of ours, so poor in light
+entertainment, not only the charm of his veracious history, but also
+of the tales and episodes contained in it which are, in a measure,
+no less pleasing, ingenious, and truthful, than the history itself;
+which, resuming its thread, carded, spun, and wound, relates that just
+as the curate was going to offer consolation to Cardenio, he was
+interrupted by a voice that fell upon his ear saying in plaintive
+tones:
+
+"O God! is it possible I have found a place that may serve as a
+secret grave for the weary load of this body that I support so
+unwillingly? If the solitude these mountains promise deceives me
+not, it is so; ah! woe is me! how much more grateful to my mind will
+be the society of these rocks and brakes that permit me to complain of
+my misfortune to Heaven, than that of any human being, for there is
+none on earth to look to for counsel in doubt, comfort in sorrow, or
+relief in distress!"
+
+All this was heard distinctly by the curate and those with him,
+and as it seemed to them to be uttered close by, as indeed it was,
+they got up to look for the speaker, and before they had gone twenty
+paces they discovered behind a rock, seated at the foot of an ash
+tree, a youth in the dress of a peasant, whose face they were unable
+at the moment to see as he was leaning forward, bathing his feet in
+the brook that flowed past. They approached so silently that he did
+not perceive them, being fully occupied in bathing his feet, which
+were so fair that they looked like two pieces of shining crystal
+brought forth among the other stones of the brook. The whiteness and
+beauty of these feet struck them with surprise, for they did not
+seem to have been made to crush clods or to follow the plough and
+the oxen as their owner's dress suggested; and so, finding they had
+not been noticed, the curate, who was in front, made a sign to the
+other two to conceal themselves behind some fragments of rock that lay
+there; which they did, observing closely what the youth was about.
+He had on a loose double-skirted dark brown jacket bound tight to
+his body with a white cloth; he wore besides breeches and gaiters of
+brown cloth, and on his head a brown montera; and he had the gaiters
+turned up as far as the middle of the leg, which verily seemed to be
+of pure alabaster.
+
+As soon as he had done bathing his beautiful feet, he wiped them
+with a towel he took from under the montera, on taking off which he
+raised his face, and those who were watching him had an opportunity of
+seeing a beauty so exquisite that Cardenio said to the curate in a
+whisper:
+
+"As this is not Luscinda, it is no human creature but a divine
+being."
+
+The youth then took off the montera, and shaking his head from
+side to side there broke loose and spread out a mass of hair that
+the beams of the sun might have envied; by this they knew that what
+had seemed a peasant was a lovely woman, nay the most beautiful the
+eyes of two of them had ever beheld, or even Cardenio's if they had
+not seen and known Luscinda, for he afterwards declared that only
+the beauty of Luscinda could compare with this. The long auburn
+tresses not only covered her shoulders, but such was their length
+and abundance, concealed her all round beneath their masses, so that
+except the feet nothing of her form was visible. She now used her
+hands as a comb, and if her feet had seemed like bits of crystal in
+the water, her hands looked like pieces of driven snow among her
+locks; all which increased not only the admiration of the three
+beholders, but their anxiety to learn who she was. With this object
+they resolved to show themselves, and at the stir they made in getting
+upon their feet the fair damsel raised her head, and parting her
+hair from before her eyes with both hands, she looked to see who had
+made the noise, and the instant she perceived them she started to
+her feet, and without waiting to put on her shoes or gather up her
+hair, hastily snatched up a bundle as though of clothes that she had
+beside her, and, scared and alarmed, endeavoured to take flight; but
+before she had gone six paces she fell to the ground, her delicate
+feet being unable to bear the roughness of the stones; seeing which,
+the three hastened towards her, and the curate addressing her first
+said:
+
+"Stay, senora, whoever you may be, for those whom you see here
+only desire to be of service to you; you have no need to attempt a
+flight so heedless, for neither can your feet bear it, nor we allow
+it."
+
+Taken by surprise and bewildered, she made no reply to these
+words. They, however, came towards her, and the curate taking her hand
+went on to say:
+
+"What your dress would hide, senora, is made known to us by your
+hair; a clear proof that it can be no trifling cause that has
+disguised your beauty in a garb so unworthy of it, and sent it into
+solitudes like these where we have had the good fortune to find you,
+if not to relieve your distress, at least to offer you comfort; for no
+distress, so long as life lasts, can be so oppressive or reach such
+a height as to make the sufferer refuse to listen to comfort offered
+with good intention. And so, senora, or senor, or whatever you
+prefer to be, dismiss the fears that our appearance has caused you and
+make us acquainted with your good or evil fortunes, for from all of us
+together, or from each one of us, you will receive sympathy in your
+trouble."
+
+While the curate was speaking, the disguised damsel stood as if
+spell-bound, looking at them without opening her lips or uttering a
+word, just like a village rustic to whom something strange that he has
+never seen before has been suddenly shown; but on the curate
+addressing some further words to the same effect to her, sighing
+deeply she broke silence and said:
+
+"Since the solitude of these mountains has been unable to conceal
+me, and the escape of my dishevelled tresses will not allow my
+tongue to deal in falsehoods, it would be idle for me now to make
+any further pretence of what, if you were to believe me, you would
+believe more out of courtesy than for any other reason. This being so,
+I say I thank you, sirs, for the offer you have made me, which
+places me under the obligation of complying with the request you
+have made of me; though I fear the account I shall give you of my
+misfortunes will excite in you as much concern as compassion, for
+you will be unable to suggest anything to remedy them or any
+consolation to alleviate them. However, that my honour may not be left
+a matter of doubt in your minds, now that you have discovered me to be
+a woman, and see that I am young, alone, and in this dress, things
+that taken together or separately would be enough to destroy any
+good name, I feel bound to tell what I would willingly keep secret
+if I could."
+
+All this she who was now seen to be a lovely woman delivered without
+any hesitation, with so much ease and in so sweet a voice that they
+were not less charmed by her intelligence than by her beauty, and as
+they again repeated their offers and entreaties to her to fulfil her
+promise, she without further pressing, first modestly covering her
+feet and gathering up her hair, seated herself on a stone with the
+three placed around her, and, after an effort to restrain some tears
+that came to her eyes, in a clear and steady voice began her story
+thus:
+
+"In this Andalusia there is a town from which a duke takes a title
+which makes him one of those that are called Grandees of Spain. This
+nobleman has two sons, the elder heir to his dignity and apparently to
+his good qualities; the younger heir to I know not what, unless it
+be the treachery of Vellido and the falsehood of Ganelon. My parents
+are this lord's vassals, lowly in origin, but so wealthy that if birth
+had conferred as much on them as fortune, they would have had
+nothing left to desire, nor should I have had reason to fear trouble
+like that in which I find myself now; for it may be that my ill
+fortune came of theirs in not having been nobly born. It is true
+they are not so low that they have any reason to be ashamed of their
+condition, but neither are they so high as to remove from my mind
+the impression that my mishap comes of their humble birth. They are,
+in short, peasants, plain homely people, without any taint of
+disreputable blood, and, as the saying is, old rusty Christians, but
+so rich that by their wealth and free-handed way of life they are
+coming by degrees to be considered gentlefolk by birth, and even by
+position; though the wealth and nobility they thought most of was
+having me for their daughter; and as they have no other child to
+make their heir, and are affectionate parents, I was one of the most
+indulged daughters that ever parents indulged.
+
+"I was the mirror in which they beheld themselves, the staff of
+their old age, and the object in which, with submission to Heaven, all
+their wishes centred, and mine were in accordance with theirs, for I
+knew their worth; and as I was mistress of their hearts, so was I also
+of their possessions. Through me they engaged or dismissed their
+servants; through my hands passed the accounts and returns of what was
+sown and reaped; the oil-mills, the wine-presses, the count of the
+flocks and herds, the beehives, all in short that a rich farmer like
+my father has or can have, I had under my care, and I acted as steward
+and mistress with an assiduity on my part and satisfaction on theirs
+that I cannot well describe to you. The leisure hours left to me after
+I had given the requisite orders to the head-shepherds, overseers, and
+other labourers, I passed in such employments as are not only
+allowable but necessary for young girls, those that the needle,
+embroidery cushion, and spinning wheel usually afford, and if to
+refresh my mind I quitted them for a while, I found recreation in
+reading some devotional book or playing the harp, for experience
+taught me that music soothes the troubled mind and relieves
+weariness of spirit. Such was the life I led in my parents' house
+and if I have depicted it thus minutely, it is not out of ostentation,
+or to let you know that I am rich, but that you may see how, without
+any fault of mine, I have fallen from the happy condition I have
+described, to the misery I am in at present. The truth is, that
+while I was leading this busy life, in a retirement that might compare
+with that of a monastery, and unseen as I thought by any except the
+servants of the house (for when I went to Mass it was so early in
+the morning, and I was so closely attended by my mother and the
+women of the household, and so thickly veiled and so shy, that my eyes
+scarcely saw more ground than I trod on), in spite of all this, the
+eyes of love, or idleness, more properly speaking, that the lynx's
+cannot rival, discovered me, with the help of the assiduity of Don
+Fernando; for that is the name of the younger son of the duke I told
+of."
+
+The moment the speaker mentioned the name of Don Fernando,
+Cardenio changed colour and broke into a sweat, with such signs of
+emotion that the curate and the barber, who observed it, feared that
+one of the mad fits which they heard attacked him sometimes was coming
+upon him; but Cardenio showed no further agitation and remained quiet,
+regarding the peasant girl with fixed attention, for he began to
+suspect who she was. She, however, without noticing the excitement
+of Cardenio, continuing her story, went on to say:
+
+"And they had hardly discovered me, when, as he owned afterwards, he
+was smitten with a violent love for me, as the manner in which it
+displayed itself plainly showed. But to shorten the long recital of my
+woes, I will pass over in silence all the artifices employed by Don
+Fernando for declaring his passion for me. He bribed all the
+household, he gave and offered gifts and presents to my parents; every
+day was like a holiday or a merry-making in our street; by night no
+one could sleep for the music; the love letters that used to come to
+my hand, no one knew how, were innumerable, full of tender pleadings
+and pledges, containing more promises and oaths than there were
+letters in them; all which not only did not soften me, but hardened my
+heart against him, as if he had been my mortal enemy, and as if
+everything he did to make me yield were done with the opposite
+intention. Not that the high-bred bearing of Don Fernando was
+disagreeable to me, or that I found his importunities wearisome; for
+it gave me a certain sort of satisfaction to find myself so sought and
+prized by a gentleman of such distinction, and I was not displeased at
+seeing my praises in his letters (for however ugly we women may be, it
+seems to me it always pleases us to hear ourselves called beautiful)
+but that my own sense of right was opposed to all this, as well as the
+repeated advice of my parents, who now very plainly perceived Don
+Fernando's purpose, for he cared very little if all the world knew it.
+They told me they trusted and confided their honour and good name to
+my virtue and rectitude alone, and bade me consider the disparity
+between Don Fernando and myself, from which I might conclude that
+his intentions, whatever he might say to the contrary, had for their
+aim his own pleasure rather than my advantage; and if I were at all
+desirous of opposing an obstacle to his unreasonable suit, they were
+ready, they said, to marry me at once to anyone I preferred, either
+among the leading people of our own town, or of any of those in the
+neighbourhood; for with their wealth and my good name, a match might
+be looked for in any quarter. This offer, and their sound advice
+strengthened my resolution, and I never gave Don Fernando a word in
+reply that could hold out to him any hope of success, however remote.
+
+"All this caution of mine, which he must have taken for coyness, had
+apparently the effect of increasing his wanton appetite- for that is
+the name I give to his passion for me; had it been what he declared it
+to be, you would not know of it now, because there would have been
+no occasion to tell you of it. At length he learned that my parents
+were contemplating marriage for me in order to put an end to his hopes
+of obtaining possession of me, or at least to secure additional
+protectors to watch over me, and this intelligence or suspicion made
+him act as you shall hear. One night, as I was in my chamber with no
+other companion than a damsel who waited on me, with the doors
+carefully locked lest my honour should be imperilled through any
+carelessness, I know not nor can conceive how it happened, but, with
+all this seclusion and these precautions, and in the solitude and
+silence of my retirement, I found him standing before me, a vision
+that so astounded me that it deprived my eyes of sight, and my
+tongue of speech. I had no power to utter a cry, nor, I think, did
+he give me time to utter one, as he immediately approached me, and
+taking me in his arms (for, overwhelmed as I was, I was powerless, I
+say, to help myself), he began to make such professions to me that I
+know not how falsehood could have had the power of dressing them up to
+seem so like truth; and the traitor contrived that his tears should
+vouch for his words, and his sighs for his sincerity.
+
+"I, a poor young creature alone, ill versed among my people in cases
+such as this, began, I know not how, to think all these lying
+protestations true, though without being moved by his sighs and
+tears to anything more than pure compassion; and so, as the first
+feeling of bewilderment passed away, and I began in some degree to
+recover myself, I said to him with more courage than I thought I could
+have possessed, 'If, as I am now in your arms, senor, I were in the
+claws of a fierce lion, and my deliverance could be procured by
+doing or saying anything to the prejudice of my honour, it would no
+more be in my power to do it or say it, than it would be possible that
+what was should not have been; so then, if you hold my body clasped in
+your arms, I hold my soul secured by virtuous intentions, very
+different from yours, as you will see if you attempt to carry them
+into effect by force. I am your vassal, but I am not your slave;
+your nobility neither has nor should have any right to dishonour or
+degrade my humble birth; and low-born peasant as I am, I have my
+self-respect as much as you, a lord and gentleman: with me your
+violence will be to no purpose, your wealth will have no weight,
+your words will have no power to deceive me, nor your sighs or tears
+to soften me: were I to see any of the things I speak of in him whom
+my parents gave me as a husband, his will should be mine, and mine
+should be bounded by his; and my honour being preserved even though my
+inclinations were not would willingly yield him what you, senor, would
+now obtain by force; and this I say lest you should suppose that any
+but my lawful husband shall ever win anything of me.' 'If that,'
+said this disloyal gentleman, 'be the only scruple you feel, fairest
+Dorothea' (for that is the name of this unhappy being), 'see here I
+give you my hand to be yours, and let Heaven, from which nothing is
+hid, and this image of Our Lady you have here, be witnesses of this
+pledge.'"
+
+When Cardenio heard her say she was called Dorothea, he showed fresh
+agitation and felt convinced of the truth of his former suspicion, but
+he was unwilling to interrupt the story, and wished to hear the end of
+what he already all but knew, so he merely said:
+
+"What! is Dorothea your name, senora? I have heard of another of the
+same name who can perhaps match your misfortunes. But proceed;
+by-and-by I may tell you something that will astonish you as much as
+it will excite your compassion."
+
+Dorothea was struck by Cardenio's words as well as by his strange
+and miserable attire, and begged him if he knew anything concerning
+her to tell it to her at once, for if fortune had left her any
+blessing it was courage to bear whatever calamity might fall upon her,
+as she felt sure that none could reach her capable of increasing in
+any degree what she endured already.
+
+"I would not let the occasion pass, senora," replied Cardenio, "of
+telling you what I think, if what I suspect were the truth, but so far
+there has been no opportunity, nor is it of any importance to you to
+know it."
+
+"Be it as it may," replied Dorothea, "what happened in my story
+was that Don Fernando, taking an image that stood in the chamber,
+placed it as a witness of our betrothal, and with the most binding
+words and extravagant oaths gave me his promise to become my
+husband; though before he had made an end of pledging himself I bade
+him consider well what he was doing, and think of the anger his father
+would feel at seeing him married to a peasant girl and one of his
+vassals; I told him not to let my beauty, such as it was, blind him,
+for that was not enough to furnish an excuse for his transgression;
+and if in the love he bore me he wished to do me any kindness, it
+would be to leave my lot to follow its course at the level my
+condition required; for marriages so unequal never brought
+happiness, nor did they continue long to afford the enjoyment they
+began with.
+
+"All this that I have now repeated I said to him, and much more
+which I cannot recollect; but it had no effect in inducing him to
+forego his purpose; he who has no intention of paying does not trouble
+himself about difficulties when he is striking the bargain. At the
+same time I argued the matter briefly in my own mind, saying to
+myself, 'I shall not be the first who has risen through marriage
+from a lowly to a lofty station, nor will Don Fernando be the first
+whom beauty or, as is more likely, a blind attachment, has led to mate
+himself below his rank. Then, since I am introducing no new usage or
+practice, I may as well avail myself of the honour that chance
+offers me, for even though his inclination for me should not outlast
+the attainment of his wishes, I shall be, after all, his wife before
+God. And if I strive to repel him by scorn, I can see that, fair means
+failing, he is in a mood to use force, and I shall be left dishonoured
+and without any means of proving my innocence to those who cannot know
+how innocently I have come to be in this position; for what
+arguments would persuade my parents that this gentleman entered my
+chamber without my consent?'
+
+"All these questions and answers passed through my mind in a moment;
+but the oaths of Don Fernando, the witnesses he appealed to, the tears
+he shed, and lastly the charms of his person and his high-bred
+grace, which, accompanied by such signs of genuine love, might well
+have conquered a heart even more free and coy than mine- these were
+the things that more than all began to influence me and lead me
+unawares to my ruin. I called my waiting-maid to me, that there
+might be a witness on earth besides those in Heaven, and again Don
+Fernando renewed and repeated his oaths, invoked as witnesses fresh
+saints in addition to the former ones, called down upon himself a
+thousand curses hereafter should he fail to keep his promise, shed
+more tears, redoubled his sighs and pressed me closer in his arms,
+from which he had never allowed me to escape; and so I was left by
+my maid, and ceased to be one, and he became a traitor and a
+perjured man.
+
+"The day which followed the night of my misfortune did not come so
+quickly, I imagine, as Don Fernando wished, for when desire has
+attained its object, the greatest pleasure is to fly from the scene of
+pleasure. I say so because Don Fernando made all haste to leave me,
+and by the adroitness of my maid, who was indeed the one who had
+admitted him, gained the street before daybreak; but on taking leave
+of me he told me, though not with as much earnestness and fervour as
+when he came, that I might rest assured of his faith and of the
+sanctity and sincerity of his oaths; and to confirm his words he
+drew a rich ring off his finger and placed it upon mine. He then
+took his departure and I was left, I know not whether sorrowful or
+happy; all I can say is, I was left agitated and troubled in mind
+and almost bewildered by what had taken place, and I had not the
+spirit, or else it did not occur to me, to chide my maid for the
+treachery she had been guilty of in concealing Don Fernando in my
+chamber; for as yet I was unable to make up my mind whether what had
+befallen me was for good or evil. I told Don Fernando at parting, that
+as I was now his, he might see me on other nights in the same way,
+until it should be his pleasure to let the matter become known; but,
+except the following night, he came no more, nor for more than a month
+could I catch a glimpse of him in the street or in church, while I
+wearied myself with watching for one; although I knew he was in the
+town, and almost every day went out hunting, a pastime he was very
+fond of. I remember well how sad and dreary those days and hours
+were to me; I remember well how I began to doubt as they went by,
+and even to lose confidence in the faith of Don Fernando; and I
+remember, too, how my maid heard those words in reproof of her
+audacity that she had not heard before, and how I was forced to put
+a constraint on my tears and on the expression of my countenance,
+not to give my parents cause to ask me why I was so melancholy, and
+drive me to invent falsehoods in reply. But all this was suddenly
+brought to an end, for the time came when all such considerations were
+disregarded, and there was no further question of honour, when my
+patience gave way and the secret of my heart became known abroad.
+The reason was, that a few days later it was reported in the town that
+Don Fernando had been married in a neighbouring city to a maiden of
+rare beauty, the daughter of parents of distinguished position, though
+not so rich that her portion would entitle her to look for so
+brilliant a match; it was said, too, that her name was Luscinda, and
+that at the betrothal some strange things had happened."
+
+Cardenio heard the name of Luscinda, but he only shrugged his
+shoulders, bit his lips, bent his brows, and before long two streams
+of tears escaped from his eyes. Dorothea, however, did not interrupt
+her story, but went on in these words:
+
+"This sad intelligence reached my ears, and, instead of being struck
+with a chill, with such wrath and fury did my heart burn that I
+scarcely restrained myself from rushing out into the streets, crying
+aloud and proclaiming openly the perfidy and treachery of which I
+was the victim; but this transport of rage was for the time checked by
+a resolution I formed, to be carried out the same night, and that
+was to assume this dress, which I got from a servant of my father's,
+one of the zagals, as they are called in farmhouses, to whom I
+confided the whole of my misfortune, and whom I entreated to accompany
+me to the city where I heard my enemy was. He, though he
+remonstrated with me for my boldness, and condemned my resolution,
+when he saw me bent upon my purpose, offered to bear me company, as he
+said, to the end of the world. I at once packed up in a linen
+pillow-case a woman's dress, and some jewels and money to provide
+for emergencies, and in the silence of the night, without letting my
+treacherous maid know, I sallied forth from the house, accompanied
+by my servant and abundant anxieties, and on foot set out for the
+city, but borne as it were on wings by my eagerness to reach it, if
+not to prevent what I presumed to be already done, at least to call
+upon Don Fernando to tell me with what conscience he had done it. I
+reached my destination in two days and a half, and on entering the
+city inquired for the house of Luscinda's parents. The first person
+I asked gave me more in reply than I sought to know; he showed me
+the house, and told me all that had occurred at the betrothal of the
+daughter of the family, an affair of such notoriety in the city that
+it was the talk of every knot of idlers in the street. He said that on
+the night of Don Fernando's betrothal with Luscinda, as soon as she
+had consented to be his bride by saying 'Yes,' she was taken with a
+sudden fainting fit, and that on the bridegroom approaching to
+unlace the bosom of her dress to give her air, he found a paper in her
+own handwriting, in which she said and declared that she could not
+be Don Fernando's bride, because she was already Cardenio's, who,
+according to the man's account, was a gentleman of distinction of
+the same city; and that if she had accepted Don Fernando, it was
+only in obedience to her parents. In short, he said, the words of
+the paper made it clear she meant to kill herself on the completion of
+the betrothal, and gave her reasons for putting an end to herself
+all which was confirmed, it was said, by a dagger they found somewhere
+in her clothes. On seeing this, Don Fernando, persuaded that
+Luscinda had befooled, slighted, and trifled with him, assailed her
+before she had recovered from her swoon, and tried to stab her with
+the dagger that had been found, and would have succeeded had not her
+parents and those who were present prevented him. It was said,
+moreover, that Don Fernando went away at once, and that Luscinda did
+not recover from her prostration until the next day, when she told her
+parents how she was really the bride of that Cardenio I have
+mentioned. I learned besides that Cardenio, according to report, had
+been present at the betrothal; and that upon seeing her betrothed
+contrary to his expectation, he had quitted the city in despair,
+leaving behind him a letter declaring the wrong Luscinda had done him,
+and his intention of going where no one should ever see him again. All
+this was a matter of notoriety in the city, and everyone spoke of
+it; especially when it became known that Luscinda was missing from her
+father's house and from the city, for she was not to be found
+anywhere, to the distraction of her parents, who knew not what steps
+to take to recover her. What I learned revived my hopes, and I was
+better pleased not to have found Don Fernando than to find him
+married, for it seemed to me that the door was not yet entirely shut
+upon relief in my case, and I thought that perhaps Heaven had put this
+impediment in the way of the second marriage, to lead him to recognise
+his obligations under the former one, and reflect that as a
+Christian he was bound to consider his soul above all human objects.
+All this passed through my mind, and I strove to comfort myself
+without comfort, indulging in faint and distant hopes of cherishing
+that life that I now abhor.
+
+"But while I was in the city, uncertain what to do, as I could not
+find Don Fernando, I heard notice given by the public crier offering a
+great reward to anyone who should find me, and giving the
+particulars of my age and of the very dress I wore; and I heard it
+said that the lad who came with me had taken me away from my
+father's house; a thing that cut me to the heart, showing how low my
+good name had fallen, since it was not enough that I should lose it by
+my flight, but they must add with whom I had fled, and that one so
+much beneath me and so unworthy of my consideration. The instant I
+heard the notice I quitted the city with my servant, who now began
+to show signs of wavering in his fidelity to me, and the same night,
+for fear of discovery, we entered the most thickly wooded part of
+these mountains. But, as is commonly said, one evil calls up another
+and the end of one misfortune is apt to be the beginning of one
+still greater, and so it proved in my case; for my worthy servant,
+until then so faithful and trusty when he found me in this lonely
+spot, moved more by his own villainy than by my beauty, sought to take
+advantage of the opportunity which these solitudes seemed to present
+him, and with little shame and less fear of God and respect for me,
+began to make overtures to me; and finding that I replied to the
+effrontery of his proposals with justly severe language, he laid aside
+the entreaties which he had employed at first, and began to use
+violence. But just Heaven, that seldom fails to watch over and aid
+good intentions, so aided mine that with my slight strength and with
+little exertion I pushed him over a precipice, where I left him,
+whether dead or alive I know not; and then, with greater speed than
+seemed possible in my terror and fatigue, I made my way into the
+mountains, without any other thought or purpose save that of hiding
+myself among them, and escaping my father and those despatched in
+search of me by his orders. It is now I know not how many months since
+with this object I came here, where I met a herdsman who engaged me as
+his servant at a place in the heart of this Sierra, and all this
+time I have been serving him as herd, striving to keep always afield
+to hide these locks which have now unexpectedly betrayed me. But all
+my care and pains were unavailing, for my master made the discovery
+that I was not a man, and harboured the same base designs as my
+servant; and as fortune does not always supply a remedy in cases of
+difficulty, and I had no precipice or ravine at hand down which to
+fling the master and cure his passion, as I had in the servant's case,
+I thought it a lesser evil to leave him and again conceal myself among
+these crags, than make trial of my strength and argument with him. So,
+as I say, once more I went into hiding to seek for some place where
+I might with sighs and tears implore Heaven to have pity on my misery,
+and grant me help and strength to escape from it, or let me die
+among the solitudes, leaving no trace of an unhappy being who, by no
+fault of hers, has furnished matter for talk and scandal at home and
+abroad."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE DROLL DEVICE AND METHOD ADOPTED TO EXTRICATE OUR
+LOVE-STRICKEN KNIGHT FROM THE SEVERE PENANCE HE HAD IMPOSED UPON HIMSELF
+
+"Such, sirs, is the true story of my sad adventures; judge for
+yourselves now whether the sighs and lamentations you heard, and the
+tears that flowed from my eyes, had not sufficient cause even if I had
+indulged in them more freely; and if you consider the nature of my
+misfortune you will see that consolation is idle, as there is no
+possible remedy for it. All I ask of you is, what you may easily and
+reasonably do, to show me where I may pass my life unharassed by the
+fear and dread of discovery by those who are in search of me; for
+though the great love my parents bear me makes me feel sure of being
+kindly received by them, so great is my feeling of shame at the mere
+thought that I cannot present myself before them as they expect,
+that I had rather banish myself from their sight for ever than look
+them in the face with the reflection that they beheld mine stripped of
+that purity they had a right to expect in me."
+
+With these words she became silent, and the colour that overspread
+her face showed plainly the pain and shame she was suffering at heart.
+In theirs the listeners felt as much pity as wonder at her
+misfortunes; but as the curate was just about to offer her some
+consolation and advice Cardenio forestalled him, saying, "So then,
+senora, you are the fair Dorothea, the only daughter of the rich
+Clenardo?" Dorothea was astonished at hearing her father's name, and
+at the miserable appearance of him who mentioned it, for it has been
+already said how wretchedly clad Cardenio was; so she said to him:
+
+"And who may you be, brother, who seem to know my father's name so
+well? For so far, if I remember rightly, I have not mentioned it in
+the whole story of my misfortunes."
+
+"I am that unhappy being, senora," replied Cardenio, "whom, as you
+have said, Luscinda declared to be her husband; I am the unfortunate
+Cardenio, whom the wrong-doing of him who has brought you to your
+present condition has reduced to the state you see me in, bare,
+ragged, bereft of all human comfort, and what is worse, of reason, for
+I only possess it when Heaven is pleased for some short space to
+restore it to me. I, Dorothea, am he who witnessed the wrong done by
+Don Fernando, and waited to hear the 'Yes' uttered by which Luscinda
+owned herself his betrothed: I am he who had not courage enough to see
+how her fainting fit ended, or what came of the paper that was found
+in her bosom, because my heart had not the fortitude to endure so many
+strokes of ill-fortune at once; and so losing patience I quitted the
+house, and leaving a letter with my host, which I entreated him to
+place in Luscinda's hands, I betook myself to these solitudes,
+resolved to end here the life I hated as if it were my mortal enemy.
+But fate would not rid me of it, contenting itself with robbing me
+of my reason, perhaps to preserve me for the good fortune I have had
+in meeting you; for if that which you have just told us be true, as
+I believe it to be, it may be that Heaven has yet in store for both of
+us a happier termination to our misfortunes than we look for;
+because seeing that Luscinda cannot marry Don Fernando, being mine, as
+she has herself so openly declared, and that Don Fernando cannot marry
+her as he is yours, we may reasonably hope that Heaven will restore to
+us what is ours, as it is still in existence and not yet alienated
+or destroyed. And as we have this consolation springing from no very
+visionary hope or wild fancy, I entreat you, senora, to form new
+resolutions in your better mind, as I mean to do in mine, preparing
+yourself to look forward to happier fortunes; for I swear to you by
+the faith of a gentleman and a Christian not to desert you until I see
+you in possession of Don Fernando, and if I cannot by words induce him
+to recognise his obligation to you, in that case to avail myself of
+the right which my rank as a gentleman gives me, and with just cause
+challenge him on account of the injury he has done you, not
+regarding my own wrongs, which I shall leave to Heaven to avenge,
+while I on earth devote myself to yours."
+
+Cardenio's words completed the astonishment of Dorothea, and not
+knowing how to return thanks for such an offer, she attempted to
+kiss his feet; but Cardenio would not permit it, and the licentiate
+replied for both, commended the sound reasoning of Cardenio, and
+lastly, begged, advised, and urged them to come with him to his
+village, where they might furnish themselves with what they needed,
+and take measures to discover Don Fernando, or restore Dorothea to her
+parents, or do what seemed to them most advisable. Cardenio and
+Dorothea thanked him, and accepted the kind offer he made them; and
+the barber, who had been listening to all attentively and in
+silence, on his part some kindly words also, and with no less
+good-will than the curate offered his services in any way that might
+be of use to them. He also explained to them in a few words the object
+that had brought them there, and the strange nature of Don Quixote's
+madness, and how they were waiting for his squire, who had gone in
+search of him. Like the recollection of a dream, the quarrel he had
+had with Don Quixote came back to Cardenio's memory, and he
+described it to the others; but he was unable to say what the
+dispute was about.
+
+At this moment they heard a shout, and recognised it as coming
+from Sancho Panza, who, not finding them where he had left them, was
+calling aloud to them. They went to meet him, and in answer to their
+inquiries about Don Quixote, be told them how he had found him
+stripped to his shirt, lank, yellow, half dead with hunger, and
+sighing for his lady Dulcinea; and although he had told him that she
+commanded him to quit that place and come to El Toboso, where she
+was expecting him, he had answered that he was determined not to
+appear in the presence of her beauty until he had done deeds to make
+him worthy of her favour; and if this went on, Sancho said, he ran the
+risk of not becoming an emperor as in duty bound, or even an
+archbishop, which was the least he could be; for which reason they
+ought to consider what was to be done to get him away from there.
+The licentiate in reply told him not to be uneasy, for they would
+fetch him away in spite of himself. He then told Cardenio and Dorothea
+what they had proposed to do to cure Don Quixote, or at any rate
+take him home; upon which Dorothea said that she could play the
+distressed damsel better than the barber; especially as she had
+there the dress in which to do it to the life, and that they might
+trust to her acting the part in every particular requisite for
+carrying out their scheme, for she had read a great many books of
+chivalry, and knew exactly the style in which afflicted damsels begged
+boons of knights-errant.
+
+"In that case," said the curate, "there is nothing more required
+than to set about it at once, for beyond a doubt fortune is
+declaring itself in our favour, since it has so unexpectedly begun
+to open a door for your relief, and smoothed the way for us to our
+object."
+
+Dorothea then took out of her pillow-case a complete petticoat of
+some rich stuff, and a green mantle of some other fine material, and a
+necklace and other ornaments out of a little box, and with these in an
+instant she so arrayed herself that she looked like a great and rich
+lady. All this, and more, she said, she had taken from home in case of
+need, but that until then she had had no occasion to make use of it.
+They were all highly delighted with her grace, air, and beauty, and
+declared Don Fernando to be a man of very little taste when he
+rejected such charms. But the one who admired her most was Sancho
+Panza, for it seemed to him (what indeed was true) that in all the
+days of his life he had never seen such a lovely creature; and he
+asked the curate with great eagerness who this beautiful lady was, and
+what she wanted in these out-of-the-way quarters.
+
+"This fair lady, brother Sancho," replied the curate, "is no less
+a personage than the heiress in the direct male line of the great
+kingdom of Micomicon, who has come in search of your master to beg a
+boon of him, which is that he redress a wrong or injury that a
+wicked giant has done her; and from the fame as a good knight which
+your master has acquired far and wide, this princess has come from
+Guinea to seek him."
+
+"A lucky seeking and a lucky finding!" said Sancho Panza at this;
+"especially if my master has the good fortune to redress that
+injury, and right that wrong, and kill that son of a bitch of a
+giant your worship speaks of; as kill him he will if he meets him,
+unless, indeed, he happens to be a phantom; for my master has no power
+at all against phantoms. But one thing among others I would beg of
+you, senor licentiate, which is, that, to prevent my master taking a
+fancy to be an archbishop, for that is what I'm afraid of, your
+worship would recommend him to marry this princess at once; for in
+this way he will be disabled from taking archbishop's orders, and will
+easily come into his empire, and I to the end of my desires; I have
+been thinking over the matter carefully, and by what I can make out
+I find it will not do for me that my master should become an
+archbishop, because I am no good for the Church, as I am married;
+and for me now, having as I have a wife and children, to set about
+obtaining dispensations to enable me to hold a place of profit under
+the Church, would be endless work; so that, senor, it all turns on
+my master marrying this lady at once- for as yet I do not know her
+grace, and so I cannot call her by her name."
+
+"She is called the Princess Micomicona," said the curate; "for as
+her kingdom is Micomicon, it is clear that must be her name."
+
+"There's no doubt of that," replied Sancho, "for I have known many
+to take their name and title from the place where they were born and
+call themselves Pedro of Alcala, Juan of Ubeda, and Diego of
+Valladolid; and it may be that over there in Guinea queens have the
+same way of taking the names of their kingdoms."
+
+"So it may," said the curate; "and as for your master's marrying,
+I will do all in my power towards it:" with which Sancho was as much
+pleased as the curate was amazed at his simplicity and at seeing
+what a hold the absurdities of his master had taken of his fancy,
+for he had evidently persuaded himself that he was going to be an
+emperor.
+
+By this time Dorothea had seated herself upon the curate's mule, and
+the barber had fitted the ox-tail beard to his face, and they now told
+Sancho to conduct them to where Don Quixote was, warning him not to
+say that he knew either the licentiate or the barber, as his
+master's becoming an emperor entirely depended on his not
+recognising them; neither the curate nor Cardenio, however, thought
+fit to go with them; Cardenio lest he should remind Don Quixote of the
+quarrel he had with him, and the curate as there was no necessity
+for his presence just yet, so they allowed the others to go on
+before them, while they themselves followed slowly on foot. The curate
+did not forget to instruct Dorothea how to act, but she said they
+might make their minds easy, as everything would be done exactly as
+the books of chivalry required and described.
+
+They had gone about three-quarters of a league when they
+discovered Don Quixote in a wilderness of rocks, by this time clothed,
+but without his armour; and as soon as Dorothea saw him and was told
+by Sancho that that was Don Quixote, she whipped her palfrey, the
+well-bearded barber following her, and on coming up to him her
+squire sprang from his mule and came forward to receive her in his
+arms, and she dismounting with great ease of manner advanced to
+kneel before the feet of Don Quixote; and though he strove to raise
+her up, she without rising addressed him in this fashion:
+
+"From this spot I will not rise, valiant and doughty knight, until
+your goodness and courtesy grant me a boon, which will redound to
+the honour and renown of your person and render a service to the
+most disconsolate and afflicted damsel the sun has seen; and if the
+might of your strong arm corresponds to the repute of your immortal
+fame, you are bound to aid the helpless being who, led by the savour
+of your renowned name, hath come from far distant lands to seek your
+aid in her misfortunes."
+
+"I will not answer a word, beauteous lady," replied Don Quixote,
+"nor will I listen to anything further concerning you, until you
+rise from the earth."
+
+"I will not rise, senor," answered the afflicted damsel, "unless
+of your courtesy the boon I ask is first granted me."
+
+"I grant and accord it," said Don Quixote, "provided without
+detriment or prejudice to my king, my country, or her who holds the
+key of my heart and freedom, it may be complied with."
+
+"It will not be to the detriment or prejudice of any of them, my
+worthy lord," said the afflicted damsel; and here Sancho Panza drew
+close to his master's ear and said to him very softly, "Your worship
+may very safely grant the boon she asks; it's nothing at all; only
+to kill a big giant; and she who asks it is the exalted Princess
+Micomicona, queen of the great kingdom of Micomicon of Ethiopia."
+
+"Let her be who she may," replied Don Quixote, "I will do what is my
+bounden duty, and what my conscience bids me, in conformity with
+what I have professed;" and turning to the damsel he said, "Let your
+great beauty rise, for I grant the boon which you would ask of me."
+
+"Then what I ask," said the damsel, "is that your magnanimous person
+accompany me at once whither I will conduct you, and that you
+promise not to engage in any other adventure or quest until you have
+avenged me of a traitor who against all human and divine law, has
+usurped my kingdom."
+
+"I repeat that I grant it," replied Don Quixote; "and so, lady,
+you may from this day forth lay aside the melancholy that distresses
+you, and let your failing hopes gather new life and strength, for with
+the help of God and of my arm you will soon see yourself restored to
+your kingdom, and seated upon the throne of your ancient and mighty
+realm, notwithstanding and despite of the felons who would gainsay it;
+and now hands to the work, for in delay there is apt to be danger."
+
+The distressed damsel strove with much pertinacity to kiss his
+hands; but Don Quixote, who was in all things a polished and courteous
+knight, would by no means allow it, but made her rise and embraced her
+with great courtesy and politeness, and ordered Sancho to look to
+Rocinante's girths, and to arm him without a moment's delay. Sancho
+took down the armour, which was hung up on a tree like a trophy, and
+having seen to the girths armed his master in a trice, who as soon
+as he found himself in his armour exclaimed:
+
+"Let us be gone in the name of God to bring aid to this great lady."
+
+The barber was all this time on his knees at great pains to hide his
+laughter and not let his beard fall, for had it fallen maybe their
+fine scheme would have come to nothing; but now seeing the boon
+granted, and the promptitude with which Don Quixote prepared to set
+out in compliance with it, he rose and took his lady's hand, and
+between them they placed her upon the mule. Don Quixote then mounted
+Rocinante, and the barber settled himself on his beast, Sancho being
+left to go on foot, which made him feel anew the loss of his Dapple,
+finding the want of him now. But he bore all with cheerfulness,
+being persuaded that his master had now fairly started and was just on
+the point of becoming an emperor; for he felt no doubt at all that
+he would marry this princess, and be king of Micomicon at least. The
+only thing that troubled him was the reflection that this kingdom
+was in the land of the blacks, and that the people they would give him
+for vassals would be all black; but for this he soon found a remedy in
+his fancy, and said he to himself, "What is it to me if my vassals are
+blacks? What more have I to do than make a cargo of them and carry
+them to Spain, where I can sell them and get ready money for them, and
+with it buy some title or some office in which to live at ease all the
+days of my life? Not unless you go to sleep and haven't the wit or
+skill to turn things to account and sell three, six, or ten thousand
+vassals while you would he talking about it! By God I will stir them
+up, big and little, or as best I can, and let them be ever so black
+I'll turn them into white or yellow. Come, come, what a fool I am!"
+And so he jogged on, so occupied with his thoughts and easy in his
+mind that he forgot all about the hardship of travelling on foot.
+
+Cardenio and the curate were watching all this from among some
+bushes, not knowing how to join company with the others; but the
+curate, who was very fertile in devices, soon hit upon a way of
+effecting their purpose, and with a pair of scissors he had in a
+case he quickly cut off Cardenio's beard, and putting on him a grey
+jerkin of his own he gave him a black cloak, leaving himself in his
+breeches and doublet, while Cardenio's appearance was so different
+from what it had been that he would not have known himself had he seen
+himself in a mirror. Having effected this, although the others had
+gone on ahead while they were disguising themselves, they easily
+came out on the high road before them, for the brambles and awkward
+places they encountered did not allow those on horseback to go as fast
+as those on foot. They then posted themselves on the level ground at
+the outlet of the Sierra, and as soon as Don Quixote and his
+companions emerged from it the curate began to examine him very
+deliberately, as though he were striving to recognise him, and after
+having stared at him for some time he hastened towards him with open
+arms exclaiming, "A happy meeting with the mirror of chivalry, my
+worthy compatriot Don Quixote of La Mancha, the flower and cream of
+high breeding, the protection and relief of the distressed, the
+quintessence of knights-errant!" And so saying he clasped in his
+arms the knee of Don Quixote's left leg. He, astonished at the
+stranger's words and behaviour, looked at him attentively, and at
+length recognised him, very much surprised to see him there, and
+made great efforts to dismount. This, however, the curate would not
+allow, on which Don Quixote said, "Permit me, senor licentiate, for it
+is not fitting that I should be on horseback and so reverend a
+person as your worship on foot."
+
+"On no account will I allow it," said the curate; "your mightiness
+must remain on horseback, for it is on horseback you achieve the
+greatest deeds and adventures that have been beheld in our age; as for
+me, an unworthy priest, it will serve me well enough to mount on the
+haunches of one of the mules of these gentlefolk who accompany your
+worship, if they have no objection, and I will fancy I am mounted on
+the steed Pegasus, or on the zebra or charger that bore the famous
+Moor, Muzaraque, who to this day lies enchanted in the great hill of
+Zulema, a little distance from the great Complutum."
+
+"Nor even that will I consent to, senor licentiate," answered Don
+Quixote, "and I know it will be the good pleasure of my lady the
+princess, out of love for me, to order her squire to give up the
+saddle of his mule to your worship, and he can sit behind if the beast
+will bear it."
+
+"It will, I am sure," said the princess, "and I am sure, too, that I
+need not order my squire, for he is too courteous and considerate to
+allow a Churchman to go on foot when he might be mounted."
+
+"That he is," said the barber, and at once alighting, he offered his
+saddle to the curate, who accepted it without much entreaty; but
+unfortunately as the barber was mounting behind, the mule, being as it
+happened a hired one, which is the same thing as saying
+ill-conditioned, lifted its hind hoofs and let fly a couple of kicks
+in the air, which would have made Master Nicholas wish his
+expedition in quest of Don Quixote at the devil had they caught him on
+the breast or head. As it was, they so took him by surprise that he
+came to the ground, giving so little heed to his beard that it fell
+off, and all he could do when he found himself without it was to cover
+his face hastily with both his hands and moan that his teeth were
+knocked out. Don Quixote when he saw all that bundle of beard
+detached, without jaws or blood, from the face of the fallen squire,
+exclaimed:
+
+"By the living God, but this is a great miracle! it has knocked
+off and plucked away the beard from his face as if it had been
+shaved off designedly."
+
+The curate, seeing the danger of discovery that threatened his
+scheme, at once pounced upon the beard and hastened with it to where
+Master Nicholas lay, still uttering moans, and drawing his head to his
+breast had it on in an instant, muttering over him some words which he
+said were a certain special charm for sticking on beards, as they
+would see; and as soon as he had it fixed he left him, and the
+squire appeared well bearded and whole as before, whereat Don
+Quixote was beyond measure astonished, and begged the curate to
+teach him that charm when he had an opportunity, as he was persuaded
+its virtue must extend beyond the sticking on of beards, for it was
+clear that where the beard had been stripped off the flesh must have
+remained torn and lacerated, and when it could heal all that it must
+be good for more than beards.
+
+"And so it is," said the curate, and he promised to teach it to
+him on the first opportunity. They then agreed that for the present
+the curate should mount, and that the three should ride by turns until
+they reached the inn, which might be about six leagues from where they
+were.
+
+Three then being mounted, that is to say, Don Quixote, the princess,
+and the curate, and three on foot, Cardenio, the barber, and Sancho
+Panza, Don Quixote said to the damsel:
+
+"Let your highness, lady, lead on whithersoever is most pleasing
+to you;" but before she could answer the licentiate said:
+
+"Towards what kingdom would your ladyship direct our course? Is it
+perchance towards that of Micomicon? It must be, or else I know little
+about kingdoms."
+
+She, being ready on all points, understood that she was to answer
+"Yes," so she said "Yes, senor, my way lies towards that kingdom."
+
+"In that case," said the curate, "we must pass right through my
+village, and there your worship will take the road to Cartagena, where
+you will be able to embark, fortune favouring; and if the wind be fair
+and the sea smooth and tranquil, in somewhat less than nine years
+you may come in sight of the great lake Meona, I mean Meotides,
+which is little more than a hundred days' journey this side of your
+highness's kingdom."
+
+"Your worship is mistaken, senor," said she; "for it is not two
+years since I set out from it, and though I never had good weather,
+nevertheless I am here to behold what I so longed for, and that is
+my lord Don Quixote of La Mancha, whose fame came to my ears as soon
+as I set foot in Spain and impelled me to go in search of him, to
+commend myself to his courtesy, and entrust the justice of my cause to
+the might of his invincible arm."
+
+"Enough; no more praise," said Don Quixote at this, "for I hate
+all flattery; and though this may not be so, still language of the
+kind is offensive to my chaste ears. I will only say, senora, that
+whether it has might or not, that which it may or may not have shall
+be devoted to your service even to death; and now, leaving this to its
+proper season, I would ask the senor licentiate to tell me what it
+is that has brought him into these parts, alone, unattended, and so
+lightly clad that I am filled with amazement."
+
+"I will answer that briefly," replied the curate; "you must know
+then, Senor Don Quixote, that Master Nicholas, our friend and
+barber, and I were going to Seville to receive some money that a
+relative of mine who went to the Indies many years ago had sent me,
+and not such a small sum but that it was over sixty thousand pieces of
+eight, full weight, which is something; and passing by this place
+yesterday we were attacked by four footpads, who stripped us even to
+our beards, and them they stripped off so that the barber found it
+necessary to put on a false one, and even this young man here"-
+pointing to Cardenio- "they completely transformed. But the best of it
+is, the story goes in the neighbourhood that those who attacked us
+belong to a number of galley slaves who, they say, were set free
+almost on the very same spot by a man of such valour that, in spite of
+the commissary and of the guards, he released the whole of them; and
+beyond all doubt he must have been out of his senses, or he must be as
+great a scoundrel as they, or some man without heart or conscience
+to let the wolf loose among the sheep, the fox among the hens, the fly
+among the honey. He has defrauded justice, and opposed his king and
+lawful master, for he opposed his just commands; he has, I say, robbed
+the galleys of their feet, stirred up the Holy Brotherhood which for
+many years past has been quiet, and, lastly, has done a deed by
+which his soul may be lost without any gain to his body." Sancho had
+told the curate and the barber of the adventure of the galley
+slaves, which, so much to his glory, his master had achieved, and
+hence the curate in alluding to it made the most of it to see what
+would be said or done by Don Quixote; who changed colour at every
+word, not daring to say that it was he who had been the liberator of
+those worthy people. "These, then," said the curate, "were they who
+robbed us; and God in his mercy pardon him who would not let them go
+to the punishment they deserved."
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+WHICH TREATS OF ADDRESS DISPLAYED BY THE FAIR DOROTHEA, WITH OTHER
+MATTERS PLEASANT AND AMUSING
+
+The curate had hardly ceased speaking, when Sancho said, "In
+faith, then, senor licentiate, he who did that deed was my master; and
+it was not for want of my telling him beforehand and warning him to
+mind what he was about, and that it was a sin to set them at
+liberty, as they were all on the march there because they were special
+scoundrels."
+
+"Blockhead!" said Don Quixote at this, "it is no business or concern
+of knights-errant to inquire whether any persons in affliction, in
+chains, or oppressed that they may meet on the high roads go that
+way and suffer as they do because of their faults or because of
+their misfortunes. It only concerns them to aid them as persons in
+need of help, having regard to their sufferings and not to their
+rascalities. I encountered a chaplet or string of miserable and
+unfortunate people, and did for them what my sense of duty demands
+of me, and as for the rest be that as it may; and whoever takes
+objection to it, saving the sacred dignity of the senor licentiate and
+his honoured person, I say he knows little about chivalry and lies
+like a whoreson villain, and this I will give him to know to the
+fullest extent with my sword;" and so saying he settled himself in his
+stirrups and pressed down his morion; for the barber's basin, which
+according to him was Mambrino's helmet, he carried hanging at the
+saddle-bow until he could repair the damage done to it by the galley
+slaves.
+
+Dorothea, who was shrewd and sprightly, and by this time
+thoroughly understood Don Quixote's crazy turn, and that all except
+Sancho Panza were making game of him, not to be behind the rest said
+to him, on observing his irritation, "Sir Knight, remember the boon
+you have promised me, and that in accordance with it you must not
+engage in any other adventure, be it ever so pressing; calm
+yourself, for if the licentiate had known that the galley slaves had
+been set free by that unconquered arm he would have stopped his
+mouth thrice over, or even bitten his tongue three times before he
+would have said a word that tended towards disrespect of your
+worship."
+
+"That I swear heartily," said the curate, "and I would have even
+plucked off a moustache."
+
+"I will hold my peace, senora," said Don Quixote, "and I will curb
+the natural anger that had arisen in my breast, and will proceed in
+peace and quietness until I have fulfilled my promise; but in return
+for this consideration I entreat you to tell me, if you have no
+objection to do so, what is the nature of your trouble, and how
+many, who, and what are the persons of whom I am to require due
+satisfaction, and on whom I am to take vengeance on your behalf?"
+
+"That I will do with all my heart," replied Dorothea, "if it will
+not be wearisome to you to hear of miseries and misfortunes."
+
+"It will not be wearisome, senora," said Don Quixote; to which
+Dorothea replied, "Well, if that be so, give me your attention." As
+soon as she said this, Cardenio and the barber drew close to her side,
+eager to hear what sort of story the quick-witted Dorothea would
+invent for herself; and Sancho did the same, for he was as much
+taken in by her as his master; and she having settled herself
+comfortably in the saddle, and with the help of coughing and other
+preliminaries taken time to think, began with great sprightliness of
+manner in this fashion.
+
+"First of all, I would have you know, sirs, that my name is-" and
+here she stopped for a moment, for she forgot the name the curate
+had given her; but he came to her relief, seeing what her difficulty
+was, and said, "It is no wonder, senora, that your highness should
+be confused and embarrassed in telling the tale of your misfortunes;
+for such afflictions often have the effect of depriving the
+sufferers of memory, so that they do not even remember their own
+names, as is the case now with your ladyship, who has forgotten that
+she is called the Princess Micomicona, lawful heiress of the great
+kingdom of Micomicon; and with this cue your highness may now recall
+to your sorrowful recollection all you may wish to tell us."
+
+"That is the truth," said the damsel; "but I think from this on I
+shall have no need of any prompting, and I shall bring my true story
+safe into port, and here it is. The king my father, who was called
+Tinacrio the Sapient, was very learned in what they call magic arts,
+and became aware by his craft that my mother, who was called Queen
+Jaramilla, was to die before he did, and that soon after he too was to
+depart this life, and I was to be left an orphan without father or
+mother. But all this, he declared, did not so much grieve or
+distress him as his certain knowledge that a prodigious giant, the
+lord of a great island close to our kingdom, Pandafilando of the Scowl
+by name -for it is averred that, though his eyes are properly placed
+and straight, he always looks askew as if he squinted, and this he
+does out of malignity, to strike fear and terror into those he looks
+at- that he knew, I say, that this giant on becoming aware of my
+orphan condition would overrun my kingdom with a mighty force and
+strip me of all, not leaving me even a small village to shelter me;
+but that I could avoid all this ruin and misfortune if I were
+willing to marry him; however, as far as he could see, he never
+expected that I would consent to a marriage so unequal; and he said no
+more than the truth in this, for it has never entered my mind to marry
+that giant, or any other, let him be ever so great or enormous. My
+father said, too, that when he was dead, and I saw Pandafilando
+about to invade my kingdom, I was not to wait and attempt to defend
+myself, for that would be destructive to me, but that I should leave
+the kingdom entirely open to him if I wished to avoid the death and
+total destruction of my good and loyal vassals, for there would be
+no possibility of defending myself against the giant's devilish power;
+and that I should at once with some of my followers set out for Spain,
+where I should obtain relief in my distress on finding a certain
+knight-errant whose fame by that time would extend over the whole
+kingdom, and who would be called, if I remember rightly, Don Azote
+or Don Gigote."
+
+"'Don Quixote,' he must have said, senora," observed Sancho at this,
+"otherwise called the Knight of the Rueful Countenance."
+
+"That is it," said Dorothea; "he said, moreover, that he would be
+tall of stature and lank featured; and that on his right side under
+the left shoulder, or thereabouts, he would have a grey mole with
+hairs like bristles."
+
+On hearing this, Don Quixote said to his squire, "Here, Sancho my
+son, bear a hand and help me to strip, for I want to see if I am the
+knight that sage king foretold."
+
+"What does your worship want to strip for?" said Dorothea.
+
+"To see if I have that mole your father spoke of," answered Don
+Quixote.
+
+"There is no occasion to strip," said Sancho; "for I know your
+worship has just such a mole on the middle of your backbone, which
+is the mark of a strong man."
+
+"That is enough," said Dorothea, "for with friends we must not
+look too closely into trifles; and whether it be on the shoulder or on
+the backbone matters little; it is enough if there is a mole, be it
+where it may, for it is all the same flesh; no doubt my good father
+hit the truth in every particular, and I have made a lucky hit in
+commending myself to Don Quixote; for he is the one my father spoke
+of, as the features of his countenance correspond with those
+assigned to this knight by that wide fame he has acquired not only
+in Spain but in all La Mancha; for I had scarcely landed at Osuna when
+I heard such accounts of his achievements, that at once my heart
+told me he was the very one I had come in search of."
+
+"But how did you land at Osuna, senora," asked Don Quixote, "when it
+is not a seaport?"
+
+But before Dorothea could reply the curate anticipated her,
+saying, "The princess meant to say that after she had landed at Malaga
+the first place where she heard of your worship was Osuna."
+
+"That is what I meant to say," said Dorothea.
+
+"And that would be only natural," said the curate. "Will your
+majesty please proceed?"
+
+"There is no more to add," said Dorothea, "save that in finding
+Don Quixote I have had such good fortune, that I already reckon and
+regard myself queen and mistress of my entire dominions, since of
+his courtesy and magnanimity he has granted me the boon of
+accompanying me whithersoever I may conduct him, which will be only to
+bring him face to face with Pandafilando of the Scowl, that he may
+slay him and restore to me what has been unjustly usurped by him:
+for all this must come to pass satisfactorily since my good father
+Tinacrio the Sapient foretold it, who likewise left it declared in
+writing in Chaldee or Greek characters (for I cannot read them),
+that if this predicted knight, after having cut the giant's throat,
+should be disposed to marry me I was to offer myself at once without
+demur as his lawful wife, and yield him possession of my kingdom
+together with my person."
+
+"What thinkest thou now, friend Sancho?" said Don Quixote at this.
+"Hearest thou that? Did I not tell thee so? See how we have already
+got a kingdom to govern and a queen to marry!"
+
+"On my oath it is so," said Sancho; "and foul fortune to him who
+won't marry after slitting Senor Pandahilado's windpipe! And then, how
+illfavoured the queen is! I wish the fleas in my bed were that sort!"
+
+And so saying he cut a couple of capers in the air with every sign
+of extreme satisfaction, and then ran to seize the bridle of
+Dorothea's mule, and checking it fell on his knees before her, begging
+her to give him her hand to kiss in token of his acknowledgment of her
+as his queen and mistress. Which of the bystanders could have helped
+laughing to see the madness of the master and the simplicity of the
+servant? Dorothea therefore gave her hand, and promised to make him
+a great lord in her kingdom, when Heaven should be so good as to
+permit her to recover and enjoy it, for which Sancho returned thanks
+in words that set them all laughing again.
+
+"This, sirs," continued Dorothea, "is my story; it only remains to
+tell you that of all the attendants I took with me from my kingdom I
+have none left except this well-bearded squire, for all were drowned
+in a great tempest we encountered when in sight of port; and he and
+I came to land on a couple of planks as if by a miracle; and indeed
+the whole course of my life is a miracle and a mystery as you may have
+observed; and if I have been over minute in any respect or not as
+precise as I ought, let it be accounted for by what the licentiate
+said at the beginning of my tale, that constant and excessive troubles
+deprive the sufferers of their memory."
+
+"They shall not deprive me of mine, exalted and worthy princess,"
+said Don Quixote, "however great and unexampled those which I shall
+endure in your service may be; and here I confirm anew the boon I have
+promised you, and I swear to go with you to the end of the world until
+I find myself in the presence of your fierce enemy, whose haughty head
+I trust by the aid of my arm to cut off with the edge of this- I
+will not say good sword, thanks to Gines de Pasamonte who carried away
+mine"- (this he said between his teeth, and then continued), "and when
+it has been cut off and you have been put in peaceful possession of
+your realm it shall be left to your own decision to dispose of your
+person as may be most pleasing to you; for so long as my memory is
+occupied, my will enslaved, and my understanding enthralled by her-
+I say no more- it is impossible for me for a moment to contemplate
+marriage, even with a Phoenix."
+
+The last words of his master about not wanting to marry were so
+disagreeable to Sancho that raising his voice he exclaimed with
+great irritation:
+
+"By my oath, Senor Don Quixote, you are not in your right senses;
+for how can your worship possibly object to marrying such an exalted
+princess as this? Do you think Fortune will offer you behind every
+stone such a piece of luck as is offered you now? Is my lady
+Dulcinea fairer, perchance? Not she; nor half as fair; and I will even
+go so far as to say she does not come up to the shoe of this one here.
+A poor chance I have of getting that county I am waiting for if your
+worship goes looking for dainties in the bottom of the sea. In the
+devil's name, marry, marry, and take this kingdom that comes to hand
+without any trouble, and when you are king make me a marquis or
+governor of a province, and for the rest let the devil take it all."
+
+Don Quixote, when he heard such blasphemies uttered against his lady
+Dulcinea, could not endure it, and lifting his pike, without saying
+anything to Sancho or uttering a word, he gave him two such thwacks
+that he brought him to the ground; and had it not been that Dorothea
+cried out to him to spare him he would have no doubt taken his life on
+the spot.
+
+"Do you think," he said to him after a pause, "you scurvy clown,
+that you are to be always interfering with me, and that you are to
+be always offending and I always pardoning? Don't fancy it, impious
+scoundrel, for that beyond a doubt thou art, since thou hast set thy
+tongue going against the peerless Dulcinea. Know you not, lout,
+vagabond, beggar, that were it not for the might that she infuses into
+my arm I should not have strength enough to kill a flea? Say,
+scoffer with a viper's tongue, what think you has won this kingdom and
+cut off this giant's head and made you a marquis (for all this I count
+as already accomplished and decided), but the might of Dulcinea,
+employing my arm as the instrument of her achievements? She fights
+in me and conquers in me, and I live and breathe in her, and owe my
+life and being to her. O whoreson scoundrel, how ungrateful you are,
+you see yourself raised from the dust of the earth to be a titled
+lord, and the return you make for so great a benefit is to speak
+evil of her who has conferred it upon you!"
+
+Sancho was not so stunned but that he heard all his master said, and
+rising with some degree of nimbleness he ran to place himself behind
+Dorothea's palfrey, and from that position he said to his master:
+
+"Tell me, senor; if your worship is resolved not to marry this great
+princess, it is plain the kingdom will not be yours; and not being so,
+how can you bestow favours upon me? That is what I complain of. Let
+your worship at any rate marry this queen, now that we have got her
+here as if showered down from heaven, and afterwards you may go back
+to my lady Dulcinea; for there must have been kings in the world who
+kept mistresses. As to beauty, I have nothing to do with it; and if
+the truth is to be told, I like them both; though I have never seen
+the lady Dulcinea."
+
+"How! never seen her, blasphemous traitor!" exclaimed Don Quixote;
+"hast thou not just now brought me a message from her?"
+
+"I mean," said Sancho, "that I did not see her so much at my leisure
+that I could take particular notice of her beauty, or of her charms
+piecemeal; but taken in the lump I like her."
+
+"Now I forgive thee," said Don Quixote; "and do thou forgive me
+the injury I have done thee; for our first impulses are not in our
+control."
+
+"That I see," replied Sancho, "and with me the wish to speak is
+always the first impulse, and I cannot help saying, once at any
+rate, what I have on the tip of my tongue."
+
+"For all that, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "take heed of what thou
+sayest, for the pitcher goes so often to the well- I need say no
+more to thee."
+
+"Well, well," said Sancho, "God is in heaven, and sees all tricks,
+and will judge who does most harm, I in not speaking right, or your
+worship in not doing it."
+
+"That is enough," said Dorothea; "run, Sancho, and kiss your
+lord's hand and beg his pardon, and henceforward be more circumspect
+with your praise and abuse; and say nothing in disparagement of that
+lady Toboso, of whom I know nothing save that I am her servant; and
+put your trust in God, for you will not fail to obtain some dignity so
+as to live like a prince."
+
+Sancho advanced hanging his head and begged his master's hand, which
+Don Quixote with dignity presented to him, giving him his blessing
+as soon as he had kissed it; he then bade him go on ahead a little, as
+he had questions to ask him and matters of great importance to discuss
+with him. Sancho obeyed, and when the two had gone some distance in
+advance Don Quixote said to him, "Since thy return I have had no
+opportunity or time to ask thee many particulars touching thy
+mission and the answer thou hast brought back, and now that chance has
+granted us the time and opportunity, deny me not the happiness thou
+canst give me by such good news."
+
+"Let your worship ask what you will," answered Sancho, "for I
+shall find a way out of all as as I found a way in; but I implore you,
+senor, not not to be so revengeful in future."
+
+"Why dost thou say that, Sancho?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"I say it," he returned, "because those blows just now were more
+because of the quarrel the devil stirred up between us both the
+other night, than for what I said against my lady Dulcinea, whom I
+love and reverence as I would a relic- though there is nothing of that
+about her- merely as something belonging to your worship."
+
+"Say no more on that subject for thy life, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote, "for it is displeasing to me; I have already pardoned thee
+for that, and thou knowest the common saying, 'for a fresh sin a fresh
+penance.'"
+
+While this was going on they saw coming along the road they were
+following a man mounted on an ass, who when he came close seemed to be
+a gipsy; but Sancho Panza, whose eyes and heart were there wherever he
+saw asses, no sooner beheld the man than he knew him to be Gines de
+Pasamonte; and by the thread of the gipsy he got at the ball, his ass,
+for it was, in fact, Dapple that carried Pasamonte, who to escape
+recognition and to sell the ass had disguised himself as a gipsy,
+being able to speak the gipsy language, and many more, as well as if
+they were his own. Sancho saw him and recognised him, and the
+instant he did so he shouted to him, "Ginesillo, you thief, give up my
+treasure, release my life, embarrass thyself not with my repose,
+quit my ass, leave my delight, be off, rip, get thee gone, thief,
+and give up what is not thine."
+
+There was no necessity for so many words or objurgations, for at the
+first one Gines jumped down, and at a like racing speed made off and
+got clear of them all. Sancho hastened to his Dapple, and embracing
+him he said, "How hast thou fared, my blessing, Dapple of my eyes,
+my comrade?" all the while kissing him and caressing him as if he were
+a human being. The ass held his peace, and let himself be kissed and
+caressed by Sancho without answering a single word. They all came up
+and congratulated him on having found Dapple, Don Quixote
+especially, who told him that notwithstanding this he would not cancel
+the order for the three ass-colts, for which Sancho thanked him.
+
+While the two had been going along conversing in this fashion, the
+curate observed to Dorothea that she had shown great cleverness, as
+well in the story itself as in its conciseness, and the resemblance it
+bore to those of the books of chivalry. She said that she had many
+times amused herself reading them; but that she did not know the
+situation of the provinces or seaports, and so she had said at
+haphazard that she had landed at Osuna.
+
+"So I saw," said the curate, "and for that reason I made haste to
+say what I did, by which it was all set right. But is it not a strange
+thing to see how readily this unhappy gentleman believes all these
+figments and lies, simply because they are in the style and manner
+of the absurdities of his books?"
+
+"So it is," said Cardenio; "and so uncommon and unexampled, that
+were one to attempt to invent and concoct it in fiction, I doubt if
+there be any wit keen enough to imagine it."
+
+"But another strange thing about it," said the curate, "is that,
+apart from the silly things which this worthy gentleman says in
+connection with his craze, when other subjects are dealt with, he
+can discuss them in a perfectly rational manner, showing that his mind
+is quite clear and composed; so that, provided his chivalry is not
+touched upon, no one would take him to be anything but a man of
+thoroughly sound understanding."
+
+While they were holding this conversation Don Quixote continued
+his with Sancho, saying:
+
+"Friend Panza, let us forgive and forget as to our quarrels, and
+tell me now, dismissing anger and irritation, where, how, and when
+didst thou find Dulcinea? What was she doing? What didst thou say to
+her? What did she answer? How did she look when she was reading my
+letter? Who copied it out for thee? and everything in the matter
+that seems to thee worth knowing, asking, and learning; neither adding
+nor falsifying to give me pleasure, nor yet curtailing lest you should
+deprive me of it."
+
+"Senor," replied Sancho, "if the truth is to be told, nobody
+copied out the letter for me, for I carried no letter at all."
+
+"It is as thou sayest," said Don Quixote, "for the note-book in
+which I wrote it I found in my own possession two days after thy
+departure, which gave me very great vexation, as I knew not what
+thou wouldst do on finding thyself without any letter; and I made sure
+thou wouldst return from the place where thou didst first miss it."
+
+"So I should have done," said Sancho, "if I had not got it by
+heart when your worship read it to me, so that I repeated it to a
+sacristan, who copied it out for me from hearing it, so exactly that
+he said in all the days of his life, though he had read many a
+letter of excommunication, he had never seen or read so pretty a
+letter as that."
+
+"And hast thou got it still in thy memory, Sancho?" said Don
+Quixote.
+
+"No, senor," replied Sancho, "for as soon as I had repeated it,
+seeing there was no further use for it, I set about forgetting it; and
+if I recollect any of it, it is that about 'Scrubbing,'I mean to say
+'Sovereign Lady,' and the end 'Yours till death, the Knight of the
+Rueful Countenance;' and between these two I put into it more than
+three hundred 'my souls' and 'my life's' and 'my eyes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+OF THE DELECTABLE DISCUSSION BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO PANZA,
+HIS SQUIRE, TOGETHER WITH OTHER INCIDENTS
+
+"All that is not unsatisfactory to me," said Don Quixote. "Go on;
+thou didst reach her; and what was that queen of beauty doing?
+Surely thou didst find her stringing pearls, or embroidering some
+device in gold thread for this her enslaved knight."
+
+"I did not," said Sancho, "but I found her winnowing two bushels
+of wheat in the yard of her house."
+
+"Then depend upon it," said Don Quixote, "the grains of that wheat
+were pearls when touched by her hands; and didst thou look, friend?
+was it white wheat or brown?"
+
+"It was neither, but red," said Sancho.
+
+"Then I promise thee," said Don Quixote, "that, winnowed by her
+hands, beyond a doubt the bread it made was of the whitest; but go on;
+when thou gavest her my letter, did she kiss it? Did she place it on
+her head? Did she perform any ceremony befitting it, or what did she
+do?"
+
+"When I went to give it to her," replied Sancho, "she was hard at it
+swaying from side to side with a lot of wheat she had in the sieve,
+and she said to me, 'Lay the letter, friend, on the top of that
+sack, for I cannot read it until I have done sifting all this."
+
+"Discreet lady!" said Don Quixote; "that was in order to read it
+at her leisure and enjoy it; proceed, Sancho; while she was engaged in
+her occupation what converse did she hold with thee? What did she
+ask about me, and what answer didst thou give? Make haste; tell me
+all, and let not an atom be left behind in the ink-bottle."
+
+"She asked me nothing," said Sancho; "but I told her how your
+worship was left doing penance in her service, naked from the waist
+up, in among these mountains like a savage, sleeping on the ground,
+not eating bread off a tablecloth nor combing your beard, weeping
+and cursing your fortune."
+
+"In saying I cursed my fortune thou saidst wrong," said Don Quixote;
+"for rather do I bless it and shall bless it all the days of my life
+for having made me worthy of aspiring to love so lofty a lady as
+Dulcinea del Toboso."
+
+"And so lofty she is," said Sancho, "that she overtops me by more
+than a hand's-breadth."
+
+"What! Sancho," said Don Quixote, "didst thou measure with her?"
+
+"I measured in this way," said Sancho; "going to help her to put a
+sack of wheat on the back of an ass, we came so close together that
+I could see she stood more than a good palm over me."
+
+"Well!" said Don Quixote, "and doth she not of a truth accompany and
+adorn this greatness with a thousand million charms of mind! But one
+thing thou wilt not deny, Sancho; when thou camest close to her
+didst thou not perceive a Sabaean odour, an aromatic fragrance, a, I
+know not what, delicious, that I cannot find a name for; I mean a
+redolence, an exhalation, as if thou wert in the shop of some dainty
+glover?"
+
+"All I can say is," said Sancho, "that I did perceive a little
+odour, something goaty; it must have been that she was all in a
+sweat with hard work."
+
+"It could not be that," said Don Quixote, "but thou must have been
+suffering from cold in the head, or must have smelt thyself; for I
+know well what would be the scent of that rose among thorns, that lily
+of the field, that dissolved amber."
+
+"Maybe so," replied Sancho; "there often comes from myself that same
+odour which then seemed to me to come from her grace the lady
+Dulcinea; but that's no wonder, for one devil is like another."
+
+"Well then," continued Don Quixote, "now she has done sifting the
+corn and sent it to the mill; what did she do when she read the
+letter?"
+
+"As for the letter," said Sancho, "she did not read it, for she said
+she could neither read nor write; instead of that she tore it up
+into small pieces, saying that she did not want to let anyone read
+it lest her secrets should become known in the village, and that
+what I had told her by word of mouth about the love your worship
+bore her, and the extraordinary penance you were doing for her sake,
+was enough; and, to make an end of it, she told me to tell your
+worship that she kissed your hands, and that she had a greater
+desire to see you than to write to you; and that therefore she
+entreated and commanded you, on sight of this present, to come out
+of these thickets, and to have done with carrying on absurdities,
+and to set out at once for El Toboso, unless something else of greater
+importance should happen, for she had a great desire to see your
+worship. She laughed greatly when I told her how your worship was
+called The Knight of the Rueful Countenance; I asked her if that
+Biscayan the other day had been there; and she told me he had, and
+that he was an honest fellow; I asked her too about the galley slaves,
+but she said she had not seen any as yet."
+
+"So far all goes well," said Don Quixote; "but tell me what jewel
+was it that she gave thee on taking thy leave, in return for thy
+tidings of me? For it is a usual and ancient custom with knights and
+ladies errant to give the squires, damsels, or dwarfs who bring
+tidings of their ladies to the knights, or of their knights to the
+ladies, some rich jewel as a guerdon for good news,' and
+acknowledgment of the message."
+
+"That is very likely," said Sancho, "and a good custom it was, to my
+mind; but that must have been in days gone by, for now it would seem
+to be the custom only to give a piece of bread and cheese; because
+that was what my lady Dulcinea gave me over the top of the yard-wall
+when I took leave of her; and more by token it was sheep's-milk
+cheese."
+
+"She is generous in the extreme," said Don Quixote, "and if she
+did not give thee a jewel of gold, no doubt it must have been
+because she had not one to hand there to give thee; but sleeves are
+good after Easter; I shall see her and all shall be made right. But
+knowest thou what amazes me, Sancho? It seems to me thou must have
+gone and come through the air, for thou hast taken but little more
+than three days to go to El Toboso and return, though it is more
+than thirty leagues from here to there. From which I am inclined to
+think that the sage magician who is my friend, and watches over my
+interests (for of necessity there is and must be one, or else I should
+not be a right knight-errant), that this same, I say, must have helped
+thee to travel without thy knowledge; for some of these sages will
+catch up a knight-errant sleeping in his bed, and without his
+knowing how or in what way it happened, he wakes up the next day
+more than a thousand leagues away from the place where he went to
+sleep. And if it were not for this, knights-errant would not be able
+to give aid to one another in peril, as they do at every turn. For a
+knight, maybe, is fighting in the mountains of Armenia with some
+dragon, or fierce serpent, or another knight, and gets the worst of
+the battle, and is at the point of death; but when he least looks
+for it, there appears over against him on a cloud, or chariot of fire,
+another knight, a friend of his, who just before had been in
+England, and who takes his part, and delivers him from death; and at
+night he finds himself in his own quarters supping very much to his
+satisfaction; and yet from one place to the other will have been two
+or three thousand leagues. And all this is done by the craft and skill
+of the sage enchanters who take care of those valiant knights; so
+that, friend Sancho, I find no difficulty in believing that thou
+mayest have gone from this place to El Toboso and returned in such a
+short time, since, as I have said, some friendly sage must have
+carried thee through the air without thee perceiving it."
+
+"That must have been it," said Sancho, "for indeed Rocinante went
+like a gipsy's ass with quicksilver in his ears."
+
+"Quicksilver!" said Don Quixote, "aye and what is more, a legion
+of devils, folk that can travel and make others travel without being
+weary, exactly as the whim seizes them. But putting this aside, what
+thinkest thou I ought to do about my lady's command to go and see her?
+For though I feel that I am bound to obey her mandate, I feel too that
+I am debarred by the boon I have accorded to the princess that
+accompanies us, and the law of chivalry compels me to have regard
+for my word in preference to my inclination; on the one hand the
+desire to see my lady pursues and harasses me, on the other my
+solemn promise and the glory I shall win in this enterprise urge and
+call me; but what I think I shall do is to travel with all speed and
+reach quickly the place where this giant is, and on my arrival I shall
+cut off his head, and establish the princess peacefully in her
+realm, and forthwith I shall return to behold the light that
+lightens my senses, to whom I shall make such excuses that she will be
+led to approve of my delay, for she will see that it entirely tends to
+increase her glory and fame; for all that I have won, am winning, or
+shall win by arms in this life, comes to me of the favour she
+extends to me, and because I am hers."
+
+"Ah! what a sad state your worship's brains are in!" said Sancho.
+"Tell me, senor, do you mean to travel all that way for nothing, and
+to let slip and lose so rich and great a match as this where they give
+as a portion a kingdom that in sober truth I have heard say is more
+than twenty thousand leagues round about, and abounds with all
+things necessary to support human life, and is bigger than Portugal
+and Castile put together? Peace, for the love of God! Blush for what
+you have said, and take my advice, and forgive me, and marry at once
+in the first village where there is a curate; if not, here is our
+licentiate who will do the business beautifully; remember, I am old
+enough to give advice, and this I am giving comes pat to the
+purpose; for a sparrow in the hand is better than a vulture on the
+wing, and he who has the good to his hand and chooses the bad, that
+the good he complains of may not come to him."
+
+"Look here, Sancho," said Don Quixote. "If thou art advising me to
+marry, in order that immediately on slaying the giant I may become
+king, and be able to confer favours on thee, and give thee what I have
+promised, let me tell thee I shall be able very easily to satisfy
+thy desires without marrying; for before going into battle I will make
+it a stipulation that, if I come out of it victorious, even I do not
+marry, they shall give me a portion portion of the kingdom, that I may
+bestow it upon whomsoever I choose, and when they give it to me upon
+whom wouldst thou have me bestow it but upon thee?"
+
+"That is plain speaking," said Sancho; "but let your worship take
+care to choose it on the seacoast, so that if I don't like the life, I
+may be able to ship off my black vassals and deal with them as I
+have said; don't mind going to see my lady Dulcinea now, but go and
+kill this giant and let us finish off this business; for by God it
+strikes me it will be one of great honour and great profit."
+
+"I hold thou art in the right of it, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and
+I will take thy advice as to accompanying the princess before going to
+see Dulcinea; but I counsel thee not to say anything to any one, or to
+those who are with us, about what we have considered and discussed,
+for as Dulcinea is so decorous that she does not wish her thoughts
+to be known it is not right that I or anyone for me should disclose
+them."
+
+"Well then, if that be so," said Sancho, "how is it that your
+worship makes all those you overcome by your arm go to present
+themselves before my lady Dulcinea, this being the same thing as
+signing your name to it that you love her and are her lover? And as
+those who go must perforce kneel before her and say they come from
+your worship to submit themselves to her, how can the thoughts of both
+of you be hid?"
+
+"O, how silly and simple thou art!" said Don Quixote; "seest thou
+not, Sancho, that this tends to her greater exaltation? For thou
+must know that according to our way of thinking in chivalry, it is a
+high honour to a lady to have many knights-errant in her service,
+whose thoughts never go beyond serving her for her own sake, and who
+look for no other reward for their great and true devotion than that
+she should be willing to accept them as her knights."
+
+"It is with that kind of love," said Sancho, "I have heard preachers
+say we ought to love our Lord, for himself alone, without being
+moved by the hope of glory or the fear of punishment; though for my
+part, I would rather love and serve him for what he could do."
+
+"The devil take thee for a clown!" said Don Quixote, "and what
+shrewd things thou sayest at times! One would think thou hadst
+studied."
+
+"In faith, then, I cannot even read."
+
+Master Nicholas here called out to them to wait a while, as they
+wanted to halt and drink at a little spring there was there. Don
+Quixote drew up, not a little to the satisfaction of Sancho, for he
+was by this time weary of telling so many lies, and in dread of his
+master catching him tripping, for though he knew that Dulcinea was a
+peasant girl of El Toboso, he had never seen her in all his life.
+Cardenio had now put on the clothes which Dorothea was wearing when
+they found her, and though they were not very good, they were far
+better than those he put off. They dismounted together by the side
+of the spring, and with what the curate had provided himself with at
+the inn they appeased, though not very well, the keen appetite they
+all of them brought with them.
+
+While they were so employed there happened to come by a youth
+passing on his way, who stopping to examine the party at the spring,
+the next moment ran to Don Quixote and clasping him round the legs,
+began to weep freely, saying, "O, senor, do you not know me? Look at
+me well; I am that lad Andres that your worship released from the
+oak-tree where I was tied."
+
+Don Quixote recognised him, and taking his hand he turned to those
+present and said: "That your worships may see how important it is to
+have knights-errant to redress the wrongs and injuries done by
+tyrannical and wicked men in this world, I may tell you that some days
+ago passing through a wood, I heard cries and piteous complaints as of
+a person in pain and distress; I immediately hastened, impelled by
+my bounden duty, to the quarter whence the plaintive accents seemed to
+me to proceed, and I found tied to an oak this lad who now stands
+before you, which in my heart I rejoice at, for his testimony will not
+permit me to depart from the truth in any particular. He was, I say,
+tied to an oak, naked from the waist up, and a clown, whom I
+afterwards found to be his master, was scarifying him by lashes with
+the reins of his mare. As soon as I saw him I asked the reason of so
+cruel a flagellation. The boor replied that he was flogging him
+because he was his servant and because of carelessness that
+proceeded rather from dishonesty than stupidity; on which this boy
+said, 'Senor, he flogs me only because I ask for my wages.' The master
+made I know not what speeches and explanations, which, though I
+listened to them, I did not accept. In short, I compelled the clown to
+unbind him, and to swear he would take him with him, and pay him
+real by real, and perfumed into the bargain. Is not all this true,
+Andres my son? Didst thou not mark with what authority I commanded
+him, and with what humility he promised to do all I enjoined,
+specified, and required of him? Answer without hesitation; tell
+these gentlemen what took place, that they may see that it is as great
+an advantage as I say to have knights-errant abroad."
+
+"All that your worship has said is quite true," answered the lad;
+"but the end of the business turned out just the opposite of what your
+worship supposes."
+
+"How! the opposite?" said Don Quixote; "did not the clown pay thee
+then?"
+
+"Not only did he not pay me," replied the lad, "but as soon as
+your worship had passed out of the wood and we were alone, he tied
+me up again to the same oak and gave me a fresh flogging, that left me
+like a flayed Saint Bartholomew; and every stroke he gave me he
+followed up with some jest or gibe about having made a fool of your
+worship, and but for the pain I was suffering I should have laughed at
+the things he said. In short he left me in such a condition that I
+have been until now in a hospital getting cured of the injuries
+which that rascally clown inflicted on me then; for all which your
+worship is to blame; for if you had gone your own way and not come
+where there was no call for you, nor meddled in other people's
+affairs, my master would have been content with giving me one or two
+dozen lashes, and would have then loosed me and paid me what he owed
+me; but when your worship abused him so out of measure, and gave him
+so many hard words, his anger was kindled; and as he could not revenge
+himself on you, as soon as he saw you had left him the storm burst
+upon me in such a way, that I feel as if I should never be a man
+again."
+
+"The mischief," said Don Quixote, "lay in my going away; for I
+should not have gone until I had seen thee paid; because I ought to
+have known well by long experience that there is no clown who will
+keep his word if he finds it will not suit him to keep it; but thou
+rememberest, Andres, that I swore if he did not pay thee I would go
+and seek him, and find him though he were to hide himself in the
+whale's belly."
+
+"That is true," said Andres; "but it was of no use."
+
+"Thou shalt see now whether it is of use or not," said Don
+Quixote; and so saying, he got up hastily and bade Sancho bridle
+Rocinante, who was browsing while they were eating. Dorothea asked him
+what he meant to do. He replied that he meant to go in search of
+this clown and chastise him for such iniquitous conduct, and see
+Andres paid to the last maravedi, despite and in the teeth of all
+the clowns in the world. To which she replied that he must remember
+that in accordance with his promise he could not engage in any
+enterprise until he had concluded hers; and that as he knew this
+better than anyone, he should restrain his ardour until his return
+from her kingdom.
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote, "and Andres must have patience
+until my return as you say, senora; but I once more swear and
+promise not to stop until I have seen him avenged and paid."
+
+"I have no faith in those oaths," said Andres; "I would rather
+have now something to help me to get to Seville than all the
+revenges in the world; if you have here anything to eat that I can
+take with me, give it me, and God be with your worship and all
+knights-errant; and may their errands turn out as well for
+themselves as they have for me."
+
+Sancho took out from his store a piece of bread and another of
+cheese, and giving them to the lad he said, "Here, take this,
+brother Andres, for we have all of us a share in your misfortune."
+
+"Why, what share have you got?"
+
+"This share of bread and cheese I am giving you," answered Sancho;
+"and God knows whether I shall feel the want of it myself or not;
+for I would have you know, friend, that we squires to knights-errant
+have to bear a great deal of hunger and hard fortune, and even other
+things more easily felt than told."
+
+Andres seized his bread and cheese, and seeing that nobody gave
+him anything more, bent his head, and took hold of the road, as the
+saying is. However, before leaving he said, "For the love of God,
+sir knight-errant, if you ever meet me again, though you may see
+them cutting me to pieces, give me no aid or succour, but leave me
+to my misfortune, which will not be so great but that a greater will
+come to me by being helped by your worship, on whom and all the
+knights-errant that have ever been born God send his curse."
+
+Don Quixote was getting up to chastise him, but he took to his heels
+at such a pace that no one attempted to follow him; and mightily
+chapfallen was Don Quixote at Andres' story, and the others had to
+take great care to restrain their laughter so as not to put him
+entirely out of countenance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+WHICH TREATS OF WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE'S PARTY AT THE INN
+
+Their dainty repast being finished, they saddled at once, and
+without any adventure worth mentioning they reached next day the
+inn, the object of Sancho Panza's fear and dread; but though he
+would have rather not entered it, there was no help for it. The
+landlady, the landlord, their daughter, and Maritornes, when they
+saw Don Quixote and Sancho coming, went out to welcome them with signs
+of hearty satisfaction, which Don Quixote received with dignity and
+gravity, and bade them make up a better bed for him than the last
+time: to which the landlady replied that if he paid better than he did
+the last time she would give him one fit for a prince. Don Quixote
+said he would, so they made up a tolerable one for him in the same
+garret as before; and he lay down at once, being sorely shaken and
+in want of sleep.
+
+No sooner was the door shut upon him than the landlady made at the
+barber, and seizing him by the beard, said:
+
+"By my faith you are not going to make a beard of my tail any
+longer; you must give me back tail, for it is a shame the way that
+thing of my husband's goes tossing about on the floor; I mean the comb
+that I used to stick in my good tail."
+
+But for all she tugged at it the barber would not give it up until
+the licentiate told him to let her have it, as there was now no
+further occasion for that stratagem, because he might declare
+himself and appear in his own character, and tell Don Quixote that
+he had fled to this inn when those thieves the galley slaves robbed
+him; and should he ask for the princess's squire, they could tell
+him that she had sent him on before her to give notice to the people
+of her kingdom that she was coming, and bringing with her the
+deliverer of them all. On this the barber cheerfully restored the tail
+to the landlady, and at the same time they returned all the
+accessories they had borrowed to effect Don Quixote's deliverance. All
+the people of the inn were struck with astonishment at the beauty of
+Dorothea, and even at the comely figure of the shepherd Cardenio.
+The curate made them get ready such fare as there was in the inn,
+and the landlord, in hope of better payment, served them up a
+tolerably good dinner. All this time Don Quixote was asleep, and
+they thought it best not to waken him, as sleeping would now do him
+more good than eating.
+
+While at dinner, the company consisting of the landlord, his wife,
+their daughter, Maritornes, and all the travellers, they discussed the
+strange craze of Don Quixote and the manner in which he had been
+found; and the landlady told them what had taken place between him and
+the carrier; and then, looking round to see if Sancho was there,
+when she saw he was not, she gave them the whole story of his
+blanketing, which they received with no little amusement. But on the
+curate observing that it was the books of chivalry which Don Quixote
+had read that had turned his brain, the landlord said:
+
+"I cannot understand how that can be, for in truth to my mind
+there is no better reading in the world, and I have here two or
+three of them, with other writings that are the very life, not only of
+myself but of plenty more; for when it is harvest-time, the reapers
+flock here on holidays, and there is always one among them who can
+read and who takes up one of these books, and we gather round him,
+thirty or more of us, and stay listening to him with a delight that
+makes our grey hairs grow young again. At least I can say for myself
+that when I hear of what furious and terrible blows the knights
+deliver, I am seized with the longing to do the same, and I would like
+to be hearing about them night and day."
+
+"And I just as much," said the landlady, "because I never have a
+quiet moment in my house except when you are listening to some one
+reading; for then you are so taken up that for the time being you
+forget to scold."
+
+"That is true," said Maritornes; "and, faith, I relish hearing these
+things greatly too, for they are very pretty; especially when they
+describe some lady or another in the arms of her knight under the
+orange trees, and the duenna who is keeping watch for them half dead
+with envy and fright; all this I say is as good as honey."
+
+"And you, what do you think, young lady?" said the curate turning to
+the landlord's daughter.
+
+"I don't know indeed, senor," said she; "I listen too, and to tell
+the truth, though I do not understand it, I like hearing it; but it is
+not the blows that my father likes that I like, but the laments the
+knights utter when they are separated from their ladies; and indeed
+they sometimes make me weep with the pity I feel for them."
+
+"Then you would console them if it was for you they wept, young
+lady?" said Dorothea.
+
+"I don't know what I should do," said the girl; "I only know that
+there are some of those ladies so cruel that they call their knights
+tigers and lions and a thousand other foul names: and Jesus! I don't
+know what sort of folk they can be, so unfeeling and heartless, that
+rather than bestow a glance upon a worthy man they leave him to die or
+go mad. I don't know what is the good of such prudery; if it is for
+honour's sake, why not marry them? That's all they want."
+
+"Hush, child," said the landlady; "it seems to me thou knowest a
+great deal about these things, and it is not fit for girls to know
+or talk so much."
+
+"As the gentleman asked me, I could not help answering him," said
+the girl.
+
+"Well then," said the curate, "bring me these books, senor landlord,
+for I should like to see them."
+
+"With all my heart," said he, and going into his own room he brought
+out an old valise secured with a little chain, on opening which the
+curate found in it three large books and some manuscripts written in a
+very good hand. The first that he opened he found to be "Don
+Cirongilio of Thrace," and the second "Don Felixmarte of Hircania,"
+and the other the "History of the Great Captain Gonzalo Hernandez de
+Cordova, with the Life of Diego Garcia de Paredes."
+
+When the curate read the two first titles he looked over at the
+barber and said, "We want my friend's housekeeper and niece here now."
+
+"Nay," said the barber, "I can do just as well to carry them to
+the yard or to the hearth, and there is a very good fire there."
+
+"What! your worship would burn my books!" said the landlord.
+
+"Only these two," said the curate, "Don Cirongilio, and Felixmarte."
+
+"Are my books, then, heretics or phlegmaties that you want to burn
+them?" said the landlord.
+
+"Schismatics you mean, friend," said the barber, "not phlegmatics."
+
+"That's it," said the landlord; "but if you want to burn any, let it
+be that about the Great Captain and that Diego Garcia; for I would
+rather have a child of mine burnt than either of the others."
+
+"Brother," said the curate, "those two books are made up of lies,
+and are full of folly and nonsense; but this of the Great Captain is a
+true history, and contains the deeds of Gonzalo Hernandez of
+Cordova, who by his many and great achievements earned the title all
+over the world of the Great Captain, a famous and illustrious name,
+and deserved by him alone; and this Diego Garcia de Paredes was a
+distinguished knight of the city of Trujillo in Estremadura, a most
+gallant soldier, and of such bodily strength that with one finger he
+stopped a mill-wheel in full motion; and posted with a two-handed
+sword at the foot of a bridge he kept the whole of an immense army
+from passing over it, and achieved such other exploits that if,
+instead of his relating them himself with the modesty of a knight
+and of one writing his own history, some free and unbiassed writer had
+recorded them, they would have thrown into the shade all the deeds
+of the Hectors, Achilleses, and Rolands."
+
+"Tell that to my father," said the landlord. "There's a thing to
+be astonished at! Stopping a mill-wheel! By God your worship should
+read what I have read of Felixmarte of Hircania, how with one single
+backstroke he cleft five giants asunder through the middle as if
+they had been made of bean-pods like the little friars the children
+make; and another time he attacked a very great and powerful army,
+in which there were more than a million six hundred thousand soldiers,
+all armed from head to foot, and he routed them all as if they had
+been flocks of sheep. And then, what do you say to the good Cirongilio
+of Thrace, that was so stout and bold; as may be seen in the book,
+where it is related that as he was sailing along a river there came up
+out of the midst of the water against him a fiery serpent, and he,
+as soon as he saw it, flung himself upon it and got astride of its
+scaly shoulders, and squeezed its throat with both hands with such
+force that the serpent, finding he was throttling it, had nothing
+for it but to let itself sink to the bottom of the river, carrying
+with it the knight who would not let go his hold; and when they got
+down there he found himself among palaces and gardens so pretty that
+it was a wonder to see; and then the serpent changed itself into an
+old ancient man, who told him such things as were never heard. Hold
+your peace, senor; for if you were to hear this you would go mad
+with delight. A couple of figs for your Great Captain and your Diego
+Garcia!"
+
+Hearing this Dorothea said in a whisper to Cardenio, "Our landlord
+is almost fit to play a second part to Don Quixote."
+
+"I think so," said Cardenio, "for, as he shows, he accepts it as a
+certainty that everything those books relate took place exactly as
+it is written down; and the barefooted friars themselves would not
+persuade him to the contrary."
+
+"But consider, brother, said the curate once more, "there never
+was any Felixmarte of Hircania in the world, nor any Cirongilio of
+Thrace, or any of the other knights of the same sort, that the books
+of chivalry talk of; the whole thing is the fabrication and
+invention of idle wits, devised by them for the purpose you describe
+of beguiling the time, as your reapers do when they read; for I
+swear to you in all seriousness there never were any such knights in
+the world, and no such exploits or nonsense ever happened anywhere."
+
+"Try that bone on another dog," said the landlord; "as if I did
+not know how many make five, and where my shoe pinches me; don't think
+to feed me with pap, for by God I am no fool. It is a good joke for
+your worship to try and persuade me that everything these good books
+say is nonsense and lies, and they printed by the license of the Lords
+of the Royal Council, as if they were people who would allow such a
+lot of lies to be printed all together, and so many battles and
+enchantments that they take away one's senses."
+
+"I have told you, friend," said the curate, "that this is done to
+divert our idle thoughts; and as in well-ordered states games of
+chess, fives, and billiards are allowed for the diversion of those who
+do not care, or are not obliged, or are unable to work, so books of
+this kind are allowed to be printed, on the supposition that, what
+indeed is the truth, there can be nobody so ignorant as to take any of
+them for true stories; and if it were permitted me now, and the
+present company desired it, I could say something about the
+qualities books of chivalry should possess to be good ones, that would
+be to the advantage and even to the taste of some; but I hope the time
+will come when I can communicate my ideas to some one who may be
+able to mend matters; and in the meantime, senor landlord, believe
+what I have said, and take your books, and make up your mind about
+their truth or falsehood, and much good may they do you; and God grant
+you may not fall lame of the same foot your guest Don Quixote halts
+on."
+
+"No fear of that," returned the landlord; "I shall not be so mad
+as to make a knight-errant of myself; for I see well enough that
+things are not now as they used to be in those days, when they say
+those famous knights roamed about the world."
+
+Sancho had made his appearance in the middle of this conversation,
+and he was very much troubled and cast down by what he heard said
+about knights-errant being now no longer in vogue, and all books of
+chivalry being folly and lies; and he resolved in his heart to wait
+and see what came of this journey of his master's, and if it did not
+turn out as happily as his master expected, he determined to leave him
+and go back to his wife and children and his ordinary labour.
+
+The landlord was carrying away the valise and the books, but the
+curate said to him, "Wait; I want to see what those papers are that
+are written in such a good hand." The landlord taking them out
+handed them to him to read, and he perceived they were a work of about
+eight sheets of manuscript, with, in large letters at the beginning,
+the title of "Novel of the Ill-advised Curiosity." The curate read
+three or four lines to himself, and said, "I must say the title of
+this novel does not seem to me a bad one, and I feel an inclination to
+read it all." To which the landlord replied, "Then your reverence will
+do well to read it, for I can tell you that some guests who have
+read it here have been much pleased with it, and have begged it of
+me very earnestly; but I would not give it, meaning to return it to
+the person who forgot the valise, books, and papers here, for maybe he
+will return here some time or other; and though I know I shall miss
+the books, faith I mean to return them; for though I am an
+innkeeper, still I am a Christian."
+
+"You are very right, friend," said the curate; "but for all that, if
+the novel pleases me you must let me copy it."
+
+"With all my heart," replied the host.
+
+While they were talking Cardenio had taken up the novel and begun to
+read it, and forming the same opinion of it as the curate, he begged
+him to read it so that they might all hear it.
+
+"I would read it," said the curate, "if the time would not be better
+spent in sleeping."
+
+"It will be rest enough for me," said Dorothea, "to while away the
+time by listening to some tale, for my spirits are not yet tranquil
+enough to let me sleep when it would be seasonable."
+
+"Well then, in that case," said the curate, "I will read it, if it
+were only out of curiosity; perhaps it may contain something
+pleasant."
+
+Master Nicholas added his entreaties to the same effect, and
+Sancho too; seeing which, and considering that he would give
+pleasure to all, and receive it himself, the curate said, "Well
+then, attend to me everyone, for the novel begins thus."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+IN WHICH IS RELATED THE NOVEL OF "THE ILL-ADVISED CURIOSITY"
+
+In Florence, a rich and famous city of Italy in the province
+called Tuscany, there lived two gentlemen of wealth and quality,
+Anselmo and Lothario, such great friends that by way of distinction
+they were called by all that knew them "The Two Friends." They were
+unmarried, young, of the same age and of the same tastes, which was
+enough to account for the reciprocal friendship between them. Anselmo,
+it is true, was somewhat more inclined to seek pleasure in love than
+Lothario, for whom the pleasures of the chase had more attraction; but
+on occasion Anselmo would forego his own tastes to yield to those of
+Lothario, and Lothario would surrender his to fall in with those of
+Anselmo, and in this way their inclinations kept pace one with the
+other with a concord so perfect that the best regulated clock could
+not surpass it.
+
+Anselmo was deep in love with a high-born and beautiful maiden of
+the same city, the daughter of parents so estimable, and so
+estimable herself, that he resolved, with the approval of his friend
+Lothario, without whom he did nothing, to ask her of them in marriage,
+and did so, Lothario being the bearer of the demand, and conducting
+the negotiation so much to the satisfaction of his friend that in a
+short time he was in possession of the object of his desires, and
+Camilla so happy in having won Anselmo for her husband, that she
+gave thanks unceasingly to heaven and to Lothario, by whose means such
+good fortune had fallen to her. The first few days, those of a wedding
+being usually days of merry-making, Lothario frequented his friend
+Anselmo's house as he had been wont, striving to do honour to him
+and to the occasion, and to gratify him in every way he could; but
+when the wedding days were over and the succession of visits and
+congratulations had slackened, he began purposely to leave off going
+to the house of Anselmo, for it seemed to him, as it naturally would
+to all men of sense, that friends' houses ought not to be visited
+after marriage with the same frequency as in their masters' bachelor
+days: because, though true and genuine friendship cannot and should
+not be in any way suspicious, still a married man's honour is a
+thing of such delicacy that it is held liable to injury from brothers,
+much more from friends. Anselmo remarked the cessation of Lothario's
+visits, and complained of it to him, saying that if he had known
+that marriage was to keep him from enjoying his society as he used, he
+would have never married; and that, if by the thorough harmony that
+subsisted between them while he was a bachelor they had earned such
+a sweet name as that of "The Two Friends," he should not allow a title
+so rare and so delightful to be lost through a needless anxiety to act
+circumspectly; and so he entreated him, if such a phrase was allowable
+between them, to be once more master of his house and to come in and
+go out as formerly, assuring him that his wife Camilla had no other
+desire or inclination than that which he would wish her to have, and
+that knowing how sincerely they loved one another she was grieved to
+see such coldness in him.
+
+To all this and much more that Anselmo said to Lothario to
+persuade him to come to his house as he had been in the habit of
+doing, Lothario replied with so much prudence, sense, and judgment,
+that Anselmo was satisfied of his friend's good intentions, and it was
+agreed that on two days in the week, and on holidays, Lothario
+should come to dine with him; but though this arrangement was made
+between them Lothario resolved to observe it no further than he
+considered to be in accordance with the honour of his friend, whose
+good name was more to him than his own. He said, and justly, that a
+married man upon whom heaven had bestowed a beautiful wife should
+consider as carefully what friends he brought to his house as what
+female friends his wife associated with, for what cannot be done or
+arranged in the market-place, in church, at public festivals or at
+stations (opportunities that husbands cannot always deny their wives),
+may be easily managed in the house of the female friend or relative in
+whom most confidence is reposed. Lothario said, too, that every
+married man should have some friend who would point out to him any
+negligence he might be guilty of in his conduct, for it will sometimes
+happen that owing to the deep affection the husband bears his wife
+either he does not caution her, or, not to vex her, refrains from
+telling her to do or not to do certain things, doing or avoiding which
+may be a matter of honour or reproach to him; and errors of this
+kind he could easily correct if warned by a friend. But where is
+such a friend to be found as Lothario would have, so judicious, so
+loyal, and so true?
+
+Of a truth I know not; Lothario alone was such a one, for with the
+utmost care and vigilance he watched over the honour of his friend,
+and strove to diminish, cut down, and reduce the number of days for
+going to his house according to their agreement, lest the visits of
+a young man, wealthy, high-born, and with the attractions he was
+conscious of possessing, at the house of a woman so beautiful as
+Camilla, should be regarded with suspicion by the inquisitive and
+malicious eyes of the idle public. For though his integrity and
+reputation might bridle slanderous tongues, still he was unwilling
+to hazard either his own good name or that of his friend; and for this
+reason most of the days agreed upon he devoted to some other
+business which he pretended was unavoidable; so that a great portion
+of the day was taken up with complaints on one side and excuses on the
+other. It happened, however, that on one occasion when the two were
+strolling together outside the city, Anselmo addressed the following
+words to Lothario.
+
+"Thou mayest suppose, Lothario my friend, that I am unable to give
+sufficient thanks for the favours God has rendered me in making me the
+son of such parents as mine were, and bestowing upon me with no
+niggard hand what are called the gifts of nature as well as those of
+fortune, and above all for what he has done in giving me thee for a
+friend and Camilla for a wife- two treasures that I value, if not as
+highly as I ought, at least as highly as I am able. And yet, with
+all these good things, which are commonly all that men need to
+enable them to live happily, I am the most discontented and
+dissatisfied man in the whole world; for, I know not how long since, I
+have been harassed and oppressed by a desire so strange and so
+unusual, that I wonder at myself and blame and chide myself when I
+am alone, and strive to stifle it and hide it from my own thoughts,
+and with no better success than if I were endeavouring deliberately to
+publish it to all the world; and as, in short, it must come out, I
+would confide it to thy safe keeping, feeling sure that by this means,
+and by thy readiness as a true friend to afford me relief, I shall
+soon find myself freed from the distress it causes me, and that thy
+care will give me happiness in the same degree as my own folly has
+caused me misery."
+
+The words of Anselmo struck Lothario with astonishment, unable as he
+was to conjecture the purport of such a lengthy preamble; and though
+be strove to imagine what desire it could be that so troubled his
+friend, his conjectures were all far from the truth, and to relieve
+the anxiety which this perplexity was causing him, he told him he
+was doing a flagrant injustice to their great friendship in seeking
+circuitous methods of confiding to him his most hidden thoughts, for
+be well knew he might reckon upon his counsel in diverting them, or
+his help in carrying them into effect.
+
+"That is the truth," replied Anselmo, "and relying upon that I
+will tell thee, friend Lothario, that the desire which harasses me
+is that of knowing whether my wife Camilla is as good and as perfect
+as I think her to be; and I cannot satisfy myself of the truth on this
+point except by testing her in such a way that the trial may prove the
+purity of her virtue as the fire proves that of gold; because I am
+persuaded, my friend, that a woman is virtuous only in proportion as
+she is or is not tempted; and that she alone is strong who does not
+yield to the promises, gifts, tears, and importunities of earnest
+lovers; for what thanks does a woman deserve for being good if no
+one urges her to be bad, and what wonder is it that she is reserved
+and circumspect to whom no opportunity is given of going wrong and who
+knows she has a husband that will take her life the first time he
+detects her in an impropriety? I do not therefore hold her who is
+virtuous through fear or want of opportunity in the same estimation as
+her who comes out of temptation and trial with a crown of victory; and
+so, for these reasons and many others that I could give thee to
+justify and support the opinion I hold, I am desirous that my wife
+Camilla should pass this crisis, and be refined and tested by the fire
+of finding herself wooed and by one worthy to set his affections
+upon her; and if she comes out, as I know she will, victorious from
+this struggle, I shall look upon my good fortune as unequalled, I
+shall be able to say that the cup of my desire is full, and that the
+virtuous woman of whom the sage says 'Who shall find her?' has
+fallen to my lot. And if the result be the contrary of what I
+expect, in the satisfaction of knowing that I have been right in my
+opinion, I shall bear without complaint the pain which my so dearly
+bought experience will naturally cause me. And, as nothing of all thou
+wilt urge in opposition to my wish will avail to keep me from carrying
+it into effect, it is my desire, friend Lothario, that thou shouldst
+consent to become the instrument for effecting this purpose that I
+am bent upon, for I will afford thee opportunities to that end, and
+nothing shall be wanting that I may think necessary for the pursuit of
+a virtuous, honourable, modest and high-minded woman. And among
+other reasons, I am induced to entrust this arduous task to thee by
+the consideration that if Camilla be conquered by thee the conquest
+will not be pushed to extremes, but only far enough to account that
+accomplished which from a sense of honour will be left undone; thus
+I shall not be wronged in anything more than intention, and my wrong
+will remain buried in the integrity of thy silence, which I know
+well will be as lasting as that of death in what concerns me. If,
+therefore, thou wouldst have me enjoy what can be called life, thou
+wilt at once engage in this love struggle, not lukewarmly nor
+slothfully, but with the energy and zeal that my desire demands, and
+with the loyalty our friendship assures me of."
+
+Such were the words Anselmo addressed to Lothario, who listened to
+them with such attention that, except to say what has been already
+mentioned, he did not open his lips until the other had finished. Then
+perceiving that he had no more to say, after regarding him for awhile,
+as one would regard something never before seen that excited wonder
+and amazement, he said to him, "I cannot persuade myself, Anselmo my
+friend, that what thou hast said to me is not in jest; if I thought
+that thou wert speaking seriously I would not have allowed thee to
+go so far; so as to put a stop to thy long harangue by not listening
+to thee I verily suspect that either thou dost not know me, or I do
+not know thee; but no, I know well thou art Anselmo, and thou
+knowest that I am Lothario; the misfortune is, it seems to me, that
+thou art not the Anselmo thou wert, and must have thought that I am
+not the Lothario I should be; for the things that thou hast said to me
+are not those of that Anselmo who was my friend, nor are those that
+thou demandest of me what should be asked of the Lothario thou
+knowest. True friends will prove their friends and make use of them,
+as a poet has said, usque ad aras; whereby he meant that they will not
+make use of their friendship in things that are contrary to God's
+will. If this, then, was a heathen's feeling about friendship, how
+much more should it be a Christian's, who knows that the divine must
+not be forfeited for the sake of any human friendship? And if a friend
+should go so far as to put aside his duty to Heaven to fulfil his duty
+to his friend, it should not be in matters that are trifling or of
+little moment, but in such as affect the friend's life and honour. Now
+tell me, Anselmo, in which of these two art thou imperilled, that I
+should hazard myself to gratify thee, and do a thing so detestable
+as that thou seekest of me? Neither forsooth; on the contrary, thou
+dost ask of me, so far as I understand, to strive and labour to rob
+thee of honour and life, and to rob myself of them at the same time;
+for if I take away thy honour it is plain I take away thy life, as a
+man without honour is worse than dead; and being the instrument, as
+thou wilt have it so, of so much wrong to thee, shall not I, too, be
+left without honour, and consequently without life? Listen to me,
+Anselmo my friend, and be not impatient to answer me until I have said
+what occurs to me touching the object of thy desire, for there will be
+time enough left for thee to reply and for me to hear."
+
+"Be it so," said Anselmo, "say what thou wilt."
+
+Lothario then went on to say, "It seems to me, Anselmo, that thine
+is just now the temper of mind which is always that of the Moors,
+who can never be brought to see the error of their creed by quotations
+from the Holy Scriptures, or by reasons which depend upon the
+examination of the understanding or are founded upon the articles of
+faith, but must have examples that are palpable, easy, intelligible,
+capable of proof, not admitting of doubt, with mathematical
+demonstrations that cannot be denied, like, 'If equals be taken from
+equals, the remainders are equal:' and if they do not understand
+this in words, and indeed they do not, it has to be shown to them with
+the hands, and put before their eyes, and even with all this no one
+succeeds in convincing them of the truth of our holy religion. This
+same mode of proceeding I shall have to adopt with thee, for the
+desire which has sprung up in thee is so absurd and remote from
+everything that has a semblance of reason, that I feel it would be a
+waste of time to employ it in reasoning with thy simplicity, for at
+present I will call it by no other name; and I am even tempted to
+leave thee in thy folly as a punishment for thy pernicious desire; but
+the friendship I bear thee, which will not allow me to desert thee
+in such manifest danger of destruction, keeps me from dealing so
+harshly by thee. And that thou mayest clearly see this, say,
+Anselmo, hast thou not told me that I must force my suit upon a modest
+woman, decoy one that is virtuous, make overtures to one that is
+pure-minded, pay court to one that is prudent? Yes, thou hast told
+me so. Then, if thou knowest that thou hast a wife, modest,
+virtuous, pure-minded and prudent, what is it that thou seekest? And
+if thou believest that she will come forth victorious from all my
+attacks- as doubtless she would- what higher titles than those she
+possesses now dost thou think thou canst upon her then, or in what
+will she be better then than she is now? Either thou dost not hold her
+to be what thou sayest, or thou knowest not what thou dost demand.
+If thou dost not hold her to be what thou why dost thou seek to
+prove her instead of treating her as guilty in the way that may seem
+best to thee? but if she be as virtuous as thou believest, it is an
+uncalled-for proceeding to make trial of truth itself, for, after
+trial, it will but be in the same estimation as before. Thus, then, it
+is conclusive that to attempt things from which harm rather than
+advantage may come to us is the part of unreasoning and reckless
+minds, more especially when they are things which we are not forced or
+compelled to attempt, and which show from afar that it is plainly
+madness to attempt them.
+
+"Difficulties are attempted either for the sake of God or for the
+sake of the world, or for both; those undertaken for God's sake are
+those which the saints undertake when they attempt to live the lives
+of angels in human bodies; those undertaken for the sake of the
+world are those of the men who traverse such a vast expanse of
+water, such a variety of climates, so many strange countries, to
+acquire what are called the blessings of fortune; and those undertaken
+for the sake of God and the world together are those of brave
+soldiers, who no sooner do they see in the enemy's wall a breach as
+wide as a cannon ball could make, than, casting aside all fear,
+without hesitating, or heeding the manifest peril that threatens them,
+borne onward by the desire of defending their faith, their country,
+and their king, they fling themselves dauntlessly into the midst of
+the thousand opposing deaths that await them. Such are the things that
+men are wont to attempt, and there is honour, glory, gain, in
+attempting them, however full of difficulty and peril they may be; but
+that which thou sayest it is thy wish to attempt and carry out will
+not win thee the glory of God nor the blessings of fortune nor fame
+among men; for even if the issue he as thou wouldst have it, thou wilt
+be no happier, richer, or more honoured than thou art this moment; and
+if it be otherwise thou wilt be reduced to misery greater than can
+be imagined, for then it will avail thee nothing to reflect that no
+one is aware of the misfortune that has befallen thee; it will suffice
+to torture and crush thee that thou knowest it thyself. And in
+confirmation of the truth of what I say, let me repeat to thee a
+stanza made by the famous poet Luigi Tansillo at the end of the
+first part of his 'Tears of Saint Peter,' which says thus:
+
+The anguish and the shame but greater grew
+  In Peter's heart as morning slowly came;
+No eye was there to see him, well he knew,
+  Yet he himself was to himself a shame;
+Exposed to all men's gaze, or screened from view,
+  A noble heart will feel the pang the same;
+A prey to shame the sinning soul will be,
+Though none but heaven and earth its shame can see.
+
+Thus by keeping it secret thou wilt not escape thy sorrow, but
+rather thou wilt shed tears unceasingly, if not tears of the eyes,
+tears of blood from the heart, like those shed by that simple doctor
+our poet tells us of, that tried the test of the cup, which the wise
+Rinaldo, better advised, refused to do; for though this may be a
+poetic fiction it contains a moral lesson worthy of attention and
+study and imitation. Moreover by what I am about to say to thee thou
+wilt be led to see the great error thou wouldst commit.
+
+"Tell me, Anselmo, if Heaven or good fortune had made thee master
+and lawful owner of a diamond of the finest quality, with the
+excellence and purity of which all the lapidaries that had seen it had
+been satisfied, saying with one voice and common consent that in
+purity, quality, and fineness, it was all that a stone of the kind
+could possibly be, thou thyself too being of the same belief, as
+knowing nothing to the contrary, would it be reasonable in thee to
+desire to take that diamond and place it between an anvil and a
+hammer, and by mere force of blows and strength of arm try if it
+were as hard and as fine as they said? And if thou didst, and if the
+stone should resist so silly a test, that would add nothing to its
+value or reputation; and if it were broken, as it might be, would
+not all be lost? Undoubtedly it would, leaving its owner to be rated
+as a fool in the opinion of all. Consider, then, Anselmo my friend,
+that Camilla is a diamond of the finest quality as well in thy
+estimation as in that of others, and that it is contrary to reason
+to expose her to the risk of being broken; for if she remains intact
+she cannot rise to a higher value than she now possesses; and if she
+give way and be unable to resist, bethink thee now how thou wilt be
+deprived of her, and with what good reason thou wilt complain of
+thyself for having been the cause of her ruin and thine own.
+Remember there is no jewel in the world so precious as a chaste and
+virtuous woman, and that the whole honour of women consists in
+reputation; and since thy wife's is of that high excellence that
+thou knowest, wherefore shouldst thou seek to call that truth in
+question? Remember, my friend, that woman is an imperfect animal,
+and that impediments are not to be placed in her way to make her
+trip and fall, but that they should be removed, and her path left
+clear of all obstacles, so that without hindrance she may run her
+course freely to attain the desired perfection, which consists in
+being virtuous. Naturalists tell us that the ermine is a little animal
+which has a fur of purest white, and that when the hunters wish to
+take it, they make use of this artifice. Having ascertained the places
+which it frequents and passes, they stop the way to them with mud, and
+then rousing it, drive it towards the spot, and as soon as the
+ermine comes to the mud it halts, and allows itself to be taken
+captive rather than pass through the mire, and spoil and sully its
+whiteness, which it values more than life and liberty. The virtuous
+and chaste woman is an ermine, and whiter and purer than snow is the
+virtue of modesty; and he who wishes her not to lose it, but to keep
+and preserve it, must adopt a course different from that employed with
+the ermine; he must not put before her the mire of the gifts and
+attentions of persevering lovers, because perhaps- and even without
+a perhaps- she may not have sufficient virtue and natural strength
+in herself to pass through and tread under foot these impediments;
+they must be removed, and the brightness of virtue and the beauty of a
+fair fame must be put before her. A virtuous woman, too, is like a
+mirror, of clear shining crystal, liable to be tarnished and dimmed by
+every breath that touches it. She must be treated as relics are;
+adored, not touched. She must be protected and prized as one
+protects and prizes a fair garden full of roses and flowers, the owner
+of which allows no one to trespass or pluck a blossom; enough for
+others that from afar and through the iron grating they may enjoy
+its fragrance and its beauty. Finally let me repeat to thee some
+verses that come to my mind; I heard them in a modern comedy, and it
+seems to me they bear upon the point we are discussing. A prudent
+old man was giving advice to another, the father of a young girl, to
+lock her up, watch over her and keep her in seclusion, and among other
+arguments he used these:
+
+ Woman is a thing of glass;
+   But her brittleness 'tis best
+   Not too curiously to test:
+ Who knows what may come to pass?
+
+ Breaking is an easy matter,
+   And it's folly to expose
+   What you cannot mend to blows;
+ What you can't make whole to shatter.
+
+ This, then, all may hold as true,
+   And the reason's plain to see;
+   For if Danaes there be,
+ There are golden showers too.
+
+
+"All that I have said to thee so far, Anselmo, has had reference
+to what concerns thee; now it is right that I should say something
+of what regards myself; and if I be prolix, pardon me, for the
+labyrinth into which thou hast entered and from which thou wouldst
+have me extricate thee makes it necessary.
+
+"Thou dost reckon me thy friend, and thou wouldst rob me of
+honour, a thing wholly inconsistent with friendship; and not only dost
+thou aim at this, but thou wouldst have me rob thee of it also. That
+thou wouldst rob me of it is clear, for when Camilla sees that I pay
+court to her as thou requirest, she will certainly regard me as a
+man without honour or right feeling, since I attempt and do a thing so
+much opposed to what I owe to my own position and thy friendship. That
+thou wouldst have me rob thee of it is beyond a doubt, for Camilla,
+seeing that I press my suit upon her, will suppose that I have
+perceived in her something light that has encouraged me to make
+known to her my base desire; and if she holds herself dishonoured, her
+dishonour touches thee as belonging to her; and hence arises what so
+commonly takes place, that the husband of the adulterous woman, though
+he may not be aware of or have given any cause for his wife's
+failure in her duty, or (being careless or negligent) have had it in
+his power to prevent his dishonour, nevertheless is stigmatised by a
+vile and reproachful name, and in a manner regarded with eyes of
+contempt instead of pity by all who know of his wife's guilt, though
+they see that he is unfortunate not by his own fault, but by the
+lust of a vicious consort. But I will tell thee why with good reason
+dishonour attaches to the husband of the unchaste wife, though he know
+not that she is so, nor be to blame, nor have done anything, or
+given any provocation to make her so; and be not weary with
+listening to me, for it will be for thy good.
+
+"When God created our first parent in the earthly paradise, the Holy
+Scripture says that he infused sleep into Adam and while he slept took
+a rib from his left side of which he formed our mother Eve, and when
+Adam awoke and beheld her he said, 'This is flesh of my flesh, and
+bone of my bone.' And God said 'For this shall a man leave his
+father and his mother, and they shall be two in one flesh; and then
+was instituted the divine sacrament of marriage, with such ties that
+death alone can loose them. And such is the force and virtue of this
+miraculous sacrament that it makes two different persons one and the
+same flesh; and even more than this when the virtuous are married; for
+though they have two souls they have but one will. And hence it
+follows that as the flesh of the wife is one and the same with that of
+her husband the stains that may come upon it, or the injuries it
+incurs fall upon the husband's flesh, though he, as has been said, may
+have given no cause for them; for as the pain of the foot or any
+member of the body is felt by the whole body, because all is one
+flesh, as the head feels the hurt to the ankle without having caused
+it, so the husband, being one with her, shares the dishonour of the
+wife; and as all worldly honour or dishonour comes of flesh and blood,
+and the erring wife's is of that kind, the husband must needs bear his
+part of it and be held dishonoured without knowing it. See, then,
+Anselmo, the peril thou art encountering in seeking to disturb the
+peace of thy virtuous consort; see for what an empty and ill-advised
+curiosity thou wouldst rouse up passions that now repose in quiet in
+the breast of thy chaste wife; reflect that what thou art staking
+all to win is little, and what thou wilt lose so much that I leave
+it undescribed, not having the words to express it. But if all I
+have said be not enough to turn thee from thy vile purpose, thou
+must seek some other instrument for thy dishonour and misfortune;
+for such I will not consent to be, though I lose thy friendship, the
+greatest loss that I can conceive."
+
+Having said this, the wise and virtuous Lothario was silent, and
+Anselmo, troubled in mind and deep in thought, was unable for a
+while to utter a word in reply; but at length he said, "I have
+listened, Lothario my friend, attentively, as thou hast seen, to
+what thou hast chosen to say to me, and in thy arguments, examples,
+and comparisons I have seen that high intelligence thou dost
+possess, and the perfection of true friendship thou hast reached;
+and likewise I see and confess that if I am not guided by thy opinion,
+but follow my own, I am flying from the good and pursuing the evil.
+This being so, thou must remember that I am now labouring under that
+infirmity which women sometimes suffer from, when the craving seizes
+them to eat clay, plaster, charcoal, and things even worse, disgusting
+to look at, much more to eat; so that it will be necessary to have
+recourse to some artifice to cure me; and this can be easily
+effected if only thou wilt make a beginning, even though it be in a
+lukewarm and make-believe fashion, to pay court to Camilla, who will
+not be so yielding that her virtue will give way at the first
+attack: with this mere attempt I shall rest satisfied, and thou wilt
+have done what our friendship binds thee to do, not only in giving
+me life, but in persuading me not to discard my honour. And this
+thou art bound to do for one reason alone, that, being, as I am,
+resolved to apply this test, it is not for thee to permit me to reveal
+my weakness to another, and so imperil that honour thou art striving
+to keep me from losing; and if thine may not stand as high as it ought
+in the estimation of Camilla while thou art paying court to her,
+that is of little or no importance, because ere long, on finding in
+her that constancy which we expect, thou canst tell her the plain
+truth as regards our stratagem, and so regain thy place in her esteem;
+and as thou art venturing so little, and by the venture canst afford
+me so much satisfaction, refuse not to undertake it, even if further
+difficulties present themselves to thee; for, as I have said, if
+thou wilt only make a beginning I will acknowledge the issue decided."
+
+Lothario seeing the fixed determination of Anselmo, and not
+knowing what further examples to offer or arguments to urge in order
+to dissuade him from it, and perceiving that he threatened to
+confide his pernicious scheme to some one else, to avoid a greater
+evil resolved to gratify him and do what he asked, intending to manage
+the business so as to satisfy Anselmo without corrupting the mind of
+Camilla; so in reply he told him not to communicate his purpose to any
+other, for he would undertake the task himself, and would begin it
+as soon as he pleased. Anselmo embraced him warmly and affectionately,
+and thanked him for his offer as if he had bestowed some great
+favour upon him; and it was agreed between them to set about it the
+next day, Anselmo affording opportunity and time to Lothario to
+converse alone with Camilla, and furnishing him with money and
+jewels to offer and present to her. He suggested, too, that he
+should treat her to music, and write verses in her praise, and if he
+was unwilling to take the trouble of composing them, he offered to
+do it himself. Lothario agreed to all with an intention very different
+from what Anselmo supposed, and with this understanding they
+returned to Anselmo's house, where they found Camilla awaiting her
+husband anxiously and uneasily, for he was later than usual in
+returning that day. Lothario repaired to his own house, and Anselmo
+remained in his, as well satisfied as Lothario was troubled in mind;
+for he could see no satisfactory way out of this ill-advised business.
+That night, however, he thought of a plan by which he might deceive
+Anselmo without any injury to Camilla. The next day he went to dine
+with his friend, and was welcomed by Camilla, who received and treated
+him with great cordiality, knowing the affection her husband felt
+for him. When dinner was over and the cloth removed, Anselmo told
+Lothario to stay there with Camilla while he attended to some pressing
+business, as he would return in an hour and a half. Camilla begged him
+not to go, and Lothario offered to accompany him, but nothing could
+persuade Anselmo, who on the contrary pressed Lothario to remain
+waiting for him as he had a matter of great importance to discuss with
+him. At the same time he bade Camilla not to leave Lothario alone
+until he came back. In short he contrived to put so good a face on the
+reason, or the folly, of his absence that no one could have
+suspected it was a pretence.
+
+Anselmo took his departure, and Camilla and Lothario were left alone
+at the table, for the rest of the household had gone to dinner.
+Lothario saw himself in the lists according to his friend's wish,
+and facing an enemy that could by her beauty alone vanquish a squadron
+of armed knights; judge whether he had good reason to fear; but what
+he did was to lean his elbow on the arm of the chair, and his cheek
+upon his hand, and, asking Camilla's pardon for his ill manners, he
+said he wished to take a little sleep until Anselmo returned.
+Camilla in reply said he could repose more at his ease in the
+reception-room than in his chair, and begged of him to go in and sleep
+there; but Lothario declined, and there he remained asleep until the
+return of Anselmo, who finding Camilla in her own room, and Lothario
+asleep, imagined that he had stayed away so long as to have afforded
+them time enough for conversation and even for sleep, and was all
+impatience until Lothario should wake up, that he might go out with
+him and question him as to his success. Everything fell out as he
+wished; Lothario awoke, and the two at once left the house, and
+Anselmo asked what he was anxious to know, and Lothario in answer told
+him that he had not thought it advisable to declare himself entirely
+the first time, and therefore had only extolled the charms of Camilla,
+telling her that all the city spoke of nothing else but her beauty and
+wit, for this seemed to him an excellent way of beginning to gain
+her good-will and render her disposed to listen to him with pleasure
+the next time, thus availing himself of the device the devil has
+recourse to when he would deceive one who is on the watch; for he
+being the angel of darkness transforms himself into an angel of light,
+and, under cover of a fair seeming, discloses himself at length, and
+effects his purpose if at the beginning his wiles are not
+discovered. All this gave great satisfaction to Anselmo, and he said
+he would afford the same opportunity every day, but without leaving
+the house, for he would find things to do at home so that Camilla
+should not detect the plot.
+
+Thus, then, several days went by, and Lothario, without uttering a
+word to Camilla, reported to Anselmo that he had talked with her and
+that he had never been able to draw from her the slightest
+indication of consent to anything dishonourable, nor even a sign or
+shadow of hope; on the contrary, he said she would inform her
+husband of it.
+
+"So far well," said Anselmo; "Camilla has thus far resisted words;
+we must now see how she will resist deeds. I will give you to-morrow
+two thousand crowns in gold for you to offer or even present, and as
+many more to buy jewels to lure her, for women are fond of being
+becomingly attired and going gaily dressed, and all the more so if
+they are beautiful, however chaste they may be; and if she resists
+this temptation, I will rest satisfied and will give you no more
+trouble."
+
+Lothario replied that now he had begun he would carry on the
+undertaking to the end, though he perceived he was to come out of it
+wearied and vanquished. The next day he received the four thousand
+crowns, and with them four thousand perplexities, for he knew not what
+to say by way of a new falsehood; but in the end he made up his mind
+to tell him that Camilla stood as firm against gifts and promises as
+against words, and that there was no use in taking any further
+trouble, for the time was all spent to no purpose.
+
+But chance, directing things in a different manner, so ordered it
+that Anselmo, having left Lothario and Camilla alone as on other
+occasions, shut himself into a chamber and posted himself to watch and
+listen through the keyhole to what passed between them, and
+perceived that for more than half an hour Lothario did not utter a
+word to Camilla, nor would utter a word though he were to be there for
+an age; and he came to the conclusion that what his friend had told
+him about the replies of Camilla was all invention and falsehood,
+and to ascertain if it were so, he came out, and calling Lothario
+aside asked him what news he had and in what humour Camilla was.
+Lothario replied that he was not disposed to go on with the
+business, for she had answered him so angrily and harshly that he
+had no heart to say anything more to her.
+
+"Ah, Lothario, Lothario," said Anselmo, "how ill dost thou meet
+thy obligations to me, and the great confidence I repose in thee! I
+have been just now watching through this keyhole, and I have seen that
+thou has not said a word to Camilla, whence I conclude that on the
+former occasions thou hast not spoken to her either, and if this be
+so, as no doubt it is, why dost thou deceive me, or wherefore
+seekest thou by craft to deprive me of the means I might find of
+attaining my desire?"
+
+Anselmo said no more, but he had said enough to cover Lothario
+with shame and confusion, and he, feeling as it were his honour
+touched by having been detected in a lie, swore to Anselmo that he
+would from that moment devote himself to satisfying him without any
+deception, as he would see if he had the curiosity to watch; though he
+need not take the trouble, for the pains he would take to satisfy
+him would remove all suspicions from his mind. Anselmo believed him,
+and to afford him an opportunity more free and less liable to
+surprise, he resolved to absent himself from his house for eight days,
+betaking himself to that of a friend of his who lived in a village not
+far from the city; and, the better to account for his departure to
+Camilla, he so arranged it that the friend should send him a very
+pressing invitation.
+
+Unhappy, shortsighted Anselmo, what art thou doing, what art thou
+plotting, what art thou devising? Bethink thee thou art working
+against thyself, plotting thine own dishonour, devising thine own
+ruin. Thy wife Camilla is virtuous, thou dost possess her in peace and
+quietness, no one assails thy happiness, her thoughts wander not
+beyond the walls of thy house, thou art her heaven on earth, the
+object of her wishes, the fulfilment of her desires, the measure
+wherewith she measures her will, making it conform in all things to
+thine and Heaven's. If, then, the mine of her honour, beauty,
+virtue, and modesty yields thee without labour all the wealth it
+contains and thou canst wish for, why wilt thou dig the earth in
+search of fresh veins, of new unknown treasure, risking the collapse
+of all, since it but rests on the feeble props of her weak nature?
+Bethink thee that from him who seeks impossibilities that which is
+possible may with justice be withheld, as was better expressed by a
+poet who said:
+'Tis mine to seek for life in death,
+   Health in disease seek I,I seek in prison freedom's breath,
+   In traitors loyalty.
+So Fate that ever scorns to grant
+   Or grace or boon to me,Since what can never be I want,
+   Denies me what might be.
+
+
+The next day Anselmo took his departure for the village, leaving
+instructions with Camilla that during his absence Lothario would
+come to look after his house and to dine with her, and that she was to
+treat him as she would himself. Camilla was distressed, as a
+discreet and right-minded woman would be, at the orders her husband
+left her, and bade him remember that it was not becoming that anyone
+should occupy his seat at the table during his absence, and if he
+acted thus from not feeling confidence that she would be able to
+manage his house, let him try her this time, and he would find by
+experience that she was equal to greater responsibilities. Anselmo
+replied that it was his pleasure to have it so, and that she had
+only to submit and obey. Camilla said she would do so, though
+against her will.
+
+Anselmo went, and the next day Lothario came to his house, where
+he was received by Camilla with a friendly and modest welcome; but she
+never suffered Lothario to see her alone, for she was always
+attended by her men and women servants, especially by a handmaid of
+hers, Leonela by name, to whom she was much attached (for they had
+been brought up together from childhood in her father's house), and
+whom she had kept with her after her marriage with Anselmo. The
+first three days Lothario did not speak to her, though he might have
+done so when they removed the cloth and the servants retired to dine
+hastily; for such were Camilla's orders; nay more, Leonela had
+directions to dine earlier than Camilla and never to leave her side.
+She, however, having her thoughts fixed upon other things more to
+her taste, and wanting that time and opportunity for her own
+pleasures, did not always obey her mistress's commands, but on the
+contrary left them alone, as if they had ordered her to do so; but the
+modest bearing of Camilla, the calmness of her countenance, the
+composure of her aspect were enough to bridle the tongue of
+Lothario. But the influence which the many virtues of Camilla
+exerted in imposing silence on Lothario's tongue proved mischievous
+for both of them, for if his tongue was silent his thoughts were busy,
+and could dwell at leisure upon the perfections of Camilla's
+goodness and beauty one by one, charms enough to warm with love a
+marble statue, not to say a heart of flesh. Lothario gazed upon her
+when he might have been speaking to her, and thought how worthy of
+being loved she was; and thus reflection began little by little to
+assail his allegiance to Anselmo, and a thousand times he thought of
+withdrawing from the city and going where Anselmo should never see him
+nor he see Camilla. But already the delight he found in gazing on
+her interposed and held him fast. He put a constraint upon himself,
+and struggled to repel and repress the pleasure he found in
+contemplating Camilla; when alone he blamed himself for his
+weakness, called himself a bad friend, nay a bad Christian; then he
+argued the matter and compared himself with Anselmo; always coming
+to the conclusion that the folly and rashness of Anselmo had been
+worse than his faithlessness, and that if he could excuse his
+intentions as easily before God as with man, he had no reason to
+fear any punishment for his offence.
+
+In short the beauty and goodness of Camilla, joined with the
+opportunity which the blind husband had placed in his hands, overthrew
+the loyalty of Lothario; and giving heed to nothing save the object
+towards which his inclinations led him, after Anselmo had been three
+days absent, during which he had been carrying on a continual struggle
+with his passion, he began to make love to Camilla with so much
+vehemence and warmth of language that she was overwhelmed with
+amazement, and could only rise from her place and retire to her room
+without answering him a word. But the hope which always springs up
+with love was not weakened in Lothario by this repelling demeanour; on
+the contrary his passion for Camilla increased, and she discovering in
+him what she had never expected, knew not what to do; and
+considering it neither safe nor right to give him the chance or
+opportunity of speaking to her again, she resolved to send, as she did
+that very night, one of her servants with a letter to Anselmo, in
+which she addressed the following words to him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+IN WHICH IS CONTINUED THE NOVEL OF "THE ILL-ADVISED CURIOSITY"
+
+"It is commonly said that an army looks ill without its general
+and a castle without its castellan, and I say that a young married
+woman looks still worse without her husband unless there are very good
+reasons for it. I find myself so ill at ease without you, and so
+incapable of enduring this separation, that unless you return
+quickly I shall have to go for relief to my parents' house, even if
+I leave yours without a protector; for the one you left me, if
+indeed he deserved that title, has, I think, more regard to his own
+pleasure than to what concerns you: as you are possessed of
+discernment I need say no more to you, nor indeed is it fitting I
+should say more."
+
+Anselmo received this letter, and from it he gathered that
+Lothario had already begun his task and that Camilla must have replied
+to him as he would have wished; and delighted beyond measure at such
+intelligence he sent word to her not to leave his house on any
+account, as he would very shortly return. Camilla was astonished at
+Anselmo's reply, which placed her in greater perplexity than before,
+for she neither dared to remain in her own house, nor yet to go to her
+parents'; for in remaining her virtue was imperilled, and in going she
+was opposing her husband's commands. Finally she decided upon what was
+the worse course for her, to remain, resolving not to fly from the
+presence of Lothario, that she might not give food for gossip to her
+servants; and she now began to regret having written as she had to her
+husband, fearing he might imagine that Lothario had perceived in her
+some lightness which had impelled him to lay aside the respect he owed
+her; but confident of her rectitude she put her trust in God and in
+her own virtuous intentions, with which she hoped to resist in silence
+all the solicitations of Lothario, without saying anything to her
+husband so as not to involve him in any quarrel or trouble; and she
+even began to consider how to excuse Lothario to Anselmo when he
+should ask her what it was that induced her to write that letter. With
+these resolutions, more honourable than judicious or effectual, she
+remained the next day listening to Lothario, who pressed his suit so
+strenuously that Camilla's firmness began to waver, and her virtue had
+enough to do to come to the rescue of her eyes and keep them from
+showing signs of a certain tender compassion which the tears and
+appeals of Lothario had awakened in her bosom. Lothario observed all
+this, and it inflamed him all the more. In short he felt that while
+Anselmo's absence afforded time and opportunity he must press the
+siege of the fortress, and so he assailed her self-esteem with praises
+of her beauty, for there is nothing that more quickly reduces and
+levels the castle towers of fair women's vanity than vanity itself
+upon the tongue of flattery. In fact with the utmost assiduity he
+undermined the rock of her purity with such engines that had Camilla
+been of brass she must have fallen. He wept, he entreated, he
+promised, he flattered, he importuned, he pretended with so much
+feeling and apparent sincerity, that he overthrew the virtuous
+resolves of Camilla and won the triumph he least expected and most
+longed for. Camilla yielded, Camilla fell; but what wonder if the
+friendship of Lothario could not stand firm? A clear proof to us
+that the passion of love is to be conquered only by flying from it,
+and that no one should engage in a struggle with an enemy so mighty;
+for divine strength is needed to overcome his human power. Leonela
+alone knew of her mistress's weakness, for the two false friends and
+new lovers were unable to conceal it. Lothario did not care to tell
+Camilla the object Anselmo had in view, nor that he had afforded him
+the opportunity of attaining such a result, lest she should undervalue
+his love and think that it was by chance and without intending it
+and not of his own accord that he had made love to her.
+
+A few days later Anselmo returned to his house and did not
+perceive what it had lost, that which he so lightly treated and so
+highly prized. He went at once to see Lothario, and found him at home;
+they embraced each other, and Anselmo asked for the tidings of his
+life or his death.
+
+"The tidings I have to give thee, Anselmo my friend," said Lothario,
+"are that thou dost possess a wife that is worthy to be the pattern
+and crown of all good wives. The words that I have addressed to her
+were borne away on the wind, my promises have been despised, my
+presents have been refused, such feigned tears as I shed have been
+turned into open ridicule. In short, as Camilla is the essence of
+all beauty, so is she the treasure-house where purity dwells, and
+gentleness and modesty abide with all the virtues that can confer
+praise, honour, and happiness upon a woman. Take back thy money, my
+friend; here it is, and I have had no need to touch it, for the
+chastity of Camilla yields not to things so base as gifts or promises.
+Be content, Anselmo, and refrain from making further proof; and as
+thou hast passed dryshod through the sea of those doubts and
+suspicions that are and may be entertained of women, seek not to
+plunge again into the deep ocean of new embarrassments, or with
+another pilot make trial of the goodness and strength of the bark that
+Heaven has granted thee for thy passage across the sea of this
+world; but reckon thyself now safe in port, moor thyself with the
+anchor of sound reflection, and rest in peace until thou art called
+upon to pay that debt which no nobility on earth can escape paying."
+
+Anselmo was completely satisfied by the words of Lothario, and
+believed them as fully as if they had been spoken by an oracle;
+nevertheless he begged of him not to relinquish the undertaking,
+were it but for the sake of curiosity and amusement; though
+thenceforward he need not make use of the same earnest endeavours as
+before; all he wished him to do was to write some verses to her,
+praising her under the name of Chloris, for he himself would give
+her to understand that he was in love with a lady to whom he had given
+that name to enable him to sing her praises with the decorum due to
+her modesty; and if Lothario were unwilling to take the trouble of
+writing the verses he would compose them himself.
+
+"That will not be necessary," said Lothario, "for the muses are
+not such enemies of mine but that they visit me now and then in the
+course of the year. Do thou tell Camilla what thou hast proposed about
+a pretended amour of mine; as for the verses will make them, and if
+not as good as the subject deserves, they shall be at least the best I
+can produce." An agreement to this effect was made between the
+friends, the ill-advised one and the treacherous, and Anselmo
+returning to his house asked Camilla the question she already wondered
+he had not asked before- what it was that had caused her to write
+the letter she had sent him. Camilla replied that it had seemed to her
+that Lothario looked at her somewhat more freely than when he had been
+at home; but that now she was undeceived and believed it to have
+been only her own imagination, for Lothario now avoided seeing her, or
+being alone with her. Anselmo told her she might be quite easy on
+the score of that suspicion, for he knew that Lothario was in love
+with a damsel of rank in the city whom he celebrated under the name of
+Chloris, and that even if he were not, his fidelity and their great
+friendship left no room for fear. Had not Camilla, however, been
+informed beforehand by Lothario that this love for Chloris was a
+pretence, and that he himself had told Anselmo of it in order to be
+able sometimes to give utterance to the praises of Camilla herself, no
+doubt she would have fallen into the despairing toils of jealousy; but
+being forewarned she received the startling news without uneasiness.
+
+The next day as the three were at table Anselmo asked Lothario to
+recite something of what he had composed for his mistress Chloris; for
+as Camilla did not know her, he might safely say what he liked.
+
+"Even did she know her," returned Lothario, "I would hide nothing,
+for when a lover praises his lady's beauty, and charges her with
+cruelty, he casts no imputation upon her fair name; at any rate, all I
+can say is that yesterday I made a sonnet on the ingratitude of this
+Chloris, which goes thus:
+
+
+SONNET
+
+At midnight, in the silence, when the eyes
+  Of happier mortals balmy slumbers close,
+  The weary tale of my unnumbered woes
+To Chloris and to Heaven is wont to rise.
+And when the light of day returning dyes
+  The portals of the east with tints of rose,
+  With undiminished force my sorrow flows
+In broken accents and in burning sighs.
+And when the sun ascends his star-girt throne,
+  And on the earth pours down his midday beams,
+    Noon but renews my wailing and my tears;
+And with the night again goes up my moan.
+  Yet ever in my agony it seems
+    To me that neither Heaven nor Chloris hears."
+
+
+The sonnet pleased Camilla, and still more Anselmo, for he praised
+it and said the lady was excessively cruel who made no return for
+sincerity so manifest. On which Camilla said, "Then all that
+love-smitten poets say is true?"
+
+"As poets they do not tell the truth," replied Lothario; "but as
+lovers they are not more defective in expression than they are
+truthful."
+
+"There is no doubt of that," observed Anselmo, anxious to support
+and uphold Lothario's ideas with Camilla, who was as regardless of his
+design as she was deep in love with Lothario; and so taking delight in
+anything that was his, and knowing that his thoughts and writings
+had her for their object, and that she herself was the real Chloris,
+she asked him to repeat some other sonnet or verses if he
+recollected any.
+
+"I do," replied Lothario, "but I do not think it as good as the
+first one, or, more correctly speaking, less bad; but you can easily
+judge, for it is this.
+
+
+SONNET
+
+I know that I am doomed; death is to me
+  As certain as that thou, ungrateful fair,
+  Dead at thy feet shouldst see me lying, ere
+My heart repented of its love for thee.
+If buried in oblivion I should be,
+  Bereft of life, fame, favour, even there
+  It would be found that I thy image bear
+Deep graven in my breast for all to see.
+This like some holy relic do I prize
+  To save me from the fate my truth entails,
+    Truth that to thy hard heart its vigour owes.
+Alas for him that under lowering skies,
+  In peril o'er a trackless ocean sails,
+    Where neither friendly port nor pole-star shows."
+
+
+Anselmo praised this second sonnet too, as he had praised the first;
+and so he went on adding link after link to the chain with which he
+was binding himself and making his dishonour secure; for when Lothario
+was doing most to dishonour him he told him he was most honoured;
+and thus each step that Camilla descended towards the depths of her
+abasement, she mounted, in his opinion, towards the summit of virtue
+and fair fame.
+
+It so happened that finding herself on one occasion alone with her
+maid, Camilla said to her, "I am ashamed to think, my dear Leonela,
+how lightly I have valued myself that I did not compel Lothario to
+purchase by at least some expenditure of time that full possession
+of me that I so quickly yielded him of my own free will. I fear that
+he will think ill of my pliancy or lightness, not considering the
+irresistible influence he brought to bear upon me."
+
+"Let not that trouble you, my lady," said Leonela, "for it does
+not take away the value of the thing given or make it the less
+precious to give it quickly if it be really valuable and worthy of
+being prized; nay, they are wont to say that he who gives quickly
+gives twice."
+
+"They say also," said Camilla, "that what costs little is valued
+less."
+
+"That saying does not hold good in your case," replied Leonela, "for
+love, as I have heard say, sometimes flies and sometimes walks; with
+this one it runs, with that it moves slowly; some it cools, others
+it burns; some it wounds, others it slays; it begins the course of its
+desires, and at the same moment completes and ends it; in the
+morning it will lay siege to a fortress and by night will have taken
+it, for there is no power that can resist it; so what are you in dread
+of, what do you fear, when the same must have befallen Lothario,
+love having chosen the absence of my lord as the instrument for
+subduing you? and it was absolutely necessary to complete then what
+love had resolved upon, without affording the time to let Anselmo
+return and by his presence compel the work to be left unfinished;
+for love has no better agent for carrying out his designs than
+opportunity; and of opportunity he avails himself in all his feats,
+especially at the outset. All this I know well myself, more by
+experience than by hearsay, and some day, senora, I will enlighten you
+on the subject, for I am of your flesh and blood too. Moreover, lady
+Camilla, you did not surrender yourself or yield so quickly but that
+first you saw Lothario's whole soul in his eyes, in his sighs, in
+his words, his promises and his gifts, and by it and his good
+qualities perceived how worthy he was of your love. This, then,
+being the case, let not these scrupulous and prudish ideas trouble
+your imagination, but be assured that Lothario prizes you as you do
+him, and rest content and satisfied that as you are caught in the
+noose of love it is one of worth and merit that has taken you, and one
+that has not only the four S's that they say true lovers ought to
+have, but a complete alphabet; only listen to me and you will see
+how I can repeat it by rote. He is to my eyes and thinking, Amiable,
+Brave, Courteous, Distinguished, Elegant, Fond, Gay, Honourable,
+Illustrious, Loyal, Manly, Noble, Open, Polite, Quickwitted, Rich, and
+the S's according to the saying, and then Tender, Veracious: X does
+not suit him, for it is a rough letter; Y has been given already;
+and Z Zealous for your honour."
+
+Camilla laughed at her maid's alphabet, and perceived her to be more
+experienced in love affairs than she said, which she admitted,
+confessing to Camilla that she had love passages with a young man of
+good birth of the same city. Camilla was uneasy at this, dreading lest
+it might prove the means of endangering her honour, and asked
+whether her intrigue had gone beyond words, and she with little
+shame and much effrontery said it had; for certain it is that
+ladies' imprudences make servants shameless, who, when they see
+their mistresses make a false step, think nothing of going astray
+themselves, or of its being known. All that Camilla could do was to
+entreat Leonela to say nothing about her doings to him whom she called
+her lover, and to conduct her own affairs secretly lest they should
+come to the knowledge of Anselmo or of Lothario. Leonela said she
+would, but kept her word in such a way that she confirmed Camilla's
+apprehension of losing her reputation through her means; for this
+abandoned and bold Leonela, as soon as she perceived that her
+mistress's demeanour was not what it was wont to be, had the
+audacity to introduce her lover into the house, confident that even if
+her mistress saw him she would not dare to expose him; for the sins of
+mistresses entail this mischief among others; they make themselves the
+slaves of their own servants, and are obliged to hide their laxities
+and depravities; as was the case with Camilla, who though she
+perceived, not once but many times, that Leonela was with her lover in
+some room of the house, not only did not dare to chide her, but
+afforded her opportunities for concealing him and removed all
+difficulties, lest he should be seen by her husband. She was unable,
+however, to prevent him from being seen on one occasion, as he sallied
+forth at daybreak, by Lothario, who, not knowing who he was, at
+first took him for a spectre; but, as soon as he saw him hasten
+away, muffling his face with his cloak and concealing himself
+carefully and cautiously, he rejected this foolish idea, and adopted
+another, which would have been the ruin of all had not Camilla found a
+remedy. It did not occur to Lothario that this man he had seen issuing
+at such an untimely hour from Anselmo's house could have entered it on
+Leonela's account, nor did he even remember there was such a person as
+Leonela; all he thought was that as Camilla had been light and
+yielding with him, so she had been with another; for this further
+penalty the erring woman's sin brings with it, that her honour is
+distrusted even by him to whose overtures and persuasions she has
+yielded; and he believes her to have surrendered more easily to
+others, and gives implicit credence to every suspicion that comes into
+his mind. All Lothario's good sense seems to have failed him at this
+juncture; all his prudent maxims escaped his memory; for without
+once reflecting rationally, and without more ado, in his impatience
+and in the blindness of the jealous rage that gnawed his heart, and
+dying to revenge himself upon Camilla, who had done him no wrong,
+before Anselmo had risen he hastened to him and said to him, "Know,
+Anselmo, that for several days past I have been struggling with
+myself, striving to withhold from thee what it is no longer possible
+or right that I should conceal from thee. Know that Camilla's fortress
+has surrendered and is ready to submit to my will; and if I have
+been slow to reveal this fact to thee, it was in order to see if it
+were some light caprice of hers, or if she sought to try me and
+ascertain if the love I began to make to her with thy permission was
+made with a serious intention. I thought, too, that she, if she were
+what she ought to be, and what we both believed her, would have ere
+this given thee information of my addresses; but seeing that she
+delays, I believe the truth of the promise she has given me that the
+next time thou art absent from the house she will grant me an
+interview in the closet where thy jewels are kept (and it was true
+that Camilla used to meet him there); but I do not wish thee to rush
+precipitately to take vengeance, for the sin is as yet only
+committed in intention, and Camilla's may change perhaps between
+this and the appointed time, and repentance spring up in its place. As
+hitherto thou hast always followed my advice wholly or in part, follow
+and observe this that I will give thee now, so that, without
+mistake, and with mature deliberation, thou mayest satisfy thyself
+as to what may seem the best course; pretend to absent thyself for two
+or three days as thou hast been wont to do on other occasions, and
+contrive to hide thyself in the closet; for the tapestries and other
+things there afford great facilities for thy concealment, and then
+thou wilt see with thine own eyes and I with mine what Camilla's
+purpose may be. And if it be a guilty one, which may be feared
+rather than expected, with silence, prudence, and discretion thou
+canst thyself become the instrument of punishment for the wrong done
+thee."
+
+Anselmo was amazed, overwhelmed, and astounded at the words of
+Lothario, which came upon him at a time when he least expected to hear
+them, for he now looked upon Camilla as having triumphed over the
+pretended attacks of Lothario, and was beginning to enjoy the glory of
+her victory. He remained silent for a considerable time, looking on
+the ground with fixed gaze, and at length said, "Thou hast behaved,
+Lothario, as I expected of thy friendship: I will follow thy advice in
+everything; do as thou wilt, and keep this secret as thou seest it
+should be kept in circumstances so unlooked for."
+
+Lothario gave him his word, but after leaving him he repented
+altogether of what he had said to him, perceiving how foolishly he had
+acted, as he might have revenged himself upon Camilla in some less
+cruel and degrading way. He cursed his want of sense, condemned his
+hasty resolution, and knew not what course to take to undo the
+mischief or find some ready escape from it. At last he decided upon
+revealing all to Camilla, and, as there was no want of opportunity for
+doing so, he found her alone the same day; but she, as soon as she had
+the chance of speaking to him, said, "Lothario my friend, I must
+tell thee I have a sorrow in my heart which fills it so that it
+seems ready to burst; and it will be a wonder if it does not; for
+the audacity of Leonela has now reached such a pitch that every
+night she conceals a gallant of hers in this house and remains with
+him till morning, at the expense of my reputation; inasmuch as it is
+open to anyone to question it who may see him quitting my house at
+such unseasonable hours; but what distresses me is that I cannot
+punish or chide her, for her privity to our intrigue bridles my
+mouth and keeps me silent about hers, while I am dreading that some
+catastrophe will come of it."
+
+As Camilla said this Lothario at first imagined it was some device
+to delude him into the idea that the man he had seen going out was
+Leonela's lover and not hers; but when he saw how she wept and
+suffered, and begged him to help her, he became convinced of the
+truth, and the conviction completed his confusion and remorse;
+however, he told Camilla not to distress herself, as he would take
+measures to put a stop to the insolence of Leonela. At the same time
+he told her what, driven by the fierce rage of jealousy, he had said
+to Anselmo, and how he had arranged to hide himself in the closet that
+he might there see plainly how little she preserved her fidelity to
+him; and he entreated her pardon for this madness, and her advice as
+to how to repair it, and escape safely from the intricate labyrinth in
+which his imprudence had involved him. Camilla was struck with alarm
+at hearing what Lothario said, and with much anger, and great good
+sense, she reproved him and rebuked his base design and the foolish
+and mischievous resolution he had made; but as woman has by nature a
+nimbler wit than man for good and for evil, though it is apt to fail
+when she sets herself deliberately to reason, Camilla on the spur of
+the moment thought of a way to remedy what was to all appearance
+irremediable, and told Lothario to contrive that the next day
+Anselmo should conceal himself in the place he mentioned, for she
+hoped from his concealment to obtain the means of their enjoying
+themselves for the future without any apprehension; and without
+revealing her purpose to him entirely she charged him to be careful,
+as soon as Anselmo was concealed, to come to her when Leonela should
+call him, and to all she said to him to answer as he would have
+answered had he not known that Anselmo was listening. Lothario pressed
+her to explain her intention fully, so that he might with more
+certainty and precaution take care to do what he saw to be needful.
+
+"I tell you," said Camilla, "there is nothing to take care of except
+to answer me what I shall ask you;" for she did not wish to explain to
+him beforehand what she meant to do, fearing lest he should be
+unwilling to follow out an idea which seemed to her such a good one,
+and should try or devise some other less practicable plan.
+
+Lothario then retired, and the next day Anselmo, under pretence of
+going to his friend's country house, took his departure, and then
+returned to conceal himself, which he was able to do easily, as
+Camilla and Leonela took care to give him the opportunity; and so he
+placed himself in hiding in the state of agitation that it may be
+imagined he would feel who expected to see the vitals of his honour
+laid bare before his eyes, and found himself on the point of losing
+the supreme blessing he thought he possessed in his beloved Camilla.
+Having made sure of Anselmo's being in his hiding-place, Camilla and
+Leonela entered the closet, and the instant she set foot within it
+Camilla said, with a deep sigh, "Ah! dear Leonela, would it not be
+better, before I do what I am unwilling you should know lest you
+should seek to prevent it, that you should take Anselmo's dagger
+that I have asked of you and with it pierce this vile heart of mine?
+But no; there is no reason why I should suffer the punishment of
+another's fault. I will first know what it is that the bold licentious
+eyes of Lothario have seen in me that could have encouraged him to
+reveal to me a design so base as that which he has disclosed
+regardless of his friend and of my honour. Go to the window,
+Leonela, and call him, for no doubt he is in the street waiting to
+carry out his vile project; but mine, cruel it may be, but honourable,
+shall be carried out first."
+
+"Ah, senora," said the crafty Leonela, who knew her part, "what is
+it you want to do with this dagger? Can it be that you mean to take
+your own life, or Lothario's? for whichever you mean to do, it will
+lead to the loss of your reputation and good name. It is better to
+dissemble your wrong and not give this wicked man the chance of
+entering the house now and finding us alone; consider, senora, we
+are weak women and he is a man, and determined, and as he comes with
+such a base purpose, blind and urged by passion, perhaps before you
+can put yours into execution he may do what will be worse for you than
+taking your life. Ill betide my master, Anselmo, for giving such
+authority in his house to this shameless fellow! And supposing you
+kill him, senora, as I suspect you mean to do, what shall we do with
+him when he is dead?"
+
+"What, my friend?" replied Camilla, "we shall leave him for
+Anselmo to bury him; for in reason it will be to him a light labour to
+hide his own infamy under ground. Summon him, make haste, for all
+the time I delay in taking vengeance for my wrong seems to me an
+offence against the loyalty I owe my husband."
+
+Anselmo was listening to all this, and every word that Camilla
+uttered made him change his mind; but when he heard that it was
+resolved to kill Lothario his first impulse was to come out and show
+himself to avert such a disaster; but in his anxiety to see the
+issue of a resolution so bold and virtuous he restrained himself,
+intending to come forth in time to prevent the deed. At this moment
+Camilla, throwing herself upon a bed that was close by, swooned
+away, and Leonela began to weep bitterly, exclaiming, "Woe is me! that
+I should be fated to have dying here in my arms the flower of virtue
+upon earth, the crown of true wives, the pattern of chastity!" with
+more to the same effect, so that anyone who heard her would have taken
+her for the most tender-hearted and faithful handmaid in the world,
+and her mistress for another persecuted Penelope.
+
+Camilla was not long in recovering from her fainting fit and on
+coming to herself she said, "Why do you not go, Leonela, to call
+hither that friend, the falsest to his friend the sun ever shone
+upon or night concealed? Away, run, haste, speed! lest the fire of
+my wrath burn itself out with delay, and the righteous vengeance
+that I hope for melt away in menaces and maledictions."
+
+"I am just going to call him, senora," said Leonela; "but you must
+first give me that dagger, lest while I am gone you should by means of
+it give cause to all who love you to weep all their lives."
+
+"Go in peace, dear Leonela, I will not do so," said Camilla, "for
+rash and foolish as I may be, to your mind, in defending my honour,
+I am not going to be so much so as that Lucretia who they say killed
+herself without having done anything wrong, and without having first
+killed him on whom the guilt of her misfortune lay. I shall die, if
+I am to die; but it must be after full vengeance upon him who has
+brought me here to weep over audacity that no fault of mine gave birth
+to."
+
+Leonela required much pressing before she would go to summon
+Lothario, but at last she went, and while awaiting her return
+Camilla continued, as if speaking to herself, "Good God! would it
+not have been more prudent to have repulsed Lothario, as I have done
+many a time before, than to allow him, as I am now doing, to think
+me unchaste and vile, even for the short time I must wait until I
+undeceive him? No doubt it would have been better; but I should not be
+avenged, nor the honour of my husband vindicated, should he find so
+clear and easy an escape from the strait into which his depravity
+has led him. Let the traitor pay with his life for the temerity of his
+wanton wishes, and let the world know (if haply it shall ever come
+to know) that Camilla not only preserved her allegiance to her
+husband, but avenged him of the man who dared to wrong him. Still, I
+think it might be better to disclose this to Anselmo. But then I
+have called his attention to it in the letter I wrote to him in the
+country, and, if he did nothing to prevent the mischief I there
+pointed out to him, I suppose it was that from pure goodness of
+heart and trustfulness he would not and could not believe that any
+thought against his honour could harbour in the breast of so stanch
+a friend; nor indeed did I myself believe it for many days, nor should
+I have ever believed it if his insolence had not gone so far as to
+make it manifest by open presents, lavish promises, and ceaseless
+tears. But why do I argue thus? Does a bold determination stand in
+need of arguments? Surely not. Then traitors avaunt! Vengeance to my
+aid! Let the false one come, approach, advance, die, yield up his
+life, and then befall what may. Pure I came to him whom Heaven
+bestowed upon me, pure I shall leave him; and at the worst bathed in
+my own chaste blood and in the foul blood of the falsest friend that
+friendship ever saw in the world;" and as she uttered these words
+she paced the room holding the unsheathed dagger, with such
+irregular and disordered steps, and such gestures that one would
+have supposed her to have lost her senses, and taken her for some
+violent desperado instead of a delicate woman.
+
+Anselmo, hidden behind some tapestries where he had concealed
+himself, beheld and was amazed at all, and already felt that what he
+had seen and heard was a sufficient answer to even greater suspicions;
+and he would have been now well pleased if the proof afforded by
+Lothario's coming were dispensed with, as he feared some sudden
+mishap; but as he was on the point of showing himself and coming forth
+to embrace and undeceive his wife he paused as he saw Leonela
+returning, leading Lothario. Camilla when she saw him, drawing a
+long line in front of her on the floor with the dagger, said to him,
+"Lothario, pay attention to what I say to thee: if by any chance
+thou darest to cross this line thou seest, or even approach it, the
+instant I see thee attempt it that same instant will I pierce my bosom
+with this dagger that I hold in my hand; and before thou answerest
+me a word desire thee to listen to a few from me, and afterwards
+thou shalt reply as may please thee. First, I desire thee to tell
+me, Lothario, if thou knowest my husband Anselmo, and in what light
+thou regardest him; and secondly I desire to know if thou knowest me
+too. Answer me this, without embarrassment or reflecting deeply what
+thou wilt answer, for they are no riddles I put to thee."
+
+Lothario was not so dull but that from the first moment when Camilla
+directed him to make Anselmo hide himself he understood what she
+intended to do, and therefore he fell in with her idea so readily
+and promptly that between them they made the imposture look more
+true than truth; so he answered her thus: "I did not think, fair
+Camilla, that thou wert calling me to ask questions so remote from the
+object with which I come; but if it is to defer the promised reward
+thou art doing so, thou mightst have put it off still longer, for
+the longing for happiness gives the more distress the nearer comes the
+hope of gaining it; but lest thou shouldst say that I do not answer
+thy questions, I say that I know thy husband Anselmo, and that we have
+known each other from our earliest years; I will not speak of what
+thou too knowest, of our friendship, that I may not compel myself to
+testify against the wrong that love, the mighty excuse for greater
+errors, makes me inflict upon him. Thee I know and hold in the same
+estimation as he does, for were it not so I had not for a lesser prize
+acted in opposition to what I owe to my station and the holy laws of
+true friendship, now broken and violated by me through that powerful
+enemy, love."
+
+"If thou dost confess that," returned Camilla, "mortal enemy of
+all that rightly deserves to be loved, with what face dost thou dare
+to come before one whom thou knowest to be the mirror wherein he is
+reflected on whom thou shouldst look to see how unworthily thou him?
+But, woe is me, I now comprehend what has made thee give so little
+heed to what thou owest to thyself; it must have been some freedom
+of mine, for I will not call it immodesty, as it did not proceed
+from any deliberate intention, but from some heedlessness such as
+women are guilty of through inadvertence when they think they have
+no occasion for reserve. But tell me, traitor, when did I by word or
+sign give a reply to thy prayers that could awaken in thee a shadow of
+hope of attaining thy base wishes? When were not thy professions of
+love sternly and scornfully rejected and rebuked? When were thy
+frequent pledges and still more frequent gifts believed or accepted?
+But as I am persuaded that no one can long persevere in the attempt to
+win love unsustained by some hope, I am willing to attribute to myself
+the blame of thy assurance, for no doubt some thoughtlessness of
+mine has all this time fostered thy hopes; and therefore will I punish
+myself and inflict upon myself the penalty thy guilt deserves. And
+that thou mayest see that being so relentless to myself I cannot
+possibly be otherwise to thee, I have summoned thee to be a witness of
+the sacrifice I mean to offer to the injured honour of my honoured
+husband, wronged by thee with all the assiduity thou wert capable
+of, and by me too through want of caution in avoiding every
+occasion, if I have given any, of encouraging and sanctioning thy base
+designs. Once more I say the suspicion in my mind that some imprudence
+of mine has engendered these lawless thoughts in thee, is what
+causes me most distress and what I desire most to punish with my own
+hands, for were any other instrument of punishment employed my error
+might become perhaps more widely known; but before I do so, in my
+death I mean to inflict death, and take with me one that will fully
+satisfy my longing for the revenge I hope for and have; for I shall
+see, wheresoever it may be that I go, the penalty awarded by
+inflexible, unswerving justice on him who has placed me in a
+position so desperate."
+
+As she uttered these words, with incredible energy and swiftness she
+flew upon Lothario with the naked dagger, so manifestly bent on
+burying it in his breast that he was almost uncertain whether these
+demonstrations were real or feigned, for he was obliged to have
+recourse to all his skill and strength to prevent her from striking
+him; and with such reality did she act this strange farce and
+mystification that, to give it a colour of truth, she determined to
+stain it with her own blood; for perceiving, or pretending, that she
+could not wound Lothario, she said, "Fate, it seems, will not grant my
+just desire complete satisfaction, but it will not be able to keep
+me from satisfying it partially at least;" and making an effort to
+free the hand with the dagger which Lothario held in his grasp, she
+released it, and directing the point to a place where it could not
+inflict a deep wound, she plunged it into her left side high up
+close to the shoulder, and then allowed herself to fall to the
+ground as if in a faint.
+
+Leonela and Lothario stood amazed and astounded at the
+catastrophe, and seeing Camilla stretched on the ground and bathed
+in her blood they were still uncertain as to the true nature of the
+act. Lothario, terrified and breathless, ran in haste to pluck out the
+dagger; but when he saw how slight the wound was he was relieved of
+his fears and once more admired the subtlety, coolness, and ready
+wit of the fair Camilla; and the better to support the part he had
+to play he began to utter profuse and doleful lamentations over her
+body as if she were dead, invoking maledictions not only on himself
+but also on him who had been the means of placing him in such a
+position: and knowing that his friend Anselmo heard him he spoke in
+such a way as to make a listener feel much more pity for him than
+for Camilla, even though he supposed her dead. Leonela took her up
+in her arms and laid her on the bed, entreating Lothario to go in
+quest of some one to attend to her wound in secret, and at the same
+time asking his advice and opinion as to what they should say to
+Anselmo about his lady's wound if he should chance to return before it
+was healed. He replied they might say what they liked, for he was
+not in a state to give advice that would be of any use; all he could
+tell her was to try and stanch the blood, as he was going where he
+should never more be seen; and with every appearance of deep grief and
+sorrow he left the house; but when he found himself alone, and where
+there was nobody to see him, he crossed himself unceasingly, lost in
+wonder at the adroitness of Camilla and the consistent acting of
+Leonela. He reflected how convinced Anselmo would be that he had a
+second Portia for a wife, and he looked forward anxiously to meeting
+him in order to rejoice together over falsehood and truth the most
+craftily veiled that could be imagined.
+
+Leonela, as he told her, stanched her lady's blood, which was no
+more than sufficed to support her deception; and washing the wound
+with a little wine she bound it up to the best of her skill, talking
+all the time she was tending her in a strain that, even if nothing
+else had been said before, would have been enough to assure Anselmo
+that he had in Camilla a model of purity. To Leonela's words Camilla
+added her own, calling herself cowardly and wanting in spirit, since
+she had not enough at the time she had most need of it to rid
+herself of the life she so much loathed. She asked her attendant's
+advice as to whether or not she ought to inform her beloved husband of
+all that had happened, but the other bade her say nothing about it, as
+she would lay upon him the obligation of taking vengeance on Lothario,
+which he could not do but at great risk to himself; and it was the
+duty of a true wife not to give her husband provocation to quarrel,
+but, on the contrary, to remove it as far as possible from him.
+
+Camilla replied that she believed she was right and that she would
+follow her advice, but at any rate it would be well to consider how
+she was to explain the wound to Anselmo, for he could not help
+seeing it; to which Leonela answered that she did not know how to tell
+a lie even in jest.
+
+"How then can I know, my dear?" said Camilla, "for I should not dare
+to forge or keep up a falsehood if my life depended on it. If we can
+think of no escape from this difficulty, it will be better to tell him
+the plain truth than that he should find us out in an untrue story."
+
+"Be not uneasy, senora," said Leonela; "between this and to-morrow I
+will think of what we must say to him, and perhaps the wound being
+where it is it can be hidden from his sight, and Heaven will be
+pleased to aid us in a purpose so good and honourable. Compose
+yourself, senora, and endeavour to calm your excitement lest my lord
+find you agitated; and leave the rest to my care and God's, who always
+supports good intentions."
+
+Anselmo had with the deepest attention listened to and seen played
+out the tragedy of the death of his honour, which the performers acted
+with such wonderfully effective truth that it seemed as if they had
+become the realities of the parts they played. He longed for night and
+an opportunity of escaping from the house to go and see his good
+friend Lothario, and with him give vent to his joy over the precious
+pearl he had gained in having established his wife's purity. Both
+mistress and maid took care to give him time and opportunity to get
+away, and taking advantage of it he made his escape, and at once
+went in quest of Lothario, and it would be impossible to describe
+how he embraced him when he found him, and the things he said to him
+in the joy of his heart, and the praises he bestowed upon Camilla; all
+which Lothario listened to without being able to show any pleasure,
+for he could not forget how deceived his friend was, and how
+dishonourably he had wronged him; and though Anselmo could see that
+Lothario was not glad, still he imagined it was only because he had
+left Camilla wounded and had been himself the cause of it; and so
+among other things he told him not to be distressed about Camilla's
+accident, for, as they had agreed to hide it from him, the wound was
+evidently trifling; and that being so, he had no cause for fear, but
+should henceforward be of good cheer and rejoice with him, seeing that
+by his means and adroitness he found himself raised to the greatest
+height of happiness that he could have ventured to hope for, and
+desired no better pastime than making verses in praise of Camilla that
+would preserve her name for all time to come. Lothario commended his
+purpose, and promised on his own part to aid him in raising a monument
+so glorious.
+
+And so Anselmo was left the most charmingly hoodwinked man there
+could be in the world. He himself, persuaded he was conducting the
+instrument of his glory, led home by the hand him who had been the
+utter destruction of his good name; whom Camilla received with averted
+countenance, though with smiles in her heart. The deception was
+carried on for some time, until at the end of a few months Fortune
+turned her wheel and the guilt which had been until then so
+skilfully concealed was published abroad, and Anselmo paid with his
+life the penalty of his ill-advised curiosity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE HEROIC AND PRODIGIOUS BATTLE DON QUIXOTE HAD
+WITH CERTAIN SKINS OF RED WINE, AND BRINGS THE NOVEL OF "THE
+ILL-ADVISED CURIOSITY" TO A CLOSE
+
+There remained but little more of the novel to be read, when
+Sancho Panza burst forth in wild excitement from the garret where
+Don Quixote was lying, shouting, "Run, sirs! quick; and help my
+master, who is in the thick of the toughest and stiffest battle I ever
+laid eyes on. By the living God he has given the giant, the enemy of
+my lady the Princess Micomicona, such a slash that he has sliced his
+head clean off as if it were a turnip."
+
+"What are you talking about, brother?" said the curate, pausing as
+he was about to read the remainder of the novel. "Are you in your
+senses, Sancho? How the devil can it be as you say, when the giant
+is two thousand leagues away?"
+
+Here they heard a loud noise in the chamber, and Don Quixote
+shouting out, "Stand, thief, brigand, villain; now I have got thee,
+and thy scimitar shall not avail thee!" And then it seemed as though
+he were slashing vigorously at the wall.
+
+"Don't stop to listen," said Sancho, "but go in and part them or
+help my master: though there is no need of that now, for no doubt
+the giant is dead by this time and giving account to God of his past
+wicked life; for I saw the blood flowing on the ground, and the head
+cut off and fallen on one side, and it is as big as a large
+wine-skin."
+
+"May I die," said the landlord at this, "if Don Quixote or Don Devil
+has not been slashing some of the skins of red wine that stand full at
+his bed's head, and the spilt wine must be what this good fellow takes
+for blood;" and so saying he went into the room and the rest after
+him, and there they found Don Quixote in the strangest costume in
+the world. He was in his shirt, which was not long enough in front
+to cover his thighs completely and was six fingers shorter behind; his
+legs were very long and lean, covered with hair, and anything but
+clean; on his head he had a little greasy red cap that belonged to the
+host, round his left arm he had rolled the blanket of the bed, to
+which Sancho, for reasons best known to himself, owed a grudge, and in
+his right hand he held his unsheathed sword, with which he was
+slashing about on all sides, uttering exclamations as if he were
+actually fighting some giant: and the best of it was his eyes were not
+open, for he was fast asleep, and dreaming that he was doing battle
+with the giant. For his imagination was so wrought upon by the
+adventure he was going to accomplish, that it made him dream he had
+already reached the kingdom of Micomicon, and was engaged in combat
+with his enemy; and believing he was laying on the giant, he had given
+so many sword cuts to the skins that the whole room was full of
+wine. On seeing this the landlord was so enraged that he fell on Don
+Quixote, and with his clenched fist began to pummel him in such a way,
+that if Cardenio and the curate had not dragged him off, he would have
+brought the war of the giant to an end. But in spite of all the poor
+gentleman never woke until the barber brought a great pot of cold
+water from the well and flung it with one dash all over his body, on
+which Don Quixote woke up, but not so completely as to understand what
+was the matter. Dorothea, seeing how short and slight his attire
+was, would not go in to witness the battle between her champion and
+her opponent. As for Sancho, he went searching all over the floor
+for the head of the giant, and not finding it he said, "I see now that
+it's all enchantment in this house; for the last time, on this very
+spot where I am now, I got ever so many thumps without knowing who
+gave them to me, or being able to see anybody; and now this head is
+not to be seen anywhere about, though I saw it cut off with my own
+eyes and the blood running from the body as if from a fountain."
+
+"What blood and fountains are you talking about, enemy of God and
+his saints?" said the landlord. "Don't you see, you thief, that the
+blood and the fountain are only these skins here that have been
+stabbed and the red wine swimming all over the room?- and I wish I saw
+the soul of him that stabbed them swimming in hell."
+
+"I know nothing about that," said Sancho; "all I know is it will
+be my bad luck that through not finding this head my county will
+melt away like salt in water;"- for Sancho awake was worse than his
+master asleep, so much had his master's promises addled his wits.
+
+The landlord was beside himself at the coolness of the squire and
+the mischievous doings of the master, and swore it should not be
+like the last time when they went without paying; and that their
+privileges of chivalry should not hold good this time to let one or
+other of them off without paying, even to the cost of the plugs that
+would have to be put to the damaged wine-skins. The curate was holding
+Don Quixote's hands, who, fancying he had now ended the adventure
+and was in the presence of the Princess Micomicona, knelt before the
+curate and said, "Exalted and beauteous lady, your highness may live
+from this day forth fearless of any harm this base being could do you;
+and I too from this day forth am released from the promise I gave you,
+since by the help of God on high and by the favour of her by whom I
+live and breathe, I have fulfilled it so successfully."
+
+"Did not I say so?" said Sancho on hearing this. "You see I wasn't
+drunk; there you see my master has already salted the giant; there's
+no doubt about the bulls; my county is all right!"
+
+Who could have helped laughing at the absurdities of the pair,
+master and man? And laugh they did, all except the landlord, who
+cursed himself; but at length the barber, Cardenio, and the curate
+contrived with no small trouble to get Don Quixote on the bed, and
+he fell asleep with every appearance of excessive weariness. They left
+him to sleep, and came out to the gate of the inn to console Sancho
+Panza on not having found the head of the giant; but much more work
+had they to appease the landlord, who was furious at the sudden
+death of his wine-skins; and said the landlady half scolding, half
+crying, "At an evil moment and in an unlucky hour he came into my
+house, this knight-errant- would that I had never set eyes on him, for
+dear he has cost me; the last time he went off with the overnight
+score against him for supper, bed, straw, and barley, for himself
+and his squire and a hack and an ass, saying he was a knight
+adventurer- God send unlucky adventures to him and all the adventurers
+in the world- and therefore not bound to pay anything, for it was so
+settled by the knight-errantry tariff: and then, all because of him,
+came the other gentleman and carried off my tail, and gives it back
+more than two cuartillos the worse, all stripped of its hair, so
+that it is no use for my husband's purpose; and then, for a
+finishing touch to all, to burst my wine-skins and spill my wine! I
+wish I saw his own blood spilt! But let him not deceive himself,
+for, by the bones of my father and the shade of my mother, they
+shall pay me down every quarts; or my name is not what it is, and I am
+not my father's daughter." All this and more to the same effect the
+landlady delivered with great irritation, and her good maid Maritornes
+backed her up, while the daughter held her peace and smiled from
+time to time. The curate smoothed matters by promising to make good
+all losses to the best of his power, not only as regarded the
+wine-skins but also the wine, and above all the depreciation of the
+tail which they set such store by. Dorothea comforted Sancho,
+telling him that she pledged herself, as soon as it should appear
+certain that his master had decapitated the giant, and she found
+herself peacefully established in her kingdom, to bestow upon him
+the best county there was in it. With this Sancho consoled himself,
+and assured the princess she might rely upon it that he had seen the
+head of the giant, and more by token it had a beard that reached to
+the girdle, and that if it was not to be seen now it was because
+everything that happened in that house went by enchantment, as he
+himself had proved the last time he had lodged there. Dorothea said
+she fully believed it, and that he need not be uneasy, for all would
+go well and turn out as he wished. All therefore being appeased, the
+curate was anxious to go on with the novel, as he saw there was but
+little more left to read. Dorothea and the others begged him to finish
+it, and he, as he was willing to please them, and enjoyed reading it
+himself, continued the tale in these words:
+
+
+The result was, that from the confidence Anselmo felt in Camilla's
+virtue, he lived happy and free from anxiety, and Camilla purposely
+looked coldly on Lothario, that Anselmo might suppose her feelings
+towards him to be the opposite of what they were; and the better to
+support the position, Lothario begged to be excused from coming to the
+house, as the displeasure with which Camilla regarded his presence was
+plain to be seen. But the befooled Anselmo said he would on no account
+allow such a thing, and so in a thousand ways he became the author
+of his own dishonour, while he believed he was insuring his happiness.
+Meanwhile the satisfaction with which Leonela saw herself empowered to
+carry on her amour reached such a height that, regardless of
+everything else, she followed her inclinations unrestrainedly, feeling
+confident that her mistress would screen her, and even show her how to
+manage it safely. At last one night Anselmo heard footsteps in
+Leonela's room, and on trying to enter to see who it was, he found
+that the door was held against him, which made him all the more
+determined to open it; and exerting his strength he forced it open,
+and entered the room in time to see a man leaping through the window
+into the street. He ran quickly to seize him or discover who he was,
+but he was unable to effect either purpose, for Leonela flung her arms
+round him crying, "Be calm, senor; do not give way to passion or
+follow him who has escaped from this; he belongs to me, and in fact he
+is my husband."
+
+Anselmo would not believe it, but blind with rage drew a dagger
+and threatened to stab Leonela, bidding her tell the truth or he would
+kill her. She, in her fear, not knowing what she was saying,
+exclaimed, "Do not kill me, senor, for I can tell you things more
+important than any you can imagine."
+
+"Tell me then at once or thou diest," said Anselmo.
+
+"It would be impossible for me now," said Leonela, "I am so
+agitated: leave me till to-morrow, and then you shall hear from me
+what will fill you with astonishment; but rest assured that he who
+leaped through the window is a young man of this city, who has given
+me his promise to become my husband."
+
+Anselmo was appeased with this, and was content to wait the time she
+asked of him, for he never expected to hear anything against
+Camilla, so satisfied and sure of her virtue was he; and so he quitted
+the room, and left Leonela locked in, telling her she should not
+come out until she had told him all she had to make known to him. He
+went at once to see Camilla, and tell her, as he did, all that had
+passed between him and her handmaid, and the promise she had given him
+to inform him matters of serious importance.
+
+There is no need of saying whether Camilla was agitated or not,
+for so great was her fear and dismay, that, making sure, as she had
+good reason to do, that Leonela would tell Anselmo all she knew of her
+faithlessness, she had not the courage to wait and see if her
+suspicions were confirmed; and that same night, as soon as she thought
+that Anselmo was asleep, she packed up the most valuable jewels she
+had and some money, and without being observed by anybody escaped from
+the house and betook herself to Lothario's, to whom she related what
+had occurred, imploring him to convey her to some place of safety or
+fly with her where they might be safe from Anselmo. The state of
+perplexity to which Camilla reduced Lothario was such that he was
+unable to utter a word in reply, still less to decide upon what he
+should do. At length he resolved to conduct her to a convent of
+which a sister of his was prioress; Camilla agreed to this, and with
+the speed which the circumstances demanded, Lothario took her to the
+convent and left her there, and then himself quitted the city
+without letting anyone know of his departure.
+
+As soon as daylight came Anselmo, without missing Camilla from his
+side, rose cager to learn what Leonela had to tell him, and hastened
+to the room where he had locked her in. He opened the door, entered,
+but found no Leonela; all he found was some sheets knotted to the
+window, a plain proof that she had let herself down from it and
+escaped. He returned, uneasy, to tell Camilla, but not finding her
+in bed or anywhere in the house he was lost in amazement. He asked the
+servants of the house about her, but none of them could give him any
+explanation. As he was going in search of Camilla it happened by
+chance that he observed her boxes were lying open, and that the
+greater part of her jewels were gone; and now he became fully aware of
+his disgrace, and that Leonela was not the cause of his misfortune;
+and, just as he was, without delaying to dress himself completely,
+he repaired, sad at heart and dejected, to his friend Lothario to make
+known his sorrow to him; but when he failed to find him and the
+servants reported that he had been absent from his house all night and
+had taken with him all the money he had, he felt as though he were
+losing his senses; and to make all complete on returning to his own
+house he found it deserted and empty, not one of all his servants,
+male or female, remaining in it. He knew not what to think, or say, or
+do, and his reason seemed to be deserting him little by little. He
+reviewed his position, and saw himself in a moment left without
+wife, friend, or servants, abandoned, he felt, by the heaven above
+him, and more than all robbed of his honour, for in Camilla's
+disappearance he saw his own ruin. After long reflection he resolved
+at last to go to his friend's village, where he had been staying
+when he afforded opportunities for the contrivance of this
+complication of misfortune. He locked the doors of his house,
+mounted his horse, and with a broken spirit set out on his journey;
+but he had hardly gone half-way when, harassed by his reflections,
+he had to dismount and tie his horse to a tree, at the foot of which
+he threw himself, giving vent to piteous heartrending sighs; and there
+he remained till nearly nightfall, when he observed a man
+approaching on horseback from the city, of whom, after saluting him,
+he asked what was the news in Florence.
+
+The citizen replied, "The strangest that have been heard for many
+a day; for it is reported abroad that Lothario, the great friend of
+the wealthy Anselmo, who lived at San Giovanni, carried off last night
+Camilla, the wife of Anselmo, who also has disappeared. All this has
+been told by a maid-servant of Camilla's, whom the governor found last
+night lowering herself by a sheet from the windows of Anselmo's house.
+I know not indeed, precisely, how the affair came to pass; all I
+know is that the whole city is wondering at the occurrence, for no one
+could have expected a thing of the kind, seeing the great and intimate
+friendship that existed between them, so great, they say, that they
+were called 'The Two Friends.'"
+
+"Is it known at all," said Anselmo, "what road Lothario and
+Camilla took?"
+
+"Not in the least," said the citizen, "though the governor has
+been very active in searching for them."
+
+"God speed you, senor," said Anselmo.
+
+"God be with you," said the citizen and went his way.
+
+This disastrous intelligence almost robbed Anselmo not only of his
+senses but of his life. He got up as well as he was able and reached
+the house of his friend, who as yet knew nothing of his misfortune,
+but seeing him come pale, worn, and haggard, perceived that he was
+suffering some heavy affliction. Anselmo at once begged to be
+allowed to retire to rest, and to be given writing materials. His wish
+was complied with and he was left lying down and alone, for he desired
+this, and even that the door should be locked. Finding himself alone
+he so took to heart the thought of his misfortune that by the signs of
+death he felt within him he knew well his life was drawing to a close,
+and therefore he resolved to leave behind him a declaration of the
+cause of his strange end. He began to write, but before he had put
+down all he meant to say, his breath failed him and he yielded up
+his life, a victim to the suffering which his ill-advised curiosity
+had entailed upon him. The master of the house observing that it was
+now late and that Anselmo did not call, determined to go in and
+ascertain if his indisposition was increasing, and found him lying
+on his face, his body partly in the bed, partly on the
+writing-table, on which he lay with the written paper open and the pen
+still in his hand. Having first called to him without receiving any
+answer, his host approached him, and taking him by the hand, found
+that it was cold, and saw that he was dead. Greatly surprised and
+distressed he summoned the household to witness the sad fate which had
+befallen Anselmo; and then he read the paper, the handwriting of which
+he recognised as his, and which contained these words:
+
+"A foolish and ill-advised desire has robbed me of life. If the news
+of my death should reach the ears of Camilla, let her know that I
+forgive her, for she was not bound to perform miracles, nor ought I to
+have required her to perform them; and since I have been the author of
+my own dishonour, there is no reason why-"
+
+So far Anselmo had written, and thus it was plain that at this
+point, before he could finish what he had to say, his life came to
+an end. The next day his friend sent intelligence of his death to
+his relatives, who had already ascertained his misfortune, as well
+as the convent where Camilla lay almost on the point of accompanying
+her husband on that inevitable journey, not on account of the
+tidings of his death, but because of those she received of her lover's
+departure. Although she saw herself a widow, it is said she refused
+either to quit the convent or take the veil, until, not long
+afterwards, intelligence reached her that Lothario had been killed
+in a battle in which M. de Lautrec had been recently engaged with
+the Great Captain Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova in the kingdom of
+Naples, whither her too late repentant lover had repaired. On learning
+this Camilla took the veil, and shortly afterwards died, worn out by
+grief and melancholy. This was the end of all three, an end that
+came of a thoughtless beginning.
+
+
+"I like this novel," said the curate; "but I cannot persuade
+myself of its truth; and if it has been invented, the author's
+invention is faulty, for it is impossible to imagine any husband so
+foolish as to try such a costly experiment as Anselmo's. If it had
+been represented as occurring between a gallant and his mistress it
+might pass; but between husband and wife there is something of an
+impossibility about it. As to the way in which the story is told,
+however, I have no fault to find."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+WHICH TREATS OF MORE CURIOUS INCIDENTS THAT OCCURRED AT THE INN
+
+Just at that instant the landlord, who was standing at the gate of
+the inn, exclaimed, "Here comes a fine troop of guests; if they stop
+here we may say gaudeamus."
+
+"What are they?" said Cardenio.
+
+"Four men," said the landlord, "riding a la jineta, with lances
+and bucklers, and all with black veils, and with them there is a woman
+in white on a side-saddle, whose face is also veiled, and two
+attendants on foot."
+
+"Are they very near?" said the curate.
+
+"So near," answered the landlord, "that here they come."
+
+Hearing this Dorothea covered her face, and Cardenio retreated
+into Don Quixote's room, and they hardly had time to do so before
+the whole party the host had described entered the inn, and the four
+that were on horseback, who were of highbred appearance and bearing,
+dismounted, and came forward to take down the woman who rode on the
+side-saddle, and one of them taking her in his arms placed her in a
+chair that stood at the entrance of the room where Cardenio had hidden
+himself. All this time neither she nor they had removed their veils or
+spoken a word, only on sitting down on the chair the woman gave a deep
+sigh and let her arms fall like one that was ill and weak. The
+attendants on foot then led the horses away to the stable. Observing
+this the curate, curious to know who these people in such a dress
+and preserving such silence were, went to where the servants were
+standing and put the question to one of them, who answered him.
+
+"Faith, sir, I cannot tell you who they are, I only know they seem
+to be people of distinction, particularly he who advanced to take
+the lady you saw in his arms; and I say so because all the rest show
+him respect, and nothing is done except what he directs and orders."
+
+"And the lady, who is she?" asked the curate.
+
+"That I cannot tell you either," said the servant, "for I have not
+seen her face all the way: I have indeed heard her sigh many times and
+utter such groans that she seems to be giving up the ghost every time;
+but it is no wonder if we do not know more than we have told you, as
+my comrade and I have only been in their company two days, for
+having met us on the road they begged and persuaded us to accompany
+them to Andalusia, promising to pay us well."
+
+"And have you heard any of them called by his name?" asked the
+curate.
+
+"No, indeed," replied the servant; "they all preserve a marvellous
+silence on the road, for not a sound is to be heard among them
+except the poor lady's sighs and sobs, which make us pity her; and
+we feel sure that wherever it is she is going, it is against her will,
+and as far as one can judge from her dress she is a nun or, what is
+more likely, about to become one; and perhaps it is because taking the
+vows is not of her own free will, that she is so unhappy as she
+seems to be."
+
+"That may well be," said the curate, and leaving them he returned to
+where Dorothea was, who, hearing the veiled lady sigh, moved by
+natural compassion drew near to her and said, "What are you
+suffering from, senora? If it be anything that women are accustomed
+and know how to relieve, I offer you my services with all my heart."
+
+To this the unhappy lady made no reply; and though Dorothea repeated
+her offers more earnestly she still kept silence, until the
+gentleman with the veil, who, the servant said, was obeyed by the
+rest, approached and said to Dorothea, "Do not give yourself the
+trouble, senora, of making any offers to that woman, for it is her way
+to give no thanks for anything that is done for her; and do not try to
+make her answer unless you want to hear some lie from her lips."
+
+"I have never told a lie," was the immediate reply of her who had
+been silent until now; "on the contrary, it is because I am so
+truthful and so ignorant of lying devices that I am now in this
+miserable condition; and this I call you yourself to witness, for it
+is my unstained truth that has made you false and a liar."
+
+Cardenio heard these words clearly and distinctly, being quite close
+to the speaker, for there was only the door of Don Quixote's room
+between them, and the instant he did so, uttering a loud exclamation
+he cried, "Good God! what is this I hear? What voice is this that
+has reached my ears?" Startled at the voice the lady turned her
+head; and not seeing the speaker she stood up and attempted to enter
+the room; observing which the gentleman held her back, preventing
+her from moving a step. In her agitation and sudden movement the
+silk with which she had covered her face fell off and disclosed a
+countenance of incomparable and marvellous beauty, but pale and
+terrified; for she kept turning her eyes, everywhere she could
+direct her gaze, with an eagerness that made her look as if she had
+lost her senses, and so marked that it excited the pity of Dorothea
+and all who beheld her, though they knew not what caused it. The
+gentleman grasped her firmly by the shoulders, and being so fully
+occupied with holding her back, he was unable to put a hand to his
+veil which was falling off, as it did at length entirely, and
+Dorothea, who was holding the lady in her arms, raising her eyes saw
+that he who likewise held her was her husband, Don Fernando. The
+instant she recognised him, with a prolonged plaintive cry drawn
+from the depths of her heart, she fell backwards fainting, and but for
+the barber being close by to catch her in his arms, she would have
+fallen completely to the ground. The curate at once hastened to
+uncover her face and throw water on it, and as he did so Don Fernando,
+for he it was who held the other in his arms, recognised her and stood
+as if death-stricken by the sight; not, however, relaxing his grasp of
+Luscinda, for it was she that was struggling to release herself from
+his hold, having recognised Cardenio by his voice, as he had
+recognised her. Cardenio also heard Dorothea's cry as she fell
+fainting, and imagining that it came from his Luscinda burst forth
+in terror from the room, and the first thing he saw was Don Fernando
+with Luscinda in his arms. Don Fernando, too, knew Cardenio at once;
+and all three, Luscinda, Cardenio, and Dorothea, stood in silent
+amazement scarcely knowing what had happened to them.
+
+They gazed at one another without speaking, Dorothea at Don
+Fernando, Don Fernando at Cardenio, Cardenio at Luscinda, and Luscinda
+at Cardenio. The first to break silence was Luscinda, who thus
+addressed Don Fernando: "Leave me, Senor Don Fernando, for the sake of
+what you owe to yourself; if no other reason will induce you, leave me
+to cling to the wall of which I am the ivy, to the support from
+which neither your importunities, nor your threats, nor your promises,
+nor your gifts have been able to detach me. See how Heaven, by ways
+strange and hidden from our sight, has brought me face to face with my
+true husband; and well you know by dear-bought experience that death
+alone will be able to efface him from my memory. May this plain
+declaration, then, lead you, as you can do nothing else, to turn
+your love into rage, your affection into resentment, and so to take my
+life; for if I yield it up in the presence of my beloved husband I
+count it well bestowed; it may be by my death he will be convinced
+that I kept my faith to him to the last moment of life."
+
+Meanwhile Dorothea had come to herself, and had heard Luscinda's
+words, by means of which she divined who she was; but seeing that
+Don Fernando did not yet release her or reply to her, summoning up her
+resolution as well as she could she rose and knelt at his feet, and
+with a flood of bright and touching tears addressed him thus:
+
+"If, my lord, the beams of that sun that thou holdest eclipsed in
+thine arms did not dazzle and rob thine eyes of sight thou wouldst
+have seen by this time that she who kneels at thy feet is, so long
+as thou wilt have it so, the unhappy and unfortunate Dorothea. I am
+that lowly peasant girl whom thou in thy goodness or for thy
+pleasure wouldst raise high enough to call herself thine; I am she who
+in the seclusion of innocence led a contented life until at the
+voice of thy importunity, and thy true and tender passion, as it
+seemed, she opened the gates of her modesty and surrendered to thee
+the keys of her liberty; a gift received by thee but thanklessly, as
+is clearly shown by my forced retreat to the place where thou dost
+find me, and by thy appearance under the circumstances in which I
+see thee. Nevertheless, I would not have thee suppose that I have come
+here driven by my shame; it is only grief and sorrow at seeing
+myself forgotten by thee that have led me. It was thy will to make
+me thine, and thou didst so follow thy will, that now, even though
+thou repentest, thou canst not help being mine. Bethink thee, my lord,
+the unsurpassable affection I bear thee may compensate for the
+beauty and noble birth for which thou wouldst desert me. Thou canst
+not be the fair Luscinda's because thou art mine, nor can she be thine
+because she is Cardenio's; and it will be easier, remember, to bend
+thy will to love one who adores thee, than to lead one to love thee
+who abhors thee now. Thou didst address thyself to my simplicity, thou
+didst lay siege to my virtue, thou wert not ignorant of my station,
+well dost thou know how I yielded wholly to thy will; there is no
+ground or reason for thee to plead deception, and if it be so, as it
+is, and if thou art a Christian as thou art a gentleman, why dost thou
+by such subterfuges put off making me as happy at last as thou didst
+at first? And if thou wilt not have me for what I am, thy true and
+lawful wife, at least take and accept me as thy slave, for so long
+as I am thine I will count myself happy and fortunate. Do not by
+deserting me let my shame become the talk of the gossips in the
+streets; make not the old age of my parents miserable; for the loyal
+services they as faithful vassals have ever rendered thine are not
+deserving of such a return; and if thou thinkest it will debase thy
+blood to mingle it with mine, reflect that there is little or no
+nobility in the world that has not travelled the same road, and that
+in illustrious lineages it is not the woman's blood that is of
+account; and, moreover, that true nobility consists in virtue, and
+if thou art wanting in that, refusing me what in justice thou owest
+me, then even I have higher claims to nobility than thine. To make
+an end, senor, these are my last words to thee: whether thou wilt,
+or wilt not, I am thy wife; witness thy words, which must not and
+ought not to be false, if thou dost pride thyself on that for want
+of which thou scornest me; witness the pledge which thou didst give
+me, and witness Heaven, which thou thyself didst call to witness the
+promise thou hadst made me; and if all this fail, thy own conscience
+will not fail to lift up its silent voice in the midst of all thy
+gaiety, and vindicate the truth of what I say and mar thy highest
+pleasure and enjoyment."
+
+All this and more the injured Dorothea delivered with such earnest
+feeling and such tears that all present, even those who came with
+Don Fernando, were constrained to join her in them. Don Fernando
+listened to her without replying, until, ceasing to speak, she gave
+way to such sobs and sighs that it must have been a heart of brass
+that was not softened by the sight of so great sorrow. Luscinda
+stood regarding her with no less compassion for her sufferings than
+admiration for her intelligence and beauty, and would have gone to her
+to say some words of comfort to her, but was prevented by Don
+Fernando's grasp which held her fast. He, overwhelmed with confusion
+and astonishment, after regarding Dorothea for some moments with a
+fixed gaze, opened his arms, and, releasing Luscinda, exclaimed:
+
+"Thou hast conquered, fair Dorothea, thou hast conquered, for it
+is impossible to have the heart to deny the united force of so many
+truths."
+
+Luscinda in her feebleness was on the point of falling to the ground
+when Don Fernando released her, but Cardenio, who stood near, having
+retreated behind Don Fernando to escape recognition, casting fear
+aside and regardless of what might happen, ran forward to support her,
+and said as he clasped her in his arms, "If Heaven in its compassion
+is willing to let thee rest at last, mistress of my heart, true,
+constant, and fair, nowhere canst thou rest more safely than in
+these arms that now receive thee, and received thee before when
+fortune permitted me to call thee mine."
+
+At these words Luscinda looked up at Cardenio, at first beginning to
+recognise him by his voice and then satisfying herself by her eyes
+that it was he, and hardly knowing what she did, and heedless of all
+considerations of decorum, she flung her arms around his neck and
+pressing her face close to his, said, "Yes, my dear lord, you are
+the true master of this your slave, even though adverse fate interpose
+again, and fresh dangers threaten this life that hangs on yours."
+
+A strange sight was this for Don Fernando and those that stood
+around, filled with surprise at an incident so unlooked for.
+Dorothea fancied that Don Fernando changed colour and looked as though
+he meant to take vengeance on Cardenio, for she observed him put his
+hand to his sword; and the instant the idea struck her, with wonderful
+quickness she clasped him round the knees, and kissing them and
+holding him so as to prevent his moving, she said, while her tears
+continued to flow, "What is it thou wouldst do, my only refuge, in
+this unforeseen event? Thou hast thy wife at thy feet, and she whom
+thou wouldst have for thy wife is in the arms of her husband:
+reflect whether it will be right for thee, whether it will be possible
+for thee to undo what Heaven has done, or whether it will be
+becoming in thee to seek to raise her to be thy mate who in spite of
+every obstacle, and strong in her truth and constancy, is before thine
+eyes, bathing with the tears of love the face and bosom of her
+lawful husband. For God's sake I entreat of thee, for thine own I
+implore thee, let not this open manifestation rouse thy anger; but
+rather so calm it as to allow these two lovers to live in peace and
+quiet without any interference from thee so long as Heaven permits
+them; and in so doing thou wilt prove the generosity of thy lofty
+noble spirit, and the world shall see that with thee reason has more
+influence than passion."
+
+All the time Dorothea was speaking, Cardenio, though he held
+Luscinda in his arms, never took his eyes off Don Fernando,
+determined, if he saw him make any hostile movement, to try and defend
+himself and resist as best he could all who might assail him, though
+it should cost him his life. But now Don Fernando's friends, as well
+as the curate and the barber, who had been present all the while,
+not forgetting the worthy Sancho Panza, ran forward and gathered round
+Don Fernando, entreating him to have regard for the tears of Dorothea,
+and not suffer her reasonable hopes to be disappointed, since, as they
+firmly believed, what she said was but the truth; and bidding him
+observe that it was not, as it might seem, by accident, but by a
+special disposition of Providence that they had all met in a place
+where no one could have expected a meeting. And the curate bade him
+remember that only death could part Luscinda from Cardenio; that
+even if some sword were to separate them they would think their
+death most happy; and that in a case that admitted of no remedy his
+wisest course was, by conquering and putting a constraint upon
+himself, to show a generous mind, and of his own accord suffer these
+two to enjoy the happiness Heaven had granted them. He bade him,
+too, turn his eyes upon the beauty of Dorothea and he would see that
+few if any could equal much less excel her; while to that beauty
+should be added her modesty and the surpassing love she bore him.
+But besides all this, he reminded him that if he prided himself on
+being a gentleman and a Christian, he could not do otherwise than keep
+his plighted word; and that in doing so he would obey God and meet the
+approval of all sensible people, who know and recognised it to be
+the privilege of beauty, even in one of humble birth, provided
+virtue accompany it, to be able to raise itself to the level of any
+rank, without any slur upon him who places it upon an equality with
+himself; and furthermore that when the potent sway of passion
+asserts itself, so long as there be no mixture of sin in it, he is not
+to be blamed who gives way to it.
+
+To be brief, they added to these such other forcible arguments
+that Don Fernando's manly heart, being after all nourished by noble
+blood, was touched, and yielded to the truth which, even had he wished
+it, he could not gainsay; and he showed his submission, and acceptance
+of the good advice that had been offered to him, by stooping down
+and embracing Dorothea, saying to her, "Rise, dear lady, it is not
+right that what I hold in my heart should be kneeling at my feet;
+and if until now I have shown no sign of what I own, it may have
+been by Heaven's decree in order that, seeing the constancy with which
+you love me, I may learn to value you as you deserve. What I entreat
+of you is that you reproach me not with my transgression and
+grievous wrong-doing; for the same cause and force that drove me to
+make you mine impelled me to struggle against being yours; and to
+prove this, turn and look at the eyes of the now happy Luscinda, and
+you will see in them an excuse for all my errors: and as she has found
+and gained the object of her desires, and I have found in you what
+satisfies all my wishes, may she live in peace and contentment as many
+happy years with her Cardenio, as on my knees I pray Heaven to allow
+me to live with my Dorothea;" and with these words he once more
+embraced her and pressed his face to hers with so much tenderness that
+he had to take great heed to keep his tears from completing the
+proof of his love and repentance in the sight of all. Not so Luscinda,
+and Cardenio, and almost all the others, for they shed so many
+tears, some in their own happiness, some at that of the others, that
+one would have supposed a heavy calamity had fallen upon them all.
+Even Sancho Panza was weeping; though afterwards he said he only
+wept because he saw that Dorothea was not as he fancied the queen
+Micomicona, of whom he expected such great favours. Their wonder as
+well as their weeping lasted some time, and then Cardenio and Luscinda
+went and fell on their knees before Don Fernando, returning him thanks
+for the favour he had rendered them in language so grateful that he
+knew not how to answer them, and raising them up embraced them with
+every mark of affection and courtesy.
+
+He then asked Dorothea how she had managed to reach a place so far
+removed from her own home, and she in a few fitting words told all
+that she had previously related to Cardenio, with which Don Fernando
+and his companions were so delighted that they wished the story had
+been longer; so charmingly did Dorothea describe her misadventures.
+When she had finished Don Fernando recounted what had befallen him
+in the city after he had found in Luscinda's bosom the paper in
+which she declared that she was Cardenio's wife, and never could be
+his. He said he meant to kill her, and would have done so had he not
+been prevented by her parents, and that he quitted the house full of
+rage and shame, and resolved to avenge himself when a more
+convenient opportunity should offer. The next day he learned that
+Luscinda had disappeared from her father's house, and that no one
+could tell whither she had gone. Finally, at the end of some months he
+ascertained that she was in a convent and meant to remain there all
+the rest of her life, if she were not to share it with Cardenio; and
+as soon as he had learned this, taking these three gentlemen as his
+companions, he arrived at the place where she was, but avoided
+speaking to her, fearing that if it were known he was there stricter
+precautions would be taken in the convent; and watching a time when
+the porter's lodge was open he left two to guard the gate, and he
+and the other entered the convent in quest of Luscinda, whom they
+found in the cloisters in conversation with one of the nuns, and
+carrying her off without giving her time to resist, they reached a
+place with her where they provided themselves with what they
+required for taking her away; all which they were able to do in
+complete safety, as the convent was in the country at a considerable
+distance from the city. He added that when Luscinda found herself in
+his power she lost all consciousness, and after returning to herself
+did nothing but weep and sigh without speaking a word; and thus in
+silence and tears they reached that inn, which for him was reaching
+heaven where all the mischances of earth are over and at an end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+IN WHICH IS CONTINUED THE STORY OF THE FAMOUS PRINCESS MICOMICONA,
+WITH OTHER DROLL ADVENTURES
+
+To all this Sancho listened with no little sorrow at heart to see
+how his hopes of dignity were fading away and vanishing in smoke,
+and how the fair Princess Micomicona had turned into Dorothea, and the
+giant into Don Fernando, while his master was sleeping tranquilly,
+totally unconscious of all that had come to pass. Dorothea was
+unable to persuade herself that her present happiness was not all a
+dream; Cardenio was in a similar state of mind, and Luscinda's
+thoughts ran in the same direction. Don Fernando gave thanks to Heaven
+for the favour shown to him and for having been rescued from the
+intricate labyrinth in which he had been brought so near the
+destruction of his good name and of his soul; and in short everybody
+in the inn was full of contentment and satisfaction at the happy issue
+of such a complicated and hopeless business. The curate as a
+sensible man made sound reflections upon the whole affair, and
+congratulated each upon his good fortune; but the one that was in
+the highest spirits and good humour was the landlady, because of the
+promise Cardenio and the curate had given her to pay for all the
+losses and damage she had sustained through Don Quixote's means.
+Sancho, as has been already said, was the only one who was distressed,
+unhappy, and dejected; and so with a long face he went in to his
+master, who had just awoke, and said to him:
+
+"Sir Rueful Countenance, your worship may as well sleep on as much
+as you like, without troubling yourself about killing any giant or
+restoring her kingdom to the princess; for that is all over and
+settled now."
+
+"I should think it was," replied Don Quixote, "for I have had the
+most prodigious and stupendous battle with the giant that I ever
+remember having had all the days of my life; and with one back-stroke-
+swish!- I brought his head tumbling to the ground, and so much blood
+gushed forth from him that it ran in rivulets over the earth like
+water."
+
+ "Like red wine, your worship had better say," replied Sancho;
+"for I would have you know, if you don't know it, that the dead
+giant is a hacked wine-skin, and the blood four-and-twenty gallons
+of red wine that it had in its belly, and the cut-off head is the
+bitch that bore me; and the devil take it all."
+
+"What art thou talking about, fool?" said Don Quixote; "art thou
+in thy senses?"
+
+"Let your worship get up," said Sancho, "and you will see the nice
+business you have made of it, and what we have to pay; and you will
+see the queen turned into a private lady called Dorothea, and other
+things that will astonish you, if you understand them."
+
+"I shall not be surprised at anything of the kind," returned Don
+Quixote; "for if thou dost remember the last time we were here I
+told thee that everything that happened here was a matter of
+enchantment, and it would be no wonder if it were the same now."
+
+"I could believe all that," replied Sancho, "if my blanketing was
+the same sort of thing also; only it wasn't, but real and genuine; for
+I saw the landlord, Who is here to-day, holding one end of the blanket
+and jerking me up to the skies very neatly and smartly, and with as
+much laughter as strength; and when it comes to be a case of knowing
+people, I hold for my part, simple and sinner as I am, that there is
+no enchantment about it at all, but a great deal of bruising and bad
+luck."
+
+"Well, well, God will give a remedy," said Don Quixote; "hand me
+my clothes and let me go out, for I want to see these
+transformations and things thou speakest of."
+
+Sancho fetched him his clothes; and while he was dressing, the
+curate gave Don Fernando and the others present an account of Don
+Quixote's madness and of the stratagem they had made use of to
+withdraw him from that Pena Pobre where he fancied himself stationed
+because of his lady's scorn. He described to them also nearly all
+the adventures that Sancho had mentioned, at which they marvelled
+and laughed not a little, thinking it, as all did, the strangest
+form of madness a crazy intellect could be capable of. But now, the
+curate said, that the lady Dorothea's good fortune prevented her
+from proceeding with their purpose, it would be necessary to devise or
+discover some other way of getting him home.
+
+Cardenio proposed to carry out the scheme they had begun, and
+suggested that Luscinda would act and support Dorothea's part
+sufficiently well.
+
+"No," said Don Fernando, "that must not be, for I want Dorothea to
+follow out this idea of hers; and if the worthy gentleman's village is
+not very far off, I shall be happy if I can do anything for his
+relief."
+
+"It is not more than two days' journey from this," said the curate.
+
+"Even if it were more," said Don Fernando, "I would gladly travel so
+far for the sake of doing so good a work.
+
+"At this moment Don Quixote came out in full panoply, with
+Mambrino's helmet, all dinted as it was, on his head, his buckler on
+his arm, and leaning on his staff or pike. The strange figure he
+presented filled Don Fernando and the rest with amazement as they
+contemplated his lean yellow face half a league long, his armour of
+all sorts, and the solemnity of his deportment. They stood silent
+waiting to see what he would say, and he, fixing his eyes on the air
+Dorothea, addressed her with great gravity and composure:
+
+"I am informed, fair lady, by my squire here that your greatness has
+been annihilated and your being abolished, since, from a queen and
+lady of high degree as you used to be, you have been turned into a
+private maiden. If this has been done by the command of the magician
+king your father, through fear that I should not afford you the aid
+you need and are entitled to, I may tell you he did not know and
+does not know half the mass, and was little versed in the annals of
+chivalry; for, if he had read and gone through them as attentively and
+deliberately as I have, he would have found at every turn that knights
+of less renown than mine have accomplished things more difficult: it
+is no great matter to kill a whelp of a giant, however arrogant he may
+be; for it is not many hours since I myself was engaged with one, and-
+I will not speak of it, that they may not say I am lying; time,
+however, that reveals all, will tell the tale when we least expect
+it."
+
+"You were engaged with a couple of wine-skins, and not a giant,"
+said the landlord at this; but Don Fernando told him to hold his
+tongue and on no account interrupt Don Quixote, who continued, "I
+say in conclusion, high and disinherited lady, that if your father has
+brought about this metamorphosis in your person for the reason I
+have mentioned, you ought not to attach any importance to it; for
+there is no peril on earth through which my sword will not force a
+way, and with it, before many days are over, I will bring your enemy's
+head to the ground and place on yours the crown of your kingdom."
+
+Don Quixote said no more, and waited for the reply of the
+princess, who aware of Don Fernando's determination to carry on the
+deception until Don Quixote had been conveyed to his home, with
+great ease of manner and gravity made answer, "Whoever told you,
+valiant Knight of the Rueful Countenance, that I had undergone any
+change or transformation did not tell you the truth, for I am the same
+as I was yesterday. It is true that certain strokes of good fortune,
+that have given me more than I could have hoped for, have made some
+alteration in me; but I have not therefore ceased to be what I was
+before, or to entertain the same desire I have had all through of
+availing myself of the might of your valiant and invincible arm. And
+so, senor, let your goodness reinstate the father that begot me in
+your good opinion, and be assured that he was a wise and prudent
+man, since by his craft he found out such a sure and easy way of
+remedying my misfortune; for I believe, senor, that had it not been
+for you I should never have lit upon the good fortune I now possess;
+and in this I am saying what is perfectly true; as most of these
+gentlemen who are present can fully testify. All that remains is to
+set out on our journey to-morrow, for to-day we could not make much
+way; and for the rest of the happy result I am looking forward to, I
+trust to God and the valour of your heart."
+
+So said the sprightly Dorothea, and on hearing her Don Quixote
+turned to Sancho, and said to him, with an angry air, "I declare
+now, little Sancho, thou art the greatest little villain in Spain.
+Say, thief and vagabond, hast thou not just now told me that this
+princess had been turned into a maiden called Dorothea, and that the
+head which I am persuaded I cut off from a giant was the bitch that
+bore thee, and other nonsense that put me in the greatest perplexity I
+have ever been in all my life? I vow" (and here he looked to heaven
+and ground his teeth) "I have a mind to play the mischief with thee,
+in a way that will teach sense for the future to all lying squires
+of knights-errant in the world."
+
+"Let your worship be calm, senor," returned Sancho, "for it may well
+be that I have been mistaken as to the change of the lady princess
+Micomicona; but as to the giant's head, or at least as to the piercing
+of the wine-skins, and the blood being red wine, I make no mistake, as
+sure as there is a God; because the wounded skins are there at the
+head of your worship's bed, and the wine has made a lake of the
+room; if not you will see when the eggs come to be fried; I mean
+when his worship the landlord calls for all the damages: for the rest,
+I am heartily glad that her ladyship the queen is as she was, for it
+concerns me as much as anyone."
+
+"I tell thee again, Sancho, thou art a fool," said Don Quixote;
+"forgive me, and that will do."
+
+"That will do," said Don Fernando; "let us say no more about it; and
+as her ladyship the princess proposes to set out to-morrow because
+it is too late to-day, so be it, and we will pass the night in
+pleasant conversation, and to-morrow we will all accompany Senor Don
+Quixote; for we wish to witness the valiant and unparalleled
+achievements he is about to perform in the course of this mighty
+enterprise which he has undertaken."
+
+"It is I who shall wait upon and accompany you," said Don Quixote;
+"and I am much gratified by the favour that is bestowed upon me, and
+the good opinion entertained of me, which I shall strive to justify or
+it shall cost me my life, or even more, if it can possibly cost me
+more."
+
+Many were the compliments and expressions of politeness that
+passed between Don Quixote and Don Fernando; but they were brought
+to an end by a traveller who at this moment entered the inn, and who
+seemed from his attire to be a Christian lately come from the
+country of the Moors, for he was dressed in a short-skirted coat of
+blue cloth with half-sleeves and without a collar; his breeches were
+also of blue cloth, and his cap of the same colour, and he wore yellow
+buskins and had a Moorish cutlass slung from a baldric across his
+breast. Behind him, mounted upon an ass, there came a woman dressed in
+Moorish fashion, with her face veiled and a scarf on her head, and
+wearing a little brocaded cap, and a mantle that covered her from
+her shoulders to her feet. The man was of a robust and
+well-proportioned frame, in age a little over forty, rather swarthy in
+complexion, with long moustaches and a full beard, and, in short,
+his appearance was such that if he had been well dressed he would have
+been taken for a person of quality and good birth. On entering he
+asked for a room, and when they told him there was none in the inn
+he seemed distressed, and approaching her who by her dress seemed to
+be a Moor he her down from saddle in his arms. Luscinda, Dorothea, the
+landlady, her daughter and Maritornes, attracted by the strange, and
+to them entirely new costume, gathered round her; and Dorothea, who
+was always kindly, courteous, and quick-witted, perceiving that both
+she and the man who had brought her were annoyed at not finding a
+room, said to her, "Do not be put out, senora, by the discomfort and
+want of luxuries here, for it is the way of road-side inns to be
+without them; still, if you will be pleased to share our lodging
+with us (pointing to Luscinda) perhaps you will have found worse
+accommodation in the course of your journey."
+
+To this the veiled lady made no reply; all she did was to rise
+from her seat, crossing her hands upon her bosom, bowing her head
+and bending her body as a sign that she returned thanks. From her
+silence they concluded that she must be a Moor and unable to speak a
+Christian tongue.
+
+At this moment the captive came up, having been until now
+otherwise engaged, and seeing that they all stood round his
+companion and that she made no reply to what they addressed to her, he
+said, "Ladies, this damsel hardly understands my language and can
+speak none but that of her own country, for which reason she does
+not and cannot answer what has been asked of her."
+
+"Nothing has been asked of her," returned Luscinda; "she has only
+been offered our company for this evening and a share of the
+quarters we occupy, where she shall be made as comfortable as the
+circumstances allow, with the good-will we are bound to show all
+strangers that stand in need of it, especially if it be a woman to
+whom the service is rendered."
+
+"On her part and my own, senora," replied the captive, "I kiss
+your hands, and I esteem highly, as I ought, the favour you have
+offered, which, on such an occasion and coming from persons of your
+appearance, is, it is plain to see, a very great one."
+
+"Tell me, senor," said Dorothea, "is this lady a Christian or a
+Moor? for her dress and her silence lead us to imagine that she is
+what we could wish she was not."
+
+"In dress and outwardly," said he, "she is a Moor, but at heart
+she is a thoroughly good Christian, for she has the greatest desire to
+become one."
+
+"Then she has not been baptised?" returned Luscinda.
+
+"There has been no opportunity for that," replied the captive,
+"since she left Algiers, her native country and home; and up to the
+present she has not found herself in any such imminent danger of death
+as to make it necessary to baptise her before she has been
+instructed in all the ceremonies our holy mother Church ordains;
+but, please God, ere long she shall be baptised with the solemnity
+befitting her which is higher than her dress or mine indicates."
+
+By these words he excited a desire in all who heard him, to know who
+the Moorish lady and the captive were, but no one liked to ask just
+then, seeing that it was a fitter moment for helping them to rest
+themselves than for questioning them about their lives. Dorothea
+took the Moorish lady by the hand and leading her to a seat beside
+herself, requested her to remove her veil. She looked at the captive
+as if to ask him what they meant and what she was to do. He said to
+her in Arabic that they asked her to take off her veil, and
+thereupon she removed it and disclosed a countenance so lovely, that
+to Dorothea she seemed more beautiful than Luscinda, and to Luscinda
+more beautiful than Dorothea, and all the bystanders felt that if
+any beauty could compare with theirs it was the Moorish lady's, and
+there were even those who were inclined to give it somewhat the
+preference. And as it is the privilege and charm of beauty to win
+the heart and secure good-will, all forthwith became eager to show
+kindness and attention to the lovely Moor.
+
+Don Fernando asked the captive what her name was, and he replied
+that it was Lela Zoraida; but the instant she heard him, she guessed
+what the Christian had asked, and said hastily, with some
+displeasure and energy, "No, not Zoraida; Maria, Maria!" giving them
+to understand that she was called "Maria" and not "Zoraida." These
+words, and the touching earnestness with which she uttered them,
+drew more than one tear from some of the listeners, particularly the
+women, who are by nature tender-hearted and compassionate. Luscinda
+embraced her affectionately, saying, "Yes, yes, Maria, Maria," to
+which the Moor replied, "Yes, yes, Maria; Zoraida macange," which
+means "not Zoraida."
+
+Night was now approaching, and by the orders of those who
+accompanied Don Fernando the landlord had taken care and pains to
+prepare for them the best supper that was in his power. The hour
+therefore having arrived they all took their seats at a long table
+like a refectory one, for round or square table there was none in
+the inn, and the seat of honour at the head of it, though he was for
+refusing it, they assigned to Don Quixote, who desired the lady
+Micomicona to place herself by his side, as he was her protector.
+Luscinda and Zoraida took their places next her, opposite to them were
+Don Fernando and Cardenio, and next the captive and the other
+gentlemen, and by the side of the ladies, the curate and the barber.
+And so they supped in high enjoyment, which was increased when they
+observed Don Quixote leave off eating, and, moved by an impulse like
+that which made him deliver himself at such length when he supped with
+the goatherds, begin to address them:
+
+"Verily, gentlemen, if we reflect upon it, great and marvellous
+are the things they see, who make profession of the order of
+knight-errantry. Say, what being is there in this world, who
+entering the gate of this castle at this moment, and seeing us as we
+are here, would suppose or imagine us to be what we are? Who would say
+that this lady who is beside me was the great queen that we all know
+her to be, or that I am that Knight of the Rueful Countenance,
+trumpeted far and wide by the mouth of Fame? Now, there can be no
+doubt that this art and calling surpasses all those that mankind has
+invented, and is the more deserving of being held in honour in
+proportion as it is the more exposed to peril. Away with those who
+assert that letters have the preeminence over arms; I will tell
+them, whosoever they may be, that they know not what they say. For the
+reason which such persons commonly assign, and upon which they chiefly
+rest, is, that the labours of the mind are greater than those of the
+body, and that arms give employment to the body alone; as if the
+calling were a porter's trade, for which nothing more is required than
+sturdy strength; or as if, in what we who profess them call arms,
+there were not included acts of vigour for the execution of which high
+intelligence is requisite; or as if the soul of the warrior, when he
+has an army, or the defence of a city under his care, did not exert
+itself as much by mind as by body. Nay; see whether by bodily strength
+it be possible to learn or divine the intentions of the enemy, his
+plans, stratagems, or obstacles, or to ward off impending mischief;
+for all these are the work of the mind, and in them the body has no
+share whatever. Since, therefore, arms have need of the mind, as
+much as letters, let us see now which of the two minds, that of the
+man of letters or that of the warrior, has most to do; and this will
+be seen by the end and goal that each seeks to attain; for that
+purpose is the more estimable which has for its aim the nobler object.
+The end and goal of letters- I am not speaking now of divine
+letters, the aim of which is to raise and direct the soul to Heaven;
+for with an end so infinite no other can be compared- I speak of human
+letters, the end of which is to establish distributive justice, give
+to every man that which is his, and see and take care that good laws
+are observed: an end undoubtedly noble, lofty, and deserving of high
+praise, but not such as should be given to that sought by arms,
+which have for their end and object peace, the greatest boon that
+men can desire in this life. The first good news the world and mankind
+received was that which the angels announced on the night that was our
+day, when they sang in the air, 'Glory to God in the highest, and
+peace on earth to men of good-will;' and the salutation which the
+great Master of heaven and earth taught his disciples and chosen
+followers when they entered any house, was to say, 'Peace be on this
+house;' and many other times he said to them, 'My peace I give unto
+you, my peace I leave you, peace be with you;' a jewel and a
+precious gift given and left by such a hand: a jewel without which
+there can be no happiness either on earth or in heaven. This peace
+is the true end of war; and war is only another name for arms. This,
+then, being admitted, that the end of war is peace, and that so far it
+has the advantage of the end of letters, let us turn to the bodily
+labours of the man of letters, and those of him who follows the
+profession of arms, and see which are the greater."
+
+Don Quixote delivered his discourse in such a manner and in such
+correct language, that for the time being he made it impossible for
+any of his hearers to consider him a madman; on the contrary, as
+they were mostly gentlemen, to whom arms are an appurtenance by birth,
+they listened to him with great pleasure as he continued: "Here, then,
+I say is what the student has to undergo; first of all poverty: not
+that all are poor, but to put the case as strongly as possible: and
+when I have said that he endures poverty, I think nothing more need be
+said about his hard fortune, for he who is poor has no share of the
+good things of life. This poverty he suffers from in various ways,
+hunger, or cold, or nakedness, or all together; but for all that it is
+not so extreme but that he gets something to eat, though it may be
+at somewhat unseasonable hours and from the leavings of the rich;
+for the greatest misery of the student is what they themselves call
+'going out for soup,' and there is always some neighbour's brazier
+or hearth for them, which, if it does not warm, at least tempers the
+cold to them, and lastly, they sleep comfortably at night under a
+roof. I will not go into other particulars, as for example want of
+shirts, and no superabundance of shoes, thin and threadbare
+garments, and gorging themselves to surfeit in their voracity when
+good luck has treated them to a banquet of some sort. By this road
+that I have described, rough and hard, stumbling here, falling
+there, getting up again to fall again, they reach the rank they
+desire, and that once attained, we have seen many who have passed
+these Syrtes and Scyllas and Charybdises, as if borne flying on the
+wings of favouring fortune; we have seen them, I say, ruling and
+governing the world from a chair, their hunger turned into satiety,
+their cold into comfort, their nakedness into fine raiment, their
+sleep on a mat into repose in holland and damask, the justly earned
+reward of their virtue; but, contrasted and compared with what the
+warrior undergoes, all they have undergone falls far short of it, as I
+am now about to show."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE CURIOUS DISCOURSE DON QUIXOTE DELIVERED ON
+ARMS AND LETTERS
+
+Continuing his discourse Don Quixote said: "As we began in the
+student's case with poverty and its accompaniments, let us see now
+if the soldier is richer, and we shall find that in poverty itself
+there is no one poorer; for he is dependent on his miserable pay,
+which comes late or never, or else on what he can plunder, seriously
+imperilling his life and conscience; and sometimes his nakedness
+will be so great that a slashed doublet serves him for uniform and
+shirt, and in the depth of winter he has to defend himself against the
+inclemency of the weather in the open field with nothing better than
+the breath of his mouth, which I need not say, coming from an empty
+place, must come out cold, contrary to the laws of nature. To be
+sure he looks forward to the approach of night to make up for all
+these discomforts on the bed that awaits him, which, unless by some
+fault of his, never sins by being over narrow, for he can easily
+measure out on the ground as he likes, and roll himself about in it to
+his heart's content without any fear of the sheets slipping away
+from him. Then, after all this, suppose the day and hour for taking
+his degree in his calling to have come; suppose the day of battle to
+have arrived, when they invest him with the doctor's cap made of lint,
+to mend some bullet-hole, perhaps, that has gone through his
+temples, or left him with a crippled arm or leg. Or if this does not
+happen, and merciful Heaven watches over him and keeps him safe and
+sound, it may be he will be in the same poverty he was in before,
+and he must go through more engagements and more battles, and come
+victorious out of all before he betters himself; but miracles of
+that sort are seldom seen. For tell me, sirs, if you have ever
+reflected upon it, by how much do those who have gained by war fall
+short of the number of those who have perished in it? No doubt you
+will reply that there can be no comparison, that the dead cannot be
+numbered, while the living who have been rewarded may be summed up
+with three figures. All which is the reverse in the case of men of
+letters; for by skirts, to say nothing of sleeves, they all find means
+of support; so that though the soldier has more to endure, his
+reward is much less. But against all this it may be urged that it is
+easier to reward two thousand soldiers, for the former may be
+remunerated by giving them places, which must perforce be conferred
+upon men of their calling, while the latter can only be recompensed
+out of the very property of the master they serve; but this
+impossibility only strengthens my argument.
+
+"Putting this, however, aside, for it is a puzzling question for
+which it is difficult to find a solution, let us return to the
+superiority of arms over letters, a matter still undecided, so many
+are the arguments put forward on each side; for besides those I have
+mentioned, letters say that without them arms cannot maintain
+themselves, for war, too, has its laws and is governed by them, and
+laws belong to the domain of letters and men of letters. To this
+arms make answer that without them laws cannot be maintained, for by
+arms states are defended, kingdoms preserved, cities protected,
+roads made safe, seas cleared of pirates; and, in short, if it were
+not for them, states, kingdoms, monarchies, cities, ways by sea and
+land would be exposed to the violence and confusion which war brings
+with it, so long as it lasts and is free to make use of its privileges
+and powers. And then it is plain that whatever costs most is valued
+and deserves to be valued most. To attain to eminence in letters costs
+a man time, watching, hunger, nakedness, headaches, indigestions,
+and other things of the sort, some of which I have already referred
+to. But for a man to come in the ordinary course of things to be a
+good soldier costs him all the student suffers, and in an incomparably
+higher degree, for at every step he runs the risk of losing his
+life. For what dread of want or poverty that can reach or harass the
+student can compare with what the soldier feels, who finds himself
+beleaguered in some stronghold mounting guard in some ravelin or
+cavalier, knows that the enemy is pushing a mine towards the post
+where he is stationed, and cannot under any circumstances retire or
+fly from the imminent danger that threatens him? All he can do is to
+inform his captain of what is going on so that he may try to remedy it
+by a counter-mine, and then stand his ground in fear and expectation
+of the moment when he will fly up to the clouds without wings and
+descend into the deep against his will. And if this seems a trifling
+risk, let us see whether it is equalled or surpassed by the
+encounter of two galleys stem to stem, in the midst of the open sea,
+locked and entangled one with the other, when the soldier has no
+more standing room than two feet of the plank of the spur; and yet,
+though he sees before him threatening him as many ministers of death
+as there are cannon of the foe pointed at him, not a lance length from
+his body, and sees too that with the first heedless step he will go
+down to visit the profundities of Neptune's bosom, still with
+dauntless heart, urged on by honour that nerves him, he makes
+himself a target for all that musketry, and struggles to cross that
+narrow path to the enemy's ship. And what is still more marvellous, no
+sooner has one gone down into the depths he will never rise from
+till the end of the world, than another takes his place; and if he too
+falls into the sea that waits for him like an enemy, another and
+another will succeed him without a moment's pause between their
+deaths: courage and daring the greatest that all the chances of war
+can show. Happy the blest ages that knew not the dread fury of those
+devilish engines of artillery, whose inventor I am persuaded is in
+hell receiving the reward of his diabolical invention, by which he
+made it easy for a base and cowardly arm to take the life of a gallant
+gentleman; and that, when he knows not how or whence, in the height of
+the ardour and enthusiasm that fire and animate brave hearts, there
+should come some random bullet, discharged perhaps by one who fled
+in terror at the flash when he fired off his accursed machine, which
+in an instant puts an end to the projects and cuts off the life of one
+who deserved to live for ages to come. And thus when I reflect on
+this, I am almost tempted to say that in my heart I repent of having
+adopted this profession of knight-errant in so detestable an age as we
+live in now; for though no peril can make me fear, still it gives me
+some uneasiness to think that powder and lead may rob me of the
+opportunity of making myself famous and renowned throughout the
+known earth by the might of my arm and the edge of my sword. But
+Heaven's will be done; if I succeed in my attempt I shall be all the
+more honoured, as I have faced greater dangers than the knights-errant
+of yore exposed themselves to."
+
+All this lengthy discourse Don Quixote delivered while the others
+supped, forgetting to raise a morsel to his lips, though Sancho more
+than once told him to eat his supper, as he would have time enough
+afterwards to say all he wanted. It excited fresh pity in those who
+had heard him to see a man of apparently sound sense, and with
+rational views on every subject he discussed, so hopelessly wanting in
+all, when his wretched unlucky chivalry was in question. The curate
+told him he was quite right in all he had said in favour of arms,
+and that he himself, though a man of letters and a graduate, was of
+the same opinion.
+
+They finished their supper, the cloth was removed, and while the
+hostess, her daughter, and Maritornes were getting Don Quixote of La
+Mancha's garret ready, in which it was arranged that the women were to
+be quartered by themselves for the night, Don Fernando begged the
+captive to tell them the story of his life, for it could not fail to
+be strange and interesting, to judge by the hints he had let fall on
+his arrival in company with Zoraida. To this the captive replied
+that he would very willingly yield to his request, only he feared
+his tale would not give them as much pleasure as he wished;
+nevertheless, not to be wanting in compliance, he would tell it. The
+curate and the others thanked him and added their entreaties, and he
+finding himself so pressed said there was no occasion ask, where a
+command had such weight, and added, "If your worships will give me
+your attention you will hear a true story which, perhaps, fictitious
+ones constructed with ingenious and studied art cannot come up to."
+These words made them settle themselves in their places and preserve a
+deep silence, and he seeing them waiting on his words in mute
+expectation, began thus in a pleasant quiet voice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+WHEREIN THE CAPTIVE RELATES HIS LIFE AND ADVENTURES
+
+My family had its origin in a village in the mountains of Leon,
+and nature had been kinder and more generous to it than fortune;
+though in the general poverty of those communities my father passed
+for being even a rich man; and he would have been so in reality had he
+been as clever in preserving his property as he was in spending it.
+This tendency of his to be liberal and profuse he had acquired from
+having been a soldier in his youth, for the soldier's life is a school
+in which the niggard becomes free-handed and the free-handed prodigal;
+and if any soldiers are to be found who are misers, they are
+monsters of rare occurrence. My father went beyond liberality and
+bordered on prodigality, a disposition by no means advantageous to a
+married man who has children to succeed to his name and position. My
+father had three, all sons, and all of sufficient age to make choice
+of a profession. Finding, then, that he was unable to resist his
+propensity, he resolved to divest himself of the instrument and
+cause of his prodigality and lavishness, to divest himself of
+wealth, without which Alexander himself would have seemed
+parsimonious; and so calling us all three aside one day into a room,
+he addressed us in words somewhat to the following effect:
+
+"My sons, to assure you that I love you, no more need be known or
+said than that you are my sons; and to encourage a suspicion that I do
+not love you, no more is needed than the knowledge that I have no
+self-control as far as preservation of your patrimony is concerned;
+therefore, that you may for the future feel sure that I love you
+like a father, and have no wish to ruin you like a stepfather, I
+propose to do with you what I have for some time back meditated, and
+after mature deliberation decided upon. You are now of an age to
+choose your line of life or at least make choice of a calling that
+will bring you honour and profit when you are older; and what I have
+resolved to do is to divide my property into four parts; three I
+will give to you, to each his portion without making any difference,
+and the other I will retain to live upon and support myself for
+whatever remainder of life Heaven may be pleased to grant me. But I
+wish each of you on taking possession of the share that falls to him
+to follow one of the paths I shall indicate. In this Spain of ours
+there is a proverb, to my mind very true- as they all are, being short
+aphorisms drawn from long practical experience- and the one I refer to
+says, 'The church, or the sea, or the king's house;' as much as to
+say, in plainer language, whoever wants to flourish and become rich,
+let him follow the church, or go to sea, adopting commerce as his
+calling, or go into the king's service in his household, for they say,
+'Better a king's crumb than a lord's favour.' I say so because it is
+my will and pleasure that one of you should follow letters, another
+trade, and the third serve the king in the wars, for it is a difficult
+matter to gain admission to his service in his household, and if war
+does not bring much wealth it confers great distinction and fame.
+Eight days hence I will give you your full shares in money, without
+defrauding you of a farthing, as you will see in the end. Now tell
+me if you are willing to follow out my idea and advice as I have
+laid it before you."
+
+Having called upon me as the eldest to answer, I, after urging him
+not to strip himself of his property but to spend it all as he
+pleased, for we were young men able to gain our living, consented to
+comply with his wishes, and said that mine were to follow the
+profession of arms and thereby serve God and my king. My second
+brother having made the same proposal, decided upon going to the
+Indies, embarking the portion that fell to him in trade. The youngest,
+and in my opinion the wisest, said he would rather follow the
+church, or go to complete his studies at Salamanca. As soon as we
+had come to an understanding, and made choice of our professions, my
+father embraced us all, and in the short time he mentioned carried
+into effect all he had promised; and when he had given to each his
+share, which as well as I remember was three thousand ducats apiece in
+cash (for an uncle of ours bought the estate and paid for it down, not
+to let it go out of the family), we all three on the same day took
+leave of our good father; and at the same time, as it seemed to me
+inhuman to leave my father with such scanty means in his old age, I
+induced him to take two of my three thousand ducats, as the
+remainder would be enough to provide me with all a soldier needed.
+My two brothers, moved by my example, gave him each a thousand ducats,
+so that there was left for my father four thousand ducats in money,
+besides three thousand, the value of the portion that fell to him
+which he preferred to retain in land instead of selling it. Finally,
+as I said, we took leave of him, and of our uncle whom I have
+mentioned, not without sorrow and tears on both sides, they charging
+us to let them know whenever an opportunity offered how we fared,
+whether well or ill. We promised to do so, and when he had embraced us
+and given us his blessing, one set out for Salamanca, the other for
+Seville, and I for Alicante, where I had heard there was a Genoese
+vessel taking in a cargo of wool for Genoa.
+
+It is now some twenty-two years since I left my father's house,
+and all that time, though I have written several letters, I have had
+no news whatever of him or of my brothers; my own adventures during
+that period I will now relate briefly. I embarked at Alicante, reached
+Genoa after a prosperous voyage, and proceeded thence to Milan,
+where I provided myself with arms and a few soldier's accoutrements;
+thence it was my intention to go and take service in Piedmont, but
+as I was already on the road to Alessandria della Paglia, I learned
+that the great Duke of Alva was on his way to Flanders. I changed my
+plans, joined him, served under him in the campaigns he made, was
+present at the deaths of the Counts Egmont and Horn, and was
+promoted to be ensign under a famous captain of Guadalajara, Diego
+de Urbina by name. Some time after my arrival in Flanders news came of
+the league that his Holiness Pope Pius V of happy memory, had made
+with Venice and Spain against the common enemy, the Turk, who had just
+then with his fleet taken the famous island of Cyprus, which
+belonged to the Venetians, a loss deplorable and disastrous. It was
+known as a fact that the Most Serene Don John of Austria, natural
+brother of our good king Don Philip, was coming as
+commander-in-chief of the allied forces, and rumours were abroad of
+the vast warlike preparations which were being made, all which stirred
+my heart and filled me with a longing to take part in the campaign
+which was expected; and though I had reason to believe, and almost
+certain promises, that on the first opportunity that presented
+itself I should be promoted to be captain, I preferred to leave all
+and betake myself, as I did, to Italy; and it was my good fortune that
+Don John had just arrived at Genoa, and was going on to Naples to join
+the Venetian fleet, as he afterwards did at Messina. I may say, in
+short, that I took part in that glorious expedition, promoted by
+this time to be a captain of infantry, to which honourable charge my
+good luck rather than my merits raised me; and that day- so
+fortunate for Christendom, because then all the nations of the earth
+were disabused of the error under which they lay in imagining the
+Turks to be invincible on sea-on that day, I say, on which the Ottoman
+pride and arrogance were broken, among all that were there made
+happy (for the Christians who died that day were happier than those
+who remained alive and victorious) I alone was miserable; for, instead
+of some naval crown that I might have expected had it been in Roman
+times, on the night that followed that famous day I found myself
+with fetters on my feet and manacles on my hands.
+
+It happened in this way: El Uchali, the king of Algiers, a daring
+and successful corsair, having attacked and taken the leading
+Maltese galley (only three knights being left alive in it, and they
+badly wounded), the chief galley of John Andrea, on board of which I
+and my company were placed, came to its relief, and doing as was bound
+to do in such a case, I leaped on board the enemy's galley, which,
+sheering off from that which had attacked it, prevented my men from
+following me, and so I found myself alone in the midst of my
+enemies, who were in such numbers that I was unable to resist; in
+short I was taken, covered with wounds; El Uchali, as you know,
+sirs, made his escape with his entire squadron, and I was left a
+prisoner in his power, the only sad being among so many filled with
+joy, and the only captive among so many free; for there were fifteen
+thousand Christians, all at the oar in the Turkish fleet, that
+regained their longed-for liberty that day.
+
+They carried me to Constantinople, where the Grand Turk, Selim, made
+my master general at sea for having done his duty in the battle and
+carried off as evidence of his bravery the standard of the Order of
+Malta. The following year, which was the year seventy-two, I found
+myself at Navarino rowing in the leading galley with the three
+lanterns. There I saw and observed how the opportunity of capturing
+the whole Turkish fleet in harbour was lost; for all the marines and
+janizzaries that belonged to it made sure that they were about to be
+attacked inside the very harbour, and had their kits and pasamaques,
+or shoes, ready to flee at once on shore without waiting to be
+assailed, in so great fear did they stand of our fleet. But Heaven
+ordered it otherwise, not for any fault or neglect of the general
+who commanded on our side, but for the sins of Christendom, and
+because it was God's will and pleasure that we should always have
+instruments of punishment to chastise us. As it was, El Uchali took
+refuge at Modon, which is an island near Navarino, and landing
+forces fortified the mouth of the harbour and waited quietly until Don
+John retired. On this expedition was taken the galley called the
+Prize, whose captain was a son of the famous corsair Barbarossa. It
+was taken by the chief Neapolitan galley called the She-wolf,
+commanded by that thunderbolt of war, that father of his men, that
+successful and unconquered captain Don Alvaro de Bazan, Marquis of
+Santa Cruz; and I cannot help telling you what took place at the
+capture of the Prize.
+
+The son of Barbarossa was so cruel, and treated his slaves so badly,
+that, when those who were at the oars saw that the She-wolf galley was
+bearing down upon them and gaining upon them, they all at once dropped
+their oars and seized their captain who stood on the stage at the
+end of the gangway shouting to them to row lustily; and passing him on
+from bench to bench, from the poop to the prow, they so bit him that
+before he had got much past the mast his soul had already got to hell;
+so great, as I said, was the cruelty with which he treated them, and
+the hatred with which they hated him.
+
+We returned to Constantinople, and the following year,
+seventy-three, it became known that Don John had seized Tunis and
+taken the kingdom from the Turks, and placed Muley Hamet in
+possession, putting an end to the hopes which Muley Hamida, the
+cruelest and bravest Moor in the world, entertained of returning to
+reign there. The Grand Turk took the loss greatly to heart, and with
+the cunning which all his race possess, he made peace with the
+Venetians (who were much more eager for it than he was), and the
+following year, seventy-four, he attacked the Goletta and the fort
+which Don John had left half built near Tunis. While all these
+events were occurring, I was labouring at the oar without any hope
+of freedom; at least I had no hope of obtaining it by ransom, for I
+was firmly resolved not to write to my father telling him of my
+misfortunes. At length the Goletta fell, and the fort fell, before
+which places there were seventy-five thousand regular Turkish
+soldiers, and more than four hundred thousand Moors and Arabs from all
+parts of Africa, and in the train of all this great host such
+munitions and engines of war, and so many pioneers that with their
+hands they might have covered the Goletta and the fort with handfuls
+of earth. The first to fall was the Goletta, until then reckoned
+impregnable, and it fell, not by any fault of its defenders, who did
+all that they could and should have done, but because experiment
+proved how easily entrenchments could be made in the desert sand
+there; for water used to be found at two palms depth, while the
+Turks found none at two yards; and so by means of a quantity of
+sandbags they raised their works so high that they commanded the walls
+of the fort, sweeping them as if from a cavalier, so that no one was
+able to make a stand or maintain the defence.
+
+It was a common opinion that our men should not have shut themselves
+up in the Goletta, but should have waited in the open at the
+landing-place; but those who say so talk at random and with little
+knowledge of such matters; for if in the Goletta and in the fort there
+were barely seven thousand soldiers, how could such a small number,
+however resolute, sally out and hold their own against numbers like
+those of the enemy? And how is it possible to help losing a stronghold
+that is not relieved, above all when surrounded by a host of
+determined enemies in their own country? But many thought, and I
+thought so too, that it was special favour and mercy which Heaven
+showed to Spain in permitting the destruction of that source and
+hiding place of mischief, that devourer, sponge, and moth of countless
+money, fruitlessly wasted there to no other purpose save preserving
+the memory of its capture by the invincible Charles V; as if to make
+that eternal, as it is and will be, these stones were needed to
+support it. The fort also fell; but the Turks had to win it inch by
+inch, for the soldiers who defended it fought so gallantly and stoutly
+that the number of the enemy killed in twenty-two general assaults
+exceeded twenty-five thousand. Of three hundred that remained alive
+not one was taken unwounded, a clear and manifest proof of their
+gallantry and resolution, and how sturdily they had defended
+themselves and held their post. A small fort or tower which was in the
+middle of the lagoon under the command of Don Juan Zanoguera, a
+Valencian gentleman and a famous soldier, capitulated upon terms. They
+took prisoner Don Pedro Puertocarrero, commandant of the Goletta,
+who had done all in his power to defend his fortress, and took the
+loss of it so much to heart that he died of grief on the way to
+Constantinople, where they were carrying him a prisoner. They also
+took the commandant of the fort, Gabrio Cerbellon by name, a
+Milanese gentleman, a great engineer and a very brave soldier. In
+these two fortresses perished many persons of note, among whom was
+Pagano Doria, knight of the Order of St. John, a man of generous
+disposition, as was shown by his extreme liberality to his brother,
+the famous John Andrea Doria; and what made his death the more sad was
+that he was slain by some Arabs to whom, seeing that the fort was
+now lost, he entrusted himself, and who offered to conduct him in
+the disguise of a Moor to Tabarca, a small fort or station on the
+coast held by the Genoese employed in the coral fishery. These Arabs
+cut off his head and carried it to the commander of the Turkish fleet,
+who proved on them the truth of our Castilian proverb, that "though
+the treason may please, the traitor is hated;" for they say he ordered
+those who brought him the present to be hanged for not having
+brought him alive.
+
+Among the Christians who were taken in the fort was one named Don
+Pedro de Aguilar, a native of some place, I know not what, in
+Andalusia, who had been ensign in the fort, a soldier of great
+repute and rare intelligence, who had in particular a special gift for
+what they call poetry. I say so because his fate brought him to my
+galley and to my bench, and made him a slave to the same master; and
+before we left the port this gentleman composed two sonnets by way
+of epitaphs, one on the Goletta and the other on the fort; indeed, I
+may as well repeat them, for I have them by heart, and I think they
+will be liked rather than disliked.
+
+
+The instant the captive mentioned the name of Don Pedro de
+Aguilar, Don Fernando looked at his companions and they all three
+smiled; and when he came to speak of the sonnets one of them said,
+"Before your worship proceeds any further I entreat you to tell me
+what became of that Don Pedro de Aguilar you have spoken of."
+
+"All I know is," replied the captive, "that after having been in
+Constantinople two years, he escaped in the disguise of an Arnaut,
+in company with a Greek spy; but whether he regained his liberty or
+not I cannot tell, though I fancy he did, because a year afterwards
+I saw the Greek at Constantinople, though I was unable to ask him what
+the result of the journey was."
+
+"Well then, you are right," returned the gentleman, "for that Don
+Pedro is my brother, and he is now in our village in good health,
+rich, married, and with three children."
+
+"Thanks be to God for all the mercies he has shown him," said the
+captive; "for to my mind there is no happiness on earth to compare
+with recovering lost liberty."
+
+"And what is more," said the gentleman, "I know the sonnets my
+brother made."
+
+"Then let your worship repeat them," said the captive, "for you will
+recite them better than I can."
+
+"With all my heart," said the gentleman; "that on the Goletta runs
+thus."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+IN WHICH THE STORY OF THE CAPTIVE IS CONTINUED.
+
+
+SONNET
+
+"Blest souls, that, from this mortal husk set free,
+  In guerdon of brave deeds beatified,
+  Above this lowly orb of ours abide
+Made heirs of heaven and immortality,
+With noble rage and ardour glowing ye
+  Your strength, while strength was yours, in battle plied,
+  And with your own blood and the foeman's dyed
+The sandy soil and the encircling sea.
+It was the ebbing life-blood first that failed
+The weary arms; the stout hearts never quailed.
+  Though vanquished, yet ye earned the victor's crown:
+Though mourned, yet still triumphant was your fall
+For there ye won, between the sword and wall,
+  In Heaven glory and on earth renown."
+
+
+"That is it exactly, according to my recollection," said the
+captive.
+
+
+"Well then, that on the fort," said the gentleman, "if my memory
+serves me, goes thus:
+
+
+SONNET
+
+"Up from this wasted soil, this shattered shell,
+  Whose walls and towers here in ruin lie,
+  Three thousand soldier souls took wing on high,
+In the bright mansions of the blest to dwell.
+The onslaught of the foeman to repel
+  By might of arm all vainly did they try,
+  And when at length 'twas left them but to die,
+Wearied and few the last defenders fell.
+And this same arid soil hath ever been
+A haunt of countless mournful memories,
+  As well in our day as in days of yore.
+But never yet to Heaven it sent, I ween,
+From its hard bosom purer souls than these,
+  Or braver bodies on its surface bore."
+
+
+ The sonnets were not disliked, and the captive was rejoiced at
+the tidings they gave him of his comrade, and continuing his tale,
+he went on to say:
+
+
+The Goletta and the fort being thus in their hands, the Turks gave
+orders to dismantle the Goletta- for the fort was reduced to such a
+state that there was nothing left to level- and to do the work more
+quickly and easily they mined it in three places; but nowhere were
+they able to blow up the part which seemed to be the least strong,
+that is to say, the old walls, while all that remained standing of the
+new fortifications that the Fratin had made came to the ground with
+the greatest ease. Finally the fleet returned victorious and
+triumphant to Constantinople, and a few months later died my master,
+El Uchali, otherwise Uchali Fartax, which means in Turkish "the scabby
+renegade;" for that he was; it is the practice with the Turks to
+name people from some defect or virtue they may possess; the reason
+being that there are among them only four surnames belonging to
+families tracing their descent from the Ottoman house, and the others,
+as I have said, take their names and surnames either from bodily
+blemishes or moral qualities. This "scabby one" rowed at the oar as
+a slave of the Grand Signor's for fourteen years, and when over
+thirty-four years of age, in resentment at having been struck by a
+Turk while at the oar, turned renegade and renounced his faith in
+order to be able to revenge himself; and such was his valour that,
+without owing his advancement to the base ways and means by which most
+favourites of the Grand Signor rise to power, he came to be king of
+Algiers, and afterwards general-on-sea, which is the third place of
+trust in the realm. He was a Calabrian by birth, and a worthy man
+morally, and he treated his slaves with great humanity. He had three
+thousand of them, and after his death they were divided, as he
+directed by his will, between the Grand Signor (who is heir of all who
+die and shares with the children of the deceased) and his renegades. I
+fell to the lot of a Venetian renegade who, when a cabin boy on
+board a ship, had been taken by Uchali and was so much beloved by
+him that he became one of his most favoured youths. He came to be
+the most cruel renegade I ever saw: his name was Hassan Aga, and he
+grew very rich and became king of Algiers. With him I went there
+from Constantinople, rather glad to be so near Spain, not that I
+intended to write to anyone about my unhappy lot, but to try if
+fortune would be kinder to me in Algiers than in Constantinople, where
+I had attempted in a thousand ways to escape without ever finding a
+favourable time or chance; but in Algiers I resolved to seek for other
+means of effecting the purpose I cherished so dearly; for the hope
+of obtaining my liberty never deserted me; and when in my plots and
+schemes and attempts the result did not answer my expectations,
+without giving way to despair I immediately began to look out for or
+conjure up some new hope to support me, however faint or feeble it
+might be.
+
+In this way I lived on immured in a building or prison called by the
+Turks a bano in which they confine the Christian captives, as well
+those that are the king's as those belonging to private individuals,
+and also what they call those of the Almacen, which is as much as to
+say the slaves of the municipality, who serve the city in the public
+works and other employments; but captives of this kind recover their
+liberty with great difficulty, for, as they are public property and
+have no particular master, there is no one with whom to treat for
+their ransom, even though they may have the means. To these banos,
+as I have said, some private individuals of the town are in the
+habit of bringing their captives, especially when they are to be
+ransomed; because there they can keep them in safety and comfort until
+their ransom arrives. The king's captives also, that are on ransom, do
+not go out to work with the rest of the crew, unless when their ransom
+is delayed; for then, to make them write for it more pressingly,
+they compel them to work and go for wood, which is no light labour.
+
+I, however, was one of those on ransom, for when it was discovered
+that I was a captain, although I declared my scanty means and want
+of fortune, nothing could dissuade them from including me among the
+gentlemen and those waiting to be ransomed. They put a chain on me,
+more as a mark of this than to keep me safe, and so I passed my life
+in that bano with several other gentlemen and persons of quality
+marked out as held to ransom; but though at times, or rather almost
+always, we suffered from hunger and scanty clothing, nothing
+distressed us so much as hearing and seeing at every turn the
+unexampled and unheard-of cruelties my master inflicted upon the
+Christians. Every day he hanged a man, impaled one, cut off the ears
+of another; and all with so little provocation, or so entirely without
+any, that the Turks acknowledged he did it merely for the sake of
+doing it, and because he was by nature murderously disposed towards
+the whole human race. The only one that fared at all well with him was
+a Spanish soldier, something de Saavedra by name, to whom he never
+gave a blow himself, or ordered a blow to be given, or addressed a
+hard word, although he had done things that will dwell in the memory
+of the people there for many a year, and all to recover his liberty;
+and for the least of the many things he did we all dreaded that he
+would be impaled, and he himself was in fear of it more than once; and
+only that time does not allow, I could tell you now something of
+what that soldier did, that would interest and astonish you much
+more than the narration of my own tale.
+
+To go on with my story; the courtyard of our prison was overlooked
+by the windows of the house belonging to a wealthy Moor of high
+position; and these, as is usual in Moorish houses, were rather
+loopholes than windows, and besides were covered with thick and
+close lattice-work. It so happened, then, that as I was one day on the
+terrace of our prison with three other comrades, trying, to pass
+away the time, how far we could leap with our chains, we being
+alone, for all the other Christians had gone out to work, I chanced to
+raise my eyes, and from one of these little closed windows I saw a
+reed appear with a cloth attached to the end of it, and it kept waving
+to and fro, and moving as if making signs to us to come and take it.
+We watched it, and one of those who were with me went and stood
+under the reed to see whether they would let it drop, or what they
+would do, but as he did so the reed was raised and moved from side
+to side, as if they meant to say "no" by a shake of the head. The
+Christian came back, and it was again lowered, making the same
+movements as before. Another of my comrades went, and with him the
+same happened as with the first, and then the third went forward,
+but with the same result as the first and second. Seeing this I did
+not like not to try my luck, and as soon as I came under the reed it
+was dropped and fell inside the bano at my feet. I hastened to untie
+the cloth, in which I perceived a knot, and in this were ten cianis,
+which are coins of base gold, current among the Moors, and each
+worth ten reals of our money.
+
+It is needless to say I rejoiced over this godsend, and my joy was
+not less than my wonder as I strove to imagine how this good fortune
+could have come to us, but to me specially; for the evident
+unwillingness to drop the reed for any but me showed that it was for
+me the favour was intended. I took my welcome money, broke the reed,
+and returned to the terrace, and looking up at the window, I saw a
+very white hand put out that opened and shut very quickly. From this
+we gathered or fancied that it must be some woman living in that house
+that had done us this kindness, and to show that we were grateful
+for it, we made salaams after the fashion of the Moors, bowing the
+head, bending the body, and crossing the arms on the breast. Shortly
+afterwards at the same window a small cross made of reeds was put
+out and immediately withdrawn. This sign led us to believe that some
+Christian woman was a captive in the house, and that it was she who
+had been so good to us; but the whiteness of the hand and the
+bracelets we had perceived made us dismiss that idea, though we
+thought it might be one of the Christian renegades whom their
+masters very often take as lawful wives, and gladly, for they prefer
+them to the women of their own nation. In all our conjectures we
+were wide of the truth; so from that time forward our sole
+occupation was watching and gazing at the window where the cross had
+appeared to us, as if it were our pole-star; but at least fifteen days
+passed without our seeing either it or the hand, or any other sign and
+though meanwhile we endeavoured with the utmost pains to ascertain who
+it was that lived in the house, and whether there were any Christian
+renegade in it, nobody could ever tell us anything more than that he
+who lived there was a rich Moor of high position, Hadji Morato by
+name, formerly alcaide of La Pata, an office of high dignity among
+them. But when we least thought it was going to rain any more cianis
+from that quarter, we saw the reed suddenly appear with another
+cloth tied in a larger knot attached to it, and this at a time when,
+as on the former occasion, the bano was deserted and unoccupied.
+
+We made trial as before, each of the same three going forward before
+I did; but the reed was delivered to none but me, and on my approach
+it was let drop. I untied the knot and I found forty Spanish gold
+crowns with a paper written in Arabic, and at the end of the writing
+there was a large cross drawn. I kissed the cross, took the crowns and
+returned to the terrace, and we all made our salaams; again the hand
+appeared, I made signs that I would read the paper, and then the
+window was closed. We were all puzzled, though filled with joy at what
+had taken place; and as none of us understood Arabic, great was our
+curiosity to know what the paper contained, and still greater the
+difficulty of finding some one to read it. At last I resolved to
+confide in a renegade, a native of Murcia, who professed a very
+great friendship for me, and had given pledges that bound him to
+keep any secret I might entrust to him; for it is the custom with some
+renegades, when they intend to return to Christian territory, to carry
+about them certificates from captives of mark testifying, in
+whatever form they can, that such and such a renegade is a worthy
+man who has always shown kindness to Christians, and is anxious to
+escape on the first opportunity that may present itself. Some obtain
+these testimonials with good intentions, others put them to a
+cunning use; for when they go to pillage on Christian territory, if
+they chance to be cast away, or taken prisoners, they produce their
+certificates and say that from these papers may be seen the object
+they came for, which was to remain on Christian ground, and that it
+was to this end they joined the Turks in their foray. In this way they
+escape the consequences of the first outburst and make their peace
+with the Church before it does them any harm, and then when they
+have the chance they return to Barbary to become what they were
+before. Others, however, there are who procure these papers and make
+use of them honestly, and remain on Christian soil. This friend of
+mine, then, was one of these renegades that I have described; he had
+certificates from all our comrades, in which we testified in his
+favour as strongly as we could; and if the Moors had found the
+papers they would have burned him alive.
+
+I knew that he understood Arabic very well, and could not only speak
+but also write it; but before I disclosed the whole matter to him, I
+asked him to read for me this paper which I had found by accident in a
+hole in my cell. He opened it and remained some time examining it
+and muttering to himself as he translated it. I asked him if he
+understood it, and he told me he did perfectly well, and that if I
+wished him to tell me its meaning word for word, I must give him pen
+and ink that he might do it more satisfactorily. We at once gave him
+what he required, and he set about translating it bit by bit, and when
+he had done he said:
+
+"All that is here in Spanish is what the Moorish paper contains, and
+you must bear in mind that when it says 'Lela
+Marien' it means 'Our Lady the Virgin Mary.'"
+
+We read the paper and it ran thus:
+
+"When I was a child my father had a slave who taught me to pray
+the Christian prayer in my own language, and told me many things about
+Lela Marien. The Christian died, and I know that she did not go to the
+fire, but to Allah, because since then I have seen her twice, and
+she told me to go to the land of the Christians to see Lela Marien,
+who had great love for me. I know not how to go. I have seen many
+Christians, but except thyself none has seemed to me to be a
+gentleman. I am young and beautiful, and have plenty of money to
+take with me. See if thou canst contrive how we may go, and if thou
+wilt thou shalt be my husband there, and if thou wilt not it will
+not distress me, for Lela Marien will find me some one to marry me.
+I myself have written this: have a care to whom thou givest it to
+read: trust no Moor, for they are all perfidious. I am greatly
+troubled on this account, for I would not have thee confide in anyone,
+because if my father knew it he would at once fling me down a well and
+cover me with stones. I will put a thread to the reed; tie the
+answer to it, and if thou hast no one to write for thee in Arabic,
+tell it to me by signs, for Lela Marien will make me understand
+thee. She and Allah and this cross, which I often kiss as the
+captive bade me, protect thee."
+
+Judge, sirs, whether we had reason for surprise and joy at the words
+of this paper; and both one and the other were so great, that the
+renegade perceived that the paper had not been found by chance, but
+had been in reality addressed to some one of us, and he begged us,
+if what he suspected were the truth, to trust him and tell him all,
+for he would risk his life for our freedom; and so saying he took
+out from his breast a metal crucifix, and with many tears swore by the
+God the image represented, in whom, sinful and wicked as he was, he
+truly and faithfully believed, to be loyal to us and keep secret
+whatever we chose to reveal to him; for he thought and almost
+foresaw that by means of her who had written that paper, he and all of
+us would obtain our liberty, and he himself obtain the object he so
+much desired, his restoration to the bosom of the Holy Mother
+Church, from which by his own sin and ignorance he was now severed
+like a corrupt limb. The renegade said this with so many tears and
+such signs of repentance, that with one consent we all agreed to
+tell him the whole truth of the matter, and so we gave him a full
+account of all, without hiding anything from him. We pointed out to
+him the window at which the reed appeared, and he by that means took
+note of the house, and resolved to ascertain with particular care
+who lived in it. We agreed also that it would be advisable to answer
+the Moorish lady's letter, and the renegade without a moment's delay
+took down the words I dictated to him, which were exactly what I shall
+tell you, for nothing of importance that took place in this affair has
+escaped my memory, or ever will while life lasts. This, then, was
+the answer returned to the Moorish lady:
+
+"The true Allah protect thee, Lady, and that blessed Marien who is
+the true mother of God, and who has put it into thy heart to go to the
+land of the Christians, because she loves thee. Entreat her that she
+be pleased to show thee how thou canst execute the command she gives
+thee, for she will, such is her goodness. On my own part, and on
+that of all these Christians who are with me, I promise to do all that
+we can for thee, even to death. Fail not to write to me and inform
+me what thou dost mean to do, and I will always answer thee; for the
+great Allah has given us a Christian captive who can speak and write
+thy language well, as thou mayest see by this paper; without fear,
+therefore, thou canst inform us of all thou wouldst. As to what thou
+sayest, that if thou dost reach the land of the Christians thou wilt
+be my wife, I give thee my promise upon it as a good Christian; and
+know that the Christians keep their promises better than the Moors.
+Allah and Marien his mother watch over thee, my Lady."
+
+The paper being written and folded I waited two days until the
+bano was empty as before, and immediately repaired to the usual walk
+on the terrace to see if there were any sign of the reed, which was
+not long in making its appearance. As soon as I saw it, although I
+could not distinguish who put it out, I showed the paper as a sign
+to attach the thread, but it was already fixed to the reed, and to
+it I tied the paper; and shortly afterwards our star once more made
+its appearance with the white flag of peace, the little bundle. It was
+dropped, and I picked it up, and found in the cloth, in gold and
+silver coins of all sorts, more than fifty crowns, which fifty times
+more strengthened our joy and doubled our hope of gaining our liberty.
+That very night our renegade returned and said he had learned that the
+Moor we had been told of lived in that house, that his name was
+Hadji Morato, that he was enormously rich, that he had one only
+daughter the heiress of all his wealth, and that it was the general
+opinion throughout the city that she was the most beautiful woman in
+Barbary, and that several of the viceroys who came there had sought
+her for a wife, but that she had been always unwilling to marry; and
+he had learned, moreover, that she had a Christian slave who was now
+dead; all which agreed with the contents of the paper. We
+immediately took counsel with the renegade as to what means would have
+to be adopted in order to carry off the Moorish lady and bring us
+all to Christian territory; and in the end it was agreed that for
+the present we should wait for a second communication from Zoraida
+(for that was the name of her who now desires to be called Maria),
+because we saw clearly that she and no one else could find a way out
+of all these difficulties. When we had decided upon this the
+renegade told us not to be uneasy, for he would lose his life or
+restore us to liberty. For four days the bano was filled with
+people, for which reason the reed delayed its appearance for four
+days, but at the end of that time, when the bano was, as it
+generally was, empty, it appeared with the cloth so bulky that it
+promised a happy birth. Reed and cloth came down to me, and I found
+another paper and a hundred crowns in gold, without any other coin.
+The renegade was present, and in our cell we gave him the paper to
+read, which was to this effect:
+
+"I cannot think of a plan, senor, for our going to Spain, nor has
+Lela Marien shown me one, though I have asked her. All that can be
+done is for me to give you plenty of money in gold from this window.
+With it ransom yourself and your friends, and let one of you go to the
+land of the Christians, and there buy a vessel and come back for the
+others; and he will find me in my father's garden, which is at the
+Babazon gate near the seashore, where I shall be all this summer
+with my father and my servants. You can carry me away from there by
+night without any danger, and bring me to the vessel. And remember
+thou art to be my husband, else I will pray to Marien to punish
+thee. If thou canst not trust anyone to go for the vessel, ransom
+thyself and do thou go, for I know thou wilt return more surely than
+any other, as thou art a gentleman and a Christian. Endeavour to
+make thyself acquainted with the garden; and when I see thee walking
+yonder I shall know that the bano is empty and I will give thee
+abundance of money. Allah protect thee, senor."
+
+These were the words and contents of the second paper, and on
+hearing them, each declared himself willing to be the ransomed one,
+and promised to go and return with scrupulous good faith; and I too
+made the same offer; but to all this the renegade objected, saying
+that he would not on any account consent to one being set free
+before all went together, as experience had taught him how ill those
+who have been set free keep promises which they made in captivity; for
+captives of distinction frequently had recourse to this plan, paying
+the ransom of one who was to go to Valencia or Majorca with money to
+enable him to arm a bark and return for the others who had ransomed
+him, but who never came back; for recovered liberty and the dread of
+losing it again efface from the memory all the obligations in the
+world. And to prove the truth of what he said, he told us briefly what
+had happened to a certain Christian gentleman almost at that very
+time, the strangest case that had ever occurred even there, where
+astonishing and marvellous things are happening every instant. In
+short, he ended by saying that what could and ought to be done was
+to give the money intended for the ransom of one of us Christians to
+him, so that he might with it buy a vessel there in Algiers under
+the pretence of becoming a merchant and trader at Tetuan and along the
+coast; and when master of the vessel, it would be easy for him to
+hit on some way of getting us all out of the bano and putting us on
+board; especially if the Moorish lady gave, as she said, money
+enough to ransom all, because once free it would be the easiest
+thing in the world for us to embark even in open day; but the greatest
+difficulty was that the Moors do not allow any renegade to buy or
+own any craft, unless it be a large vessel for going on roving
+expeditions, because they are afraid that anyone who buys a small
+vessel, especially if he be a Spaniard, only wants it for the
+purpose of escaping to Christian territory. This however he could
+get over by arranging with a Tagarin Moor to go shares with him in the
+purchase of the vessel, and in the profit on the cargo; and under
+cover of this he could become master of the vessel, in which case he
+looked upon all the rest as accomplished. But though to me and my
+comrades it had seemed a better plan to send to Majorca for the
+vessel, as the Moorish lady suggested, we did not dare to oppose
+him, fearing that if we did not do as he said he would denounce us,
+and place us in danger of losing all our lives if he were to
+disclose our dealings with Zoraida, for whose life we would have all
+given our own. We therefore resolved to put ourselves in the hands
+of God and in the renegade's; and at the same time an answer was given
+to Zoraida, telling her that we would do all she recommended, for
+she had given as good advice as if Lela Marien had delivered it, and
+that it depended on her alone whether we were to defer the business or
+put it in execution at once. I renewed my promise to be her husband;
+and thus the next day that the bano chanced to be empty she at
+different times gave us by means of the reed and cloth two thousand
+gold crowns and a paper in which she said that the next Juma, that
+is to say Friday, she was going to her father's garden, but that
+before she went she would give us more money; and if it were not
+enough we were to let her know, as she would give us as much as we
+asked, for her father had so much he would not miss it, and besides
+she kept all the keys.
+
+We at once gave the renegade five hundred crowns to buy the
+vessel, and with eight hundred I ransomed myself, giving the money
+to a Valencian merchant who happened to be in Algiers at the time, and
+who had me released on his word, pledging it that on the arrival of
+the first ship from Valencia he would pay my ransom; for if he had
+given the money at once it would have made the king suspect that my
+ransom money had been for a long time in Algiers, and that the
+merchant had for his own advantage kept it secret. In fact my master
+was so difficult to deal with that I dared not on any account pay down
+the money at once. The Thursday before the Friday on which the fair
+Zoraida was to go to the garden she gave us a thousand crowns more,
+and warned us of her departure, begging me, if I were ransomed, to
+find out her father's garden at once, and by all means to seek an
+opportunity of going there to see her. I answered in a few words
+that I would do so, and that she must remember to commend us to Lela
+Marien with all the prayers the captive had taught her. This having
+been done, steps were taken to ransom our three comrades, so as to
+enable them to quit the bano, and lest, seeing me ransomed and
+themselves not, though the money was forthcoming, they should make a
+disturbance about it and the devil should prompt them to do
+something that might injure Zoraida; for though their position might
+be sufficient to relieve me from this apprehension, nevertheless I was
+unwilling to run any risk in the matter; and so I had them ransomed in
+the same way as I was, handing over all the money to the merchant so
+that he might with safety and confidence give security; without,
+however, confiding our arrangement and secret to him, which might have
+been dangerous.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+IN WHICH THE CAPTIVE STILL CONTINUES HIS ADVENTURES
+
+Before fifteen days were over our renegade had already purchased
+an excellent vessel with room for more than thirty persons; and to
+make the transaction safe and lend a colour to it, he thought it
+well to make, as he did, a voyage to a place called Shershel, twenty
+leagues from Algiers on the Oran side, where there is an extensive
+trade in dried figs. Two or three times he made this voyage in company
+with the Tagarin already mentioned. The Moors of Aragon are called
+Tagarins in Barbary, and those of Granada Mudejars; but in the Kingdom
+of Fez they call the Mudejars Elches, and they are the people the king
+chiefly employs in war. To proceed: every time he passed with his
+vessel he anchored in a cove that was not two crossbow shots from
+the garden where Zoraida was waiting; and there the renegade, together
+with the two Moorish lads that rowed, used purposely to station
+himself, either going through his prayers, or else practising as a
+part what he meant to perform in earnest. And thus he would go to
+Zoraida's garden and ask for fruit, which her father gave him, not
+knowing him; but though, as he afterwards told me, he sought to
+speak to Zoraida, and tell her who he was, and that by my orders he
+was to take her to the land of the Christians, so that she might
+feel satisfied and easy, he had never been able to do so; for the
+Moorish women do not allow themselves to be seen by any Moor or
+Turk, unless their husband or father bid them: with Christian captives
+they permit freedom of intercourse and communication, even more than
+might be considered proper. But for my part I should have been sorry
+if he had spoken to her, for perhaps it might have alarmed her to find
+her affairs talked of by renegades. But God, who ordered it otherwise,
+afforded no opportunity for our renegade's well-meant purpose; and he,
+seeing how safely he could go to Shershel and return, and anchor
+when and how and where he liked, and that the Tagarin his partner
+had no will but his, and that, now I was ransomed, all we wanted was
+to find some Christians to row, told me to look out for any I should
+he willing to take with me, over and above those who had been
+ransomed, and to engage them for the next Friday, which he fixed
+upon for our departure. On this I spoke to twelve Spaniards, all stout
+rowers, and such as could most easily leave the city; but it was no
+easy matter to find so many just then, because there were twenty ships
+out on a cruise and they had taken all the rowers with them; and these
+would not have been found were it not that their master remained at
+home that summer without going to sea in order to finish a galliot
+that he had upon the stocks. To these men I said nothing more than
+that the next Friday in the evening they were to come out stealthily
+one by one and hang about Hadji Morato's garden, waiting for me
+there until I came. These directions I gave each one separately,
+with orders that if they saw any other Christians there they were
+not to say anything to them except that I had directed them to wait at
+that spot.
+
+This preliminary having been settled, another still more necessary
+step had to be taken, which was to let Zoraida know how matters
+stood that she might be prepared and forewarned, so as not to be taken
+by surprise if we were suddenly to seize upon her before she thought
+the Christians' vessel could have returned. I determined, therefore,
+to go to the garden and try if I could speak to her; and the day
+before my departure I went there under the pretence of gathering
+herbs. The first person I met was her father, who addressed me in
+the language that all over Barbary and even in Constantinople is the
+medium between captives and Moors, and is neither Morisco nor
+Castilian, nor of any other nation, but a mixture of all languages, by
+means of which we can all understand one another. In this sort of
+language, I say, he asked me what I wanted in his garden, and to
+whom I belonged. I replied that I was a slave of the Arnaut Mami
+(for I knew as a certainty that he was a very great friend of his),
+and that I wanted some herbs to make a salad. He asked me then whether
+I were on ransom or not, and what my master demanded for me. While
+these questions and answers were proceeding, the fair Zoraida, who had
+already perceived me some time before, came out of the house in the
+garden, and as Moorish women are by no means particular about
+letting themselves be seen by Christians, or, as I have said before,
+at all coy, she had no hesitation in coming to where her father
+stood with me; moreover her father, seeing her approaching slowly,
+called to her to come. It would be beyond my power now to describe
+to you the great beauty, the high-bred air, the brilliant attire of my
+beloved Zoraida as she presented herself before my eyes. I will
+content myself with saying that more pearls hung from her fair neck,
+her ears, and her hair than she had hairs on her head. On her
+ankles, which as is customary were bare, she had carcajes (for so
+bracelets or anklets are called in Morisco) of the purest gold, set
+with so many diamonds that she told me afterwards her father valued
+them at ten thousand doubloons, and those she had on her wrists were
+worth as much more. The pearls were in profusion and very fine, for
+the highest display and adornment of the Moorish women is decking
+themselves with rich pearls and seed-pearls; and of these there are
+therefore more among the Moors than among any other people.
+Zoraida's father had to the reputation of possessing a great number,
+and the purest in all Algiers, and of possessing also more than two
+hundred thousand Spanish crowns; and she, who is now mistress of me
+only, was mistress of all this. Whether thus adorned she would have
+been beautiful or not, and what she must have been in her
+prosperity, may be imagined from the beauty remaining to her after
+so many hardships; for, as everyone knows, the beauty of some women
+has its times and its seasons, and is increased or diminished by
+chance causes; and naturally the emotions of the mind will heighten or
+impair it, though indeed more frequently they totally destroy it. In a
+word she presented herself before me that day attired with the
+utmost splendour, and supremely beautiful; at any rate, she seemed
+to me the most beautiful object I had ever seen; and when, besides,
+I thought of all I owed to her I felt as though I had before me some
+heavenly being come to earth to bring me relief and happiness.
+
+As she approached her father told her in his own language that I was
+a captive belonging to his friend the Arnaut Mami, and that I had come
+for salad.
+
+She took up the conversation, and in that mixture of tongues I
+have spoken of she asked me if I was a gentleman, and why I was not
+ransomed.
+
+I answered that I was already ransomed, and that by the price it
+might be seen what value my master set on me, as I had given one
+thousand five hundred zoltanis for me; to which she replied, "Hadst
+thou been my father's, I can tell thee, I would not have let him
+part with thee for twice as much, for you Christians always tell
+lies about yourselves and make yourselves out poor to cheat the
+Moors."
+
+"That may be, lady," said I; "but indeed I dealt truthfully with
+my master, as I do and mean to do with everybody in the world."
+
+"And when dost thou go?" said Zoraida.
+
+"To-morrow, I think," said I, "for there is a vessel here from
+France which sails to-morrow, and I think I shall go in her."
+
+"Would it not be better," said Zoraida, "to wait for the arrival
+of ships from Spain and go with them and not with the French who are
+not your friends?"
+
+"No," said I; "though if there were intelligence that a vessel
+were now coming from Spain it is true I might, perhaps, wait for it;
+however, it is more likely I shall depart to-morrow, for the longing I
+feel to return to my country and to those I love is so great that it
+will not allow me to wait for another opportunity, however more
+convenient, if it be delayed."
+
+"No doubt thou art married in thine own country," said Zoraida, "and
+for that reason thou art anxious to go and see thy wife."
+
+"I am not married," I replied, "but I have given my promise to marry
+on my arrival there."
+
+"And is the lady beautiful to whom thou hast given it?" said
+Zoraida.
+
+"So beautiful," said I, "that, to describe her worthily and tell
+thee the truth, she is very like thee."
+
+At this her father laughed very heartily and said, "By Allah,
+Christian, she must be very beautiful if she is like my daughter,
+who is the most beautiful woman in all this kingdom: only look at
+her well and thou wilt see I am telling the truth."
+
+Zoraida's father as the better linguist helped to interpret most
+of these words and phrases, for though she spoke the bastard language,
+that, as I have said, is employed there, she expressed her meaning
+more by signs than by words.
+
+While we were still engaged in this conversation, a Moor came
+running up, exclaiming that four Turks had leaped over the fence or
+wall of the garden, and were gathering the fruit though it was not yet
+ripe. The old man was alarmed and Zoraida too, for the Moors commonly,
+and, so to speak, instinctively have a dread of the Turks, but
+particularly of the soldiers, who are so insolent and domineering to
+the Moors who are under their power that they treat them worse than if
+they were their slaves. Her father said to Zoraida, "Daughter,
+retire into the house and shut thyself in while I go and speak to
+these dogs; and thou, Christian, pick thy herbs, and go in peace,
+and Allah bring thee safe to thy own country."
+
+I bowed, and he went away to look for the Turks, leaving me alone
+with Zoraida, who made as if she were about to retire as her father
+bade her; but the moment he was concealed by the trees of the
+garden, turning to me with her eyes full of tears she said, Tameji,
+cristiano, tameji?" that is to say, "Art thou going, Christian, art
+thou going?"
+
+I made answer, "Yes, lady, but not without thee, come what may: be
+on the watch for me on the next Juma, and be not alarmed when thou
+seest us; for most surely we shall go to the land of the Christians."
+
+This I said in such a way that she understood perfectly all that
+passed between us, and throwing her arm round my neck she began with
+feeble steps to move towards the house; but as fate would have it (and
+it might have been very unfortunate if Heaven had not otherwise
+ordered it), just as we were moving on in the manner and position I
+have described, with her arm round my neck, her father, as he returned
+after having sent away the Turks, saw how we were walking and we
+perceived that he saw us; but Zoraida, ready and quickwitted, took
+care not to remove her arm from my neck, but on the contrary drew
+closer to me and laid her head on my breast, bending her knees a
+little and showing all the signs and tokens of ainting, while I at the
+same time made it seem as though I were supporting her against my
+will. Her father came running up to where we were, and seeing his
+daughter in this state asked what was the matter with her; she,
+however, giving no answer, he said, "No doubt she has fainted in alarm
+at the entrance of those dogs," and taking her from mine he drew her
+to his own breast, while she sighing, her eyes still wet with tears,
+said again, "Ameji, cristiano, ameji"- "Go, Christian, go." To this
+her father replied, "There is no need, daughter, for the Christian
+to go, for he has done thee no harm, and the Turks have now gone; feel
+no alarm, there is nothing to hurt thee, for as I say, the Turks at my
+request have gone back the way they came."
+
+"It was they who terrified her, as thou hast said, senor," said I to
+her father; "but since she tells me to go, I have no wish to displease
+her: peace be with thee, and with thy leave I will come back to this
+garden for herbs if need be, for my master says there are nowhere
+better herbs for salad then here."
+
+"Come back for any thou hast need of," replied Hadji Morato; "for my
+daughter does not speak thus because she is displeased with thee or
+any Christian: she only meant that the Turks should go, not thou; or
+that it was time for thee to look for thy herbs."
+
+With this I at once took my leave of both; and she, looking as
+though her heart were breaking, retired with her father. While
+pretending to look for herbs I made the round of the garden at my
+ease, and studied carefully all the approaches and outlets, and the
+fastenings of the house and everything that could be taken advantage
+of to make our task easy. Having done so I went and gave an account of
+all that had taken place to the renegade and my comrades, and looked
+forward with impatience to the hour when, all fear at an end, I should
+find myself in possession of the prize which fortune held out to me in
+the fair and lovely Zoraida. The time passed at length, and the
+appointed day we so longed for arrived; and, all following out the
+arrangement and plan which, after careful consideration and many a
+long discussion, we had decided upon, we succeeded as fully as we
+could have wished; for on the Friday following the day upon which I
+spoke to Zoraida in the garden, the renegade anchored his vessel at
+nightfall almost opposite the spot where she was. The Christians who
+were to row were ready and in hiding in different places round
+about, all waiting for me, anxious and elated, and eager to attack the
+vessel they had before their eyes; for they did not know the
+renegade's plan, but expected that they were to gain their liberty
+by force of arms and by killing the Moors who were on board the
+vessel. As soon, then, as I and my comrades made our appearance, all
+those that were in hiding seeing us came and joined us. It was now the
+time when the city gates are shut, and there was no one to be seen
+in all the space outside. When we were collected together we debated
+whether it would be better first to go for Zoraida, or to make
+prisoners of the Moorish rowers who rowed in the vessel; but while
+we were still uncertain our renegade came up asking us what kept us,
+as it was now the time, and all the Moors were off their guard and
+most of them asleep. We told him why we hesitated, but he said it
+was of more importance first to secure the vessel, which could be done
+with the greatest ease and without any danger, and then we could go
+for Zoraida. We all approved of what he said, and so without further
+delay, guided by him we made for the vessel, and he leaping on board
+first, drew his cutlass and said in Morisco, "Let no one stir from
+this if he does not want it to cost him his life." By this almost
+all the Christians were on board, and the Moors, who were
+fainthearted, hearing their captain speak in this way, were cowed, and
+without any one of them taking to his arms (and indeed they had few or
+hardly any) they submitted without saying a word to be bound by the
+Christians, who quickly secured them, threatening them that if they
+raised any kind of outcry they would be all put to the sword. This
+having been accomplished, and half of our party being left to keep
+guard over them, the rest of us, again taking the renegade as our
+guide, hastened towards Hadji Morato's garden, and as good luck
+would have it, on trying the gate it opened as easily as if it had not
+been locked; and so, quite quietly and in silence, we reached the
+house without being perceived by anybody. The lovely Zoraida was
+watching for us at a window, and as soon as she perceived that there
+were people there, she asked in a low voice if we were "Nizarani,"
+as much as to say or ask if we were Christians. I answered that we
+were, and begged her to come down. As soon as she recognised me she
+did not delay an instant, but without answering a word came down
+immediately, opened the door and presented herself before us all, so
+beautiful and so richly attired that I cannot attempt to describe her.
+The moment I saw her I took her hand and kissed it, and the renegade
+and my two comrades did the same; and the rest, who knew nothing of
+the circumstances, did as they saw us do, for it only seemed as if
+we were returning thanks to her, and recognising her as the giver of
+our liberty. The renegade asked her in the Morisco language if her
+father was in the house. She replied that he was and that he was
+asleep.
+
+"Then it will be necessary to waken him and take him with us,"
+said the renegade, "and everything of value in this fair mansion."
+
+"Nay," said she, "my father must not on any account be touched,
+and there is nothing in the house except what I shall take, and that
+will be quite enough to enrich and satisfy all of you; wait a little
+and you shall see," and so saying she went in, telling us she would
+return immediately and bidding us keep quiet making any noise.
+
+I asked the renegade what had passed between them, and when he
+told me, I declared that nothing should be done except in accordance
+with the wishes of Zoraida, who now came back with a little trunk so
+full of gold crowns that she could scarcely carry it. Unfortunately
+her father awoke while this was going on, and hearing a noise in the
+garden, came to the window, and at once perceiving that all those
+who were there were Christians, raising a prodigiously loud outcry, he
+began to call out in Arabic, "Christians, Christians! thieves,
+thieves!" by which cries we were all thrown into the greatest fear and
+embarrassment; but the renegade seeing the danger we were in and how
+important it was for him to effect his purpose before we were heard,
+mounted with the utmost quickness to where Hadji Morato was, and
+with him went some of our party; I, however, did not dare to leave
+Zoraida, who had fallen almost fainting in my arms. To be brief, those
+who had gone upstairs acted so promptly that in an instant they came
+down, carrying Hadji Morato with his hands bound and a napkin tied
+over his mouth, which prevented him from uttering a word, warning
+him at the same time that to attempt to speak would cost him his life.
+When his daughter caught sight of him she covered her eyes so as not
+to see him, and her father was horror-stricken, not knowing how
+willingly she had placed herself in our hands. But it was now most
+essential for us to be on the move, and carefully and quickly we
+regained the vessel, where those who had remained on board were
+waiting for us in apprehension of some mishap having befallen us. It
+was barely two hours after night set in when we were all on board
+the vessel, where the cords were removed from the hands of Zoraida's
+father, and the napkin from his mouth; but the renegade once more told
+him not to utter a word, or they would take his life. He, when he
+saw his daughter there, began to sigh piteously, and still more when
+he perceived that I held her closely embraced and that she lay quiet
+without resisting or complaining, or showing any reluctance;
+nevertheless he remained silent lest they should carry into effect the
+repeated threats the renegade had addressed to him.
+
+Finding herself now on board, and that we were about to give way
+with the oars, Zoraida, seeing her father there, and the other Moors
+bound, bade the renegade ask me to do her the favour of releasing
+the Moors and setting her father at liberty, for she would rather
+drown herself in the sea than suffer a father that had loved her so
+dearly to be carried away captive before her eyes and on her
+account. The renegade repeated this to me, and I replied that I was
+very willing to do so; but he replied that it was not advisable,
+because if they were left there they would at once raise the country
+and stir up the city, and lead to the despatch of swift cruisers in
+pursuit, and our being taken, by sea or land, without any
+possibility of escape; and that all that could be done was to set them
+free on the first Christian ground we reached. On this point we all
+agreed; and Zoraida, to whom it was explained, together with the
+reasons that prevented us from doing at once what she desired, was
+satisfied likewise; and then in glad silence and with cheerful
+alacrity each of our stout rowers took his oar, and commending
+ourselves to God with all our hearts, we began to shape our course for
+the island of Majorca, the nearest Christian land. Owing, however,
+to the Tramontana rising a little, and the sea growing somewhat rough,
+it was impossible for us to keep a straight course for Majorca, and we
+were compelled to coast in the direction of Oran, not without great
+uneasiness on our part lest we should be observed from the town of
+Shershel, which lies on that coast, not more than sixty miles from
+Algiers. Moreover we were afraid of meeting on that course one of
+the galliots that usually come with goods from Tetuan; although each
+of us for himself and all of us together felt confident that, if we
+were to meet a merchant galliot, so that it were not a cruiser, not
+only should we not be lost, but that we should take a vessel in
+which we could more safely accomplish our voyage. As we pursued our
+course Zoraida kept her head between my hands so as not to see her
+father, and I felt that she was praying to Lela Marien to help us.
+
+We might have made about thirty miles when daybreak found us some
+three musket-shots off the land, which seemed to us deserted, and
+without anyone to see us. For all that, however, by hard rowing we put
+out a little to sea, for it was now somewhat calmer, and having gained
+about two leagues the word was given to row by batches, while we ate
+something, for the vessel was well provided; but the rowers said it
+was not a time to take any rest; let food be served out to those who
+were not rowing, but they would not leave their oars on any account.
+This was done, but now a stiff breeze began to blow, which obliged
+us to leave off rowing and make sail at once and steer for Oran, as it
+was impossible to make any other course. All this was done very
+promptly, and under sail we ran more than eight miles an hour
+without any fear, except that of coming across some vessel out on a
+roving expedition. We gave the Moorish rowers some food, and the
+renegade comforted them by telling them that they were not held as
+captives, as we should set them free on the first opportunity.
+
+The same was said to Zoraida's father, who replied, "Anything
+else, Christian, I might hope for or think likely from your generosity
+and good behaviour, but do not think me so simple as to imagine you
+will give me my liberty; for you would have never exposed yourselves
+to the danger of depriving me of it only to restore it to me so
+generously, especially as you know who I am and the sum you may expect
+to receive on restoring it; and if you will only name that, I here
+offer you all you require for myself and for my unhappy daughter
+there; or else for her alone, for she is the greatest and most
+precious part of my soul."
+
+As he said this he began to weep so bitterly that he filled us all
+with compassion and forced Zoraida to look at him, and when she saw
+him weeping she was so moved that she rose from my feet and ran to
+throw her arms round him, and pressing her face to his, they both gave
+way to such an outburst of tears that several of us were constrained
+to keep them company.
+
+But when her father saw her in full dress and with all her jewels
+about her, he said to her in his own language, "What means this, my
+daughter? Last night, before this terrible misfortune in which we
+are plunged befell us, I saw thee in thy everyday and indoor garments;
+and now, without having had time to attire thyself, and without my
+bringing thee any joyful tidings to furnish an occasion for adorning
+and bedecking thyself, I see thee arrayed in the finest attire it
+would be in my power to give thee when fortune was most kind to us.
+Answer me this; for it causes me greater anxiety and surprise than
+even this misfortune itself."
+
+The renegade interpreted to us what the Moor said to his daughter;
+she, however, returned him no answer. But when he observed in one
+corner of the vessel the little trunk in which she used to keep her
+jewels, which he well knew he had left in Algiers and had not
+brought to the garden, he was still more amazed, and asked her how
+that trunk had come into our hands, and what there was in it. To which
+the renegade, without waiting for Zoraida to reply, made answer, "Do
+not trouble thyself by asking thy daughter Zoraida so many
+questions, senor, for the one answer I will give thee will serve for
+all; I would have thee know that she is a Christian, and that it is
+she who has been the file for our chains and our deliverer from
+captivity. She is here of her own free will, as glad, I imagine, to
+find herself in this position as he who escapes from darkness into the
+light, from death to life, and from suffering to glory."
+
+"Daughter, is this true, what he says?" cried the Moor.
+
+"It is," replied Zoraida.
+
+"That thou art in truth a Christian," said the old man, "and that
+thou hast given thy father into the power of his enemies?"
+
+To which Zoraida made answer, "A Christian I am, but it is not I who
+have placed thee in this position, for it never was my wish to leave
+thee or do thee harm, but only to do good to myself."
+
+"And what good hast thou done thyself, daughter?" said he.
+
+"Ask thou that," said she, "of Lela Marien, for she can tell thee
+better than I."
+
+The Moor had hardly heard these words when with marvellous quickness
+he flung himself headforemost into the sea, where no doubt he would
+have been drowned had not the long and full dress he wore held him
+up for a little on the surface of the water. Zoraida cried aloud to us
+to save him, and we all hastened to help, and seizing him by his
+robe we drew him in half drowned and insensible, at which Zoraida
+was in such distress that she wept over him as piteously and
+bitterly as though he were already dead. We turned him upon his face
+and he voided a great quantity of water, and at the end of two hours
+came to himself. Meanwhile, the wind having changed we were
+compelled to head for the land, and ply our oars to avoid being driven
+on shore; but it was our good fortune to reach a creek that lies on
+one side of a small promontory or cape, called by the Moors that of
+the "Cava rumia," which in our language means "the wicked Christian
+woman;" for it is a tradition among them that La Cava, through whom
+Spain was lost, lies buried at that spot; "cava" in their language
+meaning "wicked woman," and "rumia" "Christian;" moreover, they
+count it unlucky to anchor there when necessity compels them, and they
+never do so otherwise. For us, however, it was not the resting-place
+of the wicked woman but a haven of safety for our relief, so much
+had the sea now got up. We posted a look-out on shore, and never let
+the oars out of our hands, and ate of the stores the renegade had laid
+in, imploring God and Our Lady with all our hearts to help and protect
+us, that we might give a happy ending to a beginning so prosperous. At
+the entreaty of Zoraida orders were given to set on shore her father
+and the other Moors who were still bound, for she could not endure,
+nor could her tender heart bear to see her father in bonds and her
+fellow-countrymen prisoners before her eyes. We promised her to do
+this at the moment of departure, for as it was uninhabited we ran no
+risk in releasing them at that place.
+
+Our prayers were not so far in vain as to be unheard by Heaven,
+for after a while the wind changed in our favour, and made the sea
+calm, inviting us once more to resume our voyage with a good heart.
+Seeing this we unbound the Moors, and one by one put them on shore, at
+which they were filled with amazement; but when we came to land
+Zoraida's father, who had now completely recovered his senses, he
+said:
+
+"Why is it, think ye, Christians, that this wicked woman is rejoiced
+at your giving me my liberty? Think ye it is because of the
+affection she bears me? Nay verily, it is only because of the
+hindrance my presence offers to the execution of her base designs. And
+think not that it is her belief that yours is better than ours that
+has led her to change her religion; it is only because she knows
+that immodesty is more freely practised in your country than in ours."
+Then turning to Zoraida, while I and another of the Christians held
+him fast by both arms, lest he should do some mad act, he said to her,
+"Infamous girl, misguided maiden, whither in thy blindness and madness
+art thou going in the hands of these dogs, our natural enemies? Cursed
+be the hour when I begot thee! Cursed the luxury and indulgence in
+which I reared thee!"
+
+But seeing that he was not likely soon to cease I made haste to
+put him on shore, and thence he continued his maledictions and
+lamentations aloud; calling on Mohammed to pray to Allah to destroy
+us, to confound us, to make an end of us; and when, in consequence
+of having made sail, we could no longer hear what he said we could see
+what he did; how he plucked out his beard and tore his hair and lay
+writhing on the ground. But once he raised his voice to such a pitch
+that we were able to hear what he said. "Come back, dear daughter,
+come back to shore; I forgive thee all; let those men have the
+money, for it is theirs now, and come back to comfort thy sorrowing
+father, who will yield up his life on this barren strand if thou
+dost leave him."
+
+All this Zoraida heard, and heard with sorrow and tears, and all she
+could say in answer was, "Allah grant that Lela Marien, who has made
+me become a Christian, give thee comfort in thy sorrow, my father.
+Allah knows that I could not do otherwise than I have done, and that
+these Christians owe nothing to my will; for even had I wished not
+to accompany them, but remain at home, it would have been impossible
+for me, so eagerly did my soul urge me on to the accomplishment of
+this purpose, which I feel to be as righteous as to thee, dear father,
+it seems wicked."
+
+But neither could her father hear her nor we see him when she said
+this; and so, while I consoled Zoraida, we turned our attention to our
+voyage, in which a breeze from the right point so favoured us that
+we made sure of finding ourselves off the coast of Spain on the morrow
+by daybreak. But, as good seldom or never comes pure and unmixed,
+without being attended or followed by some disturbing evil that
+gives a shock to it, our fortune, or perhaps the curses which the Moor
+had hurled at his daughter (for whatever kind of father they may
+come from these are always to be dreaded), brought it about that
+when we were now in mid-sea, and the night about three hours spent, as
+we were running with all sail set and oars lashed, for the favouring
+breeze saved us the trouble of using them, we saw by the light of
+the moon, which shone brilliantly, a square-rigged vessel in full sail
+close to us, luffing up and standing across our course, and so close
+that we had to strike sail to avoid running foul of her, while they
+too put the helm hard up to let us pass. They came to the side of
+the ship to ask who we were, whither we were bound, and whence we
+came, but as they asked this in French our renegade said, "Let no
+one answer, for no doubt these are French corsairs who plunder all
+comers." Acting on this warning no one answered a word, but after we
+had gone a little ahead, and the vessel was now lying to leeward,
+suddenly they fired two guns, and apparently both loaded with
+chain-shot, for with one they cut our mast in half and brought down
+both it and the sail into the sea, and the other, discharged at the
+same moment, sent a ball into our vessel amidships, staving her in
+completely, but without doing any further damage. We, however, finding
+ourselves sinking began to shout for help and call upon those in the
+ship to pick us up as we were beginning to fill. They then lay to, and
+lowering a skiff or boat, as many as a dozen Frenchmen, well armed
+with match-locks, and their matches burning, got into it and came
+alongside; and seeing how few we were, and that our vessel was going
+down, they took us in, telling us that this had come to us through our
+incivility in not giving them an answer. Our renegade took the trunk
+containing Zoraida's wealth and dropped it into the sea without anyone
+perceiving what he did. In short we went on board with the
+Frenchmen, who, after having ascertained all they wanted to know about
+us, rifled us of everything we had, as if they had been our
+bitterest enemies, and from Zoraida they took even the anklets she
+wore on her feet; but the distress they caused her did not distress me
+so much as the fear I was in that from robbing her of her rich and
+precious jewels they would proceed to rob her of the most precious
+jewel that she valued more than all. The desires, however, of those
+people do not go beyond money, but of that their covetousness is
+insatiable, and on this occasion it was carried to such a pitch that
+they would have taken even the clothes we wore as captives if they had
+been worth anything to them. It was the advice of some of them to
+throw us all into the sea wrapped up in a sail; for their purpose
+was to trade at some of the ports of Spain, giving themselves out as
+Bretons, and if they brought us alive they would be punished as soon
+as the robbery was discovered; but the captain (who was the one who
+had plundered my beloved Zoraida) said he was satisfied with the prize
+he had got, and that he would not touch at any Spanish port, but
+pass the Straits of Gibraltar by night, or as best he could, and
+make for La Rochelle, from which he had sailed. So they agreed by
+common consent to give us the skiff belonging to their ship and all we
+required for the short voyage that remained to us, and this they did
+the next day on coming in sight of the Spanish coast, with which,
+and the joy we felt, all our sufferings and miseries were as
+completely forgotten as if they had never been endured by us, such
+is the delight of recovering lost liberty.
+
+It may have been about mid-day when they placed us in the boat,
+giving us two kegs of water and some biscuit; and the captain, moved
+by I know not what compassion, as the lovely Zoraida was about to
+embark, gave her some forty gold crowns, and would not permit his
+men to take from her those same garments which she has on now. We
+got into the boat, returning them thanks for their kindness to us, and
+showing ourselves grateful rather than indignant. They stood out to
+sea, steering for the straits; we, without looking to any compass save
+the land we had before us, set ourselves to row with such energy
+that by sunset we were so near that we might easily, we thought,
+land before the night was far advanced. But as the moon did not show
+that night, and the sky was clouded, and as we knew not whereabouts we
+were, it did not seem to us a prudent thing to make for the shore,
+as several of us advised, saying we ought to run ourselves ashore even
+if it were on rocks and far from any habitation, for in this way we
+should be relieved from the apprehensions we naturally felt of the
+prowling vessels of the Tetuan corsairs, who leave Barbary at
+nightfall and are on the Spanish coast by daybreak, where they
+commonly take some prize, and then go home to sleep in their own
+houses. But of the conflicting counsels the one which was adopted
+was that we should approach gradually, and land where we could if
+the sea were calm enough to permit us. This was done, and a little
+before midnight we drew near to the foot of a huge and lofty mountain,
+not so close to the sea but that it left a narrow space on which to
+land conveniently. We ran our boat up on the sand, and all sprang
+out and kissed the ground, and with tears of joyful satisfaction
+returned thanks to God our Lord for all his incomparable goodness to
+us on our voyage. We took out of the boat the provisions it contained,
+and drew it up on the shore, and then climbed a long way up the
+mountain, for even there we could not feel easy in our hearts, or
+persuade ourselves that it was Christian soil that was now under our
+feet.
+
+The dawn came, more slowly, I think, than we could have wished; we
+completed the ascent in order to see if from the summit any habitation
+or any shepherds' huts could be discovered, but strain our eyes as
+we might, neither dwelling, nor human being, nor path nor road could
+we perceive. However, we determined to push on farther, as it could
+not but be that ere long we must see some one who could tell us
+where we were. But what distressed me most was to see Zoraida going on
+foot over that rough ground; for though I once carried her on my
+shoulders, she was more wearied by my weariness than rested by the
+rest; and so she would never again allow me to undergo the exertion,
+and went on very patiently and cheerfully, while I led her by the
+hand. We had gone rather less than a quarter of a league when the
+sound of a little bell fell on our ears, a clear proof that there were
+flocks hard by, and looking about carefully to see if any were
+within view, we observed a young shepherd tranquilly and
+unsuspiciously trimming a stick with his knife at the foot of a cork
+tree. We called to him, and he, raising his head, sprang nimbly to his
+feet, for, as we afterwards learned, the first who presented
+themselves to his sight were the renegade and Zoraida, and seeing them
+in Moorish dress he imagined that all the Moors of Barbary were upon
+him; and plunging with marvellous swiftness into the thicket in
+front of him, he began to raise a prodigious outcry, exclaiming,
+"The Moors- the Moors have landed! To arms, to arms!" We were all
+thrown into perplexity by these cries, not knowing what to do; but
+reflecting that the shouts of the shepherd would raise the country and
+that the mounted coast-guard would come at once to see what was the
+matter, we agreed that the renegade must strip off his Turkish
+garments and put on a captive's jacket or coat which one of our
+party gave him at once, though he himself was reduced to his shirt;
+and so commending ourselves to God, we followed the same road which we
+saw the shepherd take, expecting every moment that the coast-guard
+would be down upon us. Nor did our expectation deceive us, for two
+hours had not passed when, coming out of the brushwood into the open
+ground, we perceived some fifty mounted men swiftly approaching us
+at a hand-gallop. As soon as we saw them we stood still, waiting for
+them; but as they came close and, instead of the Moors they were in
+quest of, saw a set of poor Christians, they were taken aback, and one
+of them asked if it could be we who were the cause of the shepherd
+having raised the call to arms. I said "Yes," and as I was about to
+explain to him what had occurred, and whence we came and who we
+were, one of the Christians of our party recognised the horseman who
+had put the question to us, and before I could say anything more he
+exclaimed:
+
+"Thanks be to God, sirs, for bringing us to such good quarters; for,
+if I do not deceive myself, the ground we stand on is that of Velez
+Malaga unless, indeed, all my years of captivity have made me unable
+to recollect that you, senor, who ask who we are, are Pedro de
+Bustamante, my uncle."
+
+The Christian captive had hardly uttered these words, when the
+horseman threw himself off his horse, and ran to embrace the young
+man, crying:
+
+"Nephew of my soul and life! I recognise thee now; and long have I
+mourned thee as dead, I, and my sister, thy mother, and all thy kin
+that are still alive, and whom God has been pleased to preserve that
+they may enjoy the happiness of seeing thee. We knew long since that
+thou wert in Algiers, and from the appearance of thy garments and
+those of all this company, I conclude that ye have had a miraculous
+restoration to liberty."
+
+"It is true," replied the young man, "and by-and-by we will tell you
+all."
+
+As soon as the horsemen understood that we were Christian
+captives, they dismounted from their horses, and each offered his to
+carry us to the city of Velez Malaga, which was a league and a half
+distant. Some of them went to bring the boat to the city, we having
+told them where we had left it; others took us up behind them, and
+Zoraida was placed on the horse of the young man's uncle. The whole
+town came out to meet us, for they had by this time heard of our
+arrival from one who had gone on in advance. They were not
+astonished to see liberated captives or captive Moors, for people on
+that coast are well used to see both one and the other; but they
+were astonished at the beauty of Zoraida, which was just then
+heightened, as well by the exertion of travelling as by joy at finding
+herself on Christian soil, and relieved of all fear of being lost; for
+this had brought such a glow upon her face, that unless my affection
+for her were deceiving me, I would venture to say that there was not a
+more beautiful creature in the world- at least, that I had ever seen.
+ We went straight to the church to return thanks to God for the
+mercies we had received, and when Zoraida entered it she said there
+were faces there like Lela Marien's. We told her they were her images;
+and as well as he could the renegade explained to her what they meant,
+that she might adore them as if each of them were the very same Lela
+Marien that had spoken to her; and she, having great intelligence
+and a quick and clear instinct, understood at once all he said to
+her about them. Thence they took us away and distributed us all in
+different houses in the town; but as for the renegade, Zoraida, and
+myself, the Christian who came with us brought us to the house of
+his parents, who had a fair share of the gifts of fortune, and treated
+us with as much kindness as they did their own son.
+
+We remained six days in Velez, at the end of which the renegade,
+having informed himself of all that was requisite for him to do, set
+out for the city of Granada to restore himself to the sacred bosom
+of the Church through the medium of the Holy Inquisition. The other
+released captives took their departures, each the way that seemed best
+to him, and Zoraida and I were left alone, with nothing more than
+the crowns which the courtesy of the Frenchman had bestowed upon
+Zoraida, out of which I bought the beast on which she rides; and, I
+for the present attending her as her father and squire and not as
+her husband, we are now going to ascertain if my father is living,
+or if any of my brothers has had better fortune than mine has been;
+though, as Heaven has made me the companion of Zoraida, I think no
+other lot could be assigned to me, however happy, that I would
+rather have. The patience with which she endures the hardships that
+poverty brings with it, and the eagerness she shows to become a
+Christian, are such that they fill me with admiration, and bind me
+to serve her all my life; though the happiness I feel in seeing myself
+hers, and her mine, is disturbed and marred by not knowing whether I
+shall find any corner to shelter her in my own country, or whether
+time and death may not have made such changes in the fortunes and
+lives of my father and brothers, that I shall hardly find anyone who
+knows me, if they are not alive.
+
+I have no more of my story to tell you, gentlemen; whether it be
+an interesting or a curious one let your better judgments decide;
+all I can say is I would gladly have told it to you more briefly;
+although my fear of wearying you has made me leave out more than one
+circumstance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+WHICH TREATS OF WHAT FURTHER TOOK PLACE IN THE INN, AND OF SEVERAL
+OTHER THINGS WORTH KNOWING
+
+With these words the captive held his peace, and Don Fernando said
+to him, "In truth, captain, the manner in which you have related
+this remarkable adventure has been such as befitted the novelty and
+strangeness of the matter. The whole story is curious and uncommon,
+and abounds with incidents that fill the hearers with wonder and
+astonishment; and so great is the pleasure we have found in
+listening to it that we should be glad if it were to begin again, even
+though to-morrow were to find us still occupied with the same tale."
+And while he said this Cardenio and the rest of them offered to be
+of service to him in any way that lay in their power, and in words and
+language so kindly and sincere that the captain was much gratified
+by their good-will. In particular Don Fernando offered, if he would go
+back with him, to get his brother the marquis to become godfather at
+the baptism of Zoraida, and on his own part to provide him with the
+means of making his appearance in his own country with the credit
+and comfort he was entitled to. For all this the captive returned
+thanks very courteously, although he would not accept any of their
+generous offers.
+
+By this time night closed in, and as it did, there came up to the
+inn a coach attended by some men on horseback, who demanded
+accommodation; to which the landlady replied that there was not a
+hand's breadth of the whole inn unoccupied.
+
+"Still, for all that," said one of those who had entered on
+horseback, "room must be found for his lordship the Judge here."
+
+At this name the landlady was taken aback, and said, "Senor, the
+fact is I have no beds; but if his lordship the Judge carries one with
+him, as no doubt he does, let him come in and welcome; for my
+husband and I will give up our room to accommodate his worship."
+
+"Very good, so be it," said the squire; but in the meantime a man
+had got out of the coach whose dress indicated at a glance the
+office and post he held, for the long robe with ruffled sleeves that
+he wore showed that he was, as his servant said, a Judge of appeal. He
+led by the hand a young girl in a travelling dress, apparently about
+sixteen years of age, and of such a high-bred air, so beautiful and so
+graceful, that all were filled with admiration when she made her
+appearance, and but for having seen Dorothea, Luscinda, and Zoraida,
+who were there in the inn, they would have fancied that a beauty
+like that of this maiden's would have been hard to find. Don Quixote
+was present at the entrance of the Judge with the young lady, and as
+soon as he saw him he said, "Your worship may with confidence enter
+and take your ease in this castle; for though the accommodation be
+scanty and poor, there are no quarters so cramped or inconvenient that
+they cannot make room for arms and letters; above all if arms and
+letters have beauty for a guide and leader, as letters represented
+by your worship have in this fair maiden, to whom not only ought
+castles to throw themselves open and yield themselves up, but rocks
+should rend themselves asunder and mountains divide and bow themselves
+down to give her a reception. Enter, your worship, I say, into this
+paradise, for here you will find stars and suns to accompany the
+heaven your worship brings with you, here you will find arms in
+their supreme excellence, and beauty in its highest perfection."
+
+The Judge was struck with amazement at the language of Don
+Quixote, whom he scrutinized very carefully, no less astonished by his
+figure than by his talk; and before he could find words to answer
+him he had a fresh surprise, when he saw opposite to him Luscinda,
+Dorothea, and Zoraida, who, having heard of the new guests and of
+the beauty of the young lady, had come to see her and welcome her; Don
+Fernando, Cardenio, and the curate, however, greeted him in a more
+intelligible and polished style. In short, the Judge made his entrance
+in a state of bewilderment, as well with what he saw as what he heard,
+and the fair ladies of the inn gave the fair damsel a cordial welcome.
+On the whole he could perceive that all who were there were people
+of quality; but with the figure, countenance, and bearing of Don
+Quixote he was at his wits' end; and all civilities having been
+exchanged, and the accommodation of the inn inquired into, it was
+settled, as it had been before settled, that all the women should
+retire to the garret that has been already mentioned, and that the men
+should remain outside as if to guard them; the Judge, therefore, was
+very well pleased to allow his daughter, for such the damsel was, to
+go with the ladies, which she did very willingly; and with part of the
+host's narrow bed and half of what the Judge had brought with him,
+they made a more comfortable arrangement for the night than they had
+expected.
+
+The captive, whose heart had leaped within him the instant he saw
+the Judge, telling him somehow that this was his brother, asked one of
+the servants who accompanied him what his name was, and whether he
+knew from what part of the country he came. The servant replied that
+he was called the Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma, and that he had
+heard it said he came from a village in the mountains of Leon. From
+this statement, and what he himself had seen, he felt convinced that
+this was his brother who had adopted letters by his father's advice;
+and excited and rejoiced, he called Don Fernando and Cardenio and
+the curate aside, and told them how the matter stood, assuring them
+that the judge was his brother. The servant had further informed him
+that he was now going to the Indies with the appointment of Judge of
+the Supreme Court of Mexico; and he had learned, likewise, that the
+young lady was his daughter, whose mother had died in giving birth
+to her, and that he was very rich in consequence of the dowry left
+to him with the daughter. He asked their advice as to what means he
+should adopt to make himself known, or to ascertain beforehand
+whether, when he had made himself known, his brother, seeing him so
+poor, would be ashamed of him, or would receive him with a warm heart.
+
+"Leave it to me to find out that," said the curate; "though there is
+no reason for supposing, senor captain, that you will not be kindly
+received, because the worth and wisdom that your brother's bearing
+shows him to possess do not make it likely that he will prove
+haughty or insensible, or that he will not know how to estimate the
+accidents of fortune at their proper value."
+
+"Still," said the captain, "I would not make myself known
+abruptly, but in some indirect way."
+
+"I have told you already," said the curate, "that I will manage it
+in a way to satisfy us all."
+
+By this time supper was ready, and they all took their seats at
+the table, except the captive, and the ladies, who supped by
+themselves in their own room. In the middle of supper the curate said:
+
+"I had a comrade of your worship's name, Senor Judge, in
+Constantinople, where I was a captive for several years, and that same
+comrade was one of the stoutest soldiers and captains in the whole
+Spanish infantry; but he had as large a share of misfortune as he
+had of gallantry and courage."
+
+"And how was the captain called, senor?" asked the Judge.
+
+"He was called Ruy Perez de Viedma," replied the curate, "and he was
+born in a village in the mountains of Leon; and he mentioned a
+circumstance connected with his father and his brothers which, had
+it not been told me by so truthful a man as he was, I should have
+set down as one of those fables the old women tell over the fire in
+winter; for he said his father had divided his property among his
+three sons and had addressed words of advice to them sounder than
+any of Cato's. But I can say this much, that the choice he made of
+going to the wars was attended with such success, that by his
+gallant conduct and courage, and without any help save his own
+merit, he rose in a few years to be captain of infantry, and to see
+himself on the high-road and in position to be given the command of
+a corps before long; but Fortune was against him, for where he might
+have expected her favour he lost it, and with it his liberty, on
+that glorious day when so many recovered theirs, at the battle of
+Lepanto. I lost mine at the Goletta, and after a variety of adventures
+we found ourselves comrades at Constantinople. Thence he went to
+Algiers, where he met with one of the most extraordinary adventures
+that ever befell anyone in the world."
+
+Here the curate went on to relate briefly his brother's adventure
+with Zoraida; to all which the Judge gave such an attentive hearing
+that he never before had been so much of a hearer. The curate,
+however, only went so far as to describe how the Frenchmen plundered
+those who were in the boat, and the poverty and distress in which
+his comrade and the fair Moor were left, of whom he said he had not
+been able to learn what became of them, or whether they had reached
+Spain, or been carried to France by the Frenchmen.
+
+The captain, standing a little to one side, was listening to all the
+curate said, and watching every movement of his brother, who, as
+soon as he perceived the curate had made an end of his story, gave a
+deep sigh and said with his eyes full of tears, "Oh, senor, if you
+only knew what news you have given me and how it comes home to me,
+making me show how I feel it with these tears that spring from my eyes
+in spite of all my worldly wisdom and self-restraint! That brave
+captain that you speak of is my eldest brother, who, being of a bolder
+and loftier mind than my other brother or myself, chose the honourable
+and worthy calling of arms, which was one of the three careers our
+father proposed to us, as your comrade mentioned in that fable you
+thought he was telling you. I followed that of letters, in which God
+and my own exertions have raised me to the position in which you see
+me. My second brother is in Peru, so wealthy that with what he has
+sent to my father and to me he has fully repaid the portion he took
+with him, and has even furnished my father's hands with the means of
+gratifying his natural generosity, while I too have been enabled to
+pursue my studies in a more becoming and creditable fashion, and so to
+attain my present standing. My father is still alive, though dying
+with anxiety to hear of his eldest son, and he prays God unceasingly
+that death may not close his eyes until he has looked upon those of
+his son; but with regard to him what surprises me is, that having so
+much common sense as he had, he should have neglected to give any
+intelligence about himself, either in his troubles and sufferings,
+or in his prosperity, for if his father or any of us had known of
+his condition he need not have waited for that miracle of the reed
+to obtain his ransom; but what now disquiets me is the uncertainty
+whether those Frenchmen may have restored him to liberty, or
+murdered him to hide the robbery. All this will make me continue my
+journey, not with the satisfaction in which I began it, but in the
+deepest melancholy and sadness. Oh dear brother! that I only knew
+where thou art now, and I would hasten to seek thee out and deliver
+thee from thy sufferings, though it were to cost me suffering
+myself! Oh that I could bring news to our old father that thou art
+alive, even wert thou the deepest dungeon of Barbary; for his wealth
+and my brother's and mine would rescue thee thence! Oh beautiful and
+generous Zoraida, that I could repay thy good goodness to a brother!
+That I could be present at the new birth of thy soul, and at thy
+bridal that would give us all such happiness!"
+
+All this and more the Judge uttered with such deep emotion at the
+news he had received of his brother that all who heard him shared in
+it, showing their sympathy with his sorrow. The curate, seeing,
+then, how well he had succeeded in carrying out his purpose and the
+captain's wishes, had no desire to keep them unhappy any longer, so he
+rose from the table and going into the room where Zoraida was he
+took her by the hand, Luscinda, Dorothea, and the Judge's daughter
+following her. The captain was waiting to see what the curate would
+do, when the latter, taking him with the other hand, advanced with
+both of them to where the Judge and the other gentlemen were and said,
+"Let your tears cease to flow, Senor Judge, and the wish of your heart
+be gratified as fully as you could desire, for you have before you
+your worthy brother and your good sister-in-law. He whom you see here
+is the Captain Viedma, and this is the fair Moor who has been so good
+to him. The Frenchmen I told you of have reduced them to the state of
+poverty you see that you may show the generosity of your kind heart."
+
+The captain ran to embrace his brother, who placed both hands on his
+breast so as to have a good look at him, holding him a little way
+off but as soon as he had fully recognised him he clasped him in his
+arms so closely, shedding such tears of heartfelt joy, that most of
+those present could not but join in them. The words the brothers
+exchanged, the emotion they showed can scarcely be imagined, I
+fancy, much less put down in writing. They told each other in a few
+words the events of their lives; they showed the true affection of
+brothers in all its strength; then the judge embraced Zoraida, putting
+all he possessed at her disposal; then he made his daughter embrace
+her, and the fair Christian and the lovely Moor drew fresh tears
+from every eye. And there was Don Quixote observing all these
+strange proceedings attentively without uttering a word, and
+attributing the whole to chimeras of knight-errantry. Then they agreed
+that the captain and Zoraida should return with his brother to
+Seville, and send news to his father of his having been delivered
+and found, so as to enable him to come and be present at the
+marriage and baptism of Zoraida, for it was impossible for the Judge
+to put off his journey, as he was informed that in a month from that
+time the fleet was to sail from Seville for New Spain, and to miss the
+passage would have been a great inconvenience to him. In short,
+everybody was well pleased and glad at the captive's good fortune; and
+as now almost two-thirds of the night were past, they resolved to
+retire to rest for the remainder of it. Don Quixote offered to mount
+guard over the castle lest they should be attacked by some giant or
+other malevolent scoundrel, covetous of the great treasure of beauty
+the castle contained. Those who understood him returned him thanks for
+this service, and they gave the Judge an account of his
+extraordinary humour, with which he was not a little amused. Sancho
+Panza alone was fuming at the lateness of the hour for retiring to
+rest; and he of all was the one that made himself most comfortable, as
+he stretched himself on the trappings of his ass, which, as will be
+told farther on, cost him so dear.
+
+The ladies, then, having retired to their chamber, and the others
+having disposed themselves with as little discomfort as they could,
+Don Quixote sallied out of the inn to act as sentinel of the castle as
+he had promised. It happened, however, that a little before the
+approach of dawn a voice so musical and sweet reached the ears of
+the ladies that it forced them all to listen attentively, but
+especially Dorothea, who had been awake, and by whose side Dona
+Clara de Viedma, for so the Judge's daughter was called, lay sleeping.
+No one could imagine who it was that sang so sweetly, and the voice
+was unaccompanied by any instrument. At one moment it seemed to them
+as if the singer were in the courtyard, at another in the stable;
+and as they were all attention, wondering, Cardenio came to the door
+and said, "Listen, whoever is not asleep, and you will hear a
+muleteer's voice that enchants as it chants."
+
+"We are listening to it already, senor," said Dorothea; on which
+Cardenio went away; and Dorothea, giving all her attention to it, made
+out the words of the song to be these:
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+WHEREIN IS RELATED THE PLEASANT STORY OF THE MULETEER, TOGETHER WITH
+OTHER STRANGE THINGS THAT CAME TO PASS IN THE INN
+
+Ah me, Love's mariner am I
+  On Love's deep ocean sailing;
+I know not where the haven lies,
+  I dare not hope to gain it.
+
+One solitary distant star
+  Is all I have to guide me,
+A brighter orb than those of old
+  That Palinurus lighted.
+
+And vaguely drifting am I borne,
+  I know not where it leads me;
+I fix my gaze on it alone,
+  Of all beside it heedless.
+
+But over-cautious prudery,
+  And coyness cold and cruel,
+When most I need it, these, like clouds,
+  Its longed-for light refuse me.
+
+Bright star, goal of my yearning eyes
+  As thou above me beamest,
+When thou shalt hide thee from my sight
+  I'll know that death is near me.
+
+
+The singer had got so far when it struck Dorothea that it was not
+fair to let Clara miss hearing such a sweet voice, so, shaking her
+from side to side, she woke her, saying:
+
+"Forgive me, child, for waking thee, but I do so that thou mayest
+have the pleasure of hearing the best voice thou hast ever heard,
+perhaps, in all thy life."
+
+Clara awoke quite drowsy, and not understanding at the moment what
+Dorothea said, asked her what it was; she repeated what she had
+said, and Clara became attentive at once; but she had hardly heard two
+lines, as the singer continued, when a strange trembling seized her,
+as if she were suffering from a severe attack of quartan ague, and
+throwing her arms round Dorothea she said:
+
+"Ah, dear lady of my soul and life! why did you wake me? The
+greatest kindness fortune could do me now would be to close my eyes
+and ears so as neither to see or hear that unhappy musician."
+
+"What art thou talking about, child?" said Dorothea. "Why, they
+say this singer is a muleteer!"
+
+"Nay, he is the lord of many places," replied Clara, "and that one
+in my heart which he holds so firmly shall never be taken from him,
+unless he be willing to surrender it."
+
+Dorothea was amazed at the ardent language of the girl, for it
+seemed to be far beyond such experience of life as her tender years
+gave any promise of, so she said to her:
+
+"You speak in such a way that I cannot understand you, Senora Clara;
+explain yourself more clearly, and tell me what is this you are saying
+about hearts and places and this musician whose voice has so moved
+you? But do not tell me anything now; I do not want to lose the
+pleasure I get from listening to the singer by giving my attention
+to your transports, for I perceive he is beginning to sing a new
+strain and a new air."
+
+"Let him, in Heaven's name," returned Clara; and not to hear him she
+stopped both ears with her hands, at which Dorothea was again
+surprised; but turning her attention to the song she found that it ran
+in this fashion:
+
+  Sweet Hope, my stay,
+That onward to the goal of thy intent
+  Dost make thy way,
+Heedless of hindrance or impediment,
+  Have thou no fear
+If at each step thou findest death is near.
+
+  No victory,
+No joy of triumph doth the faint heart know;
+  Unblest is he
+That a bold front to Fortune dares not show,
+  But soul and sense
+In bondage yieldeth up to indolence.
+
+  If Love his wares
+Do dearly sell, his right must be contest;
+  What gold compares
+With that whereon his stamp he hath imprest?
+  And all men know
+What costeth little that we rate but low.
+
+  Love resolute
+Knows not the word "impossibility;"
+  And though my suit
+Beset by endless obstacles I see,
+  Yet no despair
+Shall hold me bound to earth while heaven is there.
+
+
+Here the voice ceased and Clara's sobs began afresh, all which
+excited Dorothea's curiosity to know what could be the cause of
+singing so sweet and weeping so bitter, so she again asked her what it
+was she was going to say before. On this Clara, afraid that Luscinda
+might overhear her, winding her arms tightly round Dorothea put her
+mouth so close to her ear that she could speak without fear of being
+heard by anyone else, and said:
+
+"This singer, dear senora, is the son of a gentleman of Aragon, lord
+of two villages, who lives opposite my father's house at Madrid; and
+though my father had curtains to the windows of his house in winter,
+and lattice-work in summer, in some way- I know not how- this
+gentleman, who was pursuing his studies, saw me, whether in church
+or elsewhere, I cannot tell, and, in fact, fell in love with me, and
+gave me to know it from the windows of his house, with so many signs
+and tears that I was forced to believe him, and even to love him,
+without knowing what it was he wanted of me. One of the signs he
+used to make me was to link one hand in the other, to show me he
+wished to marry me; and though I should have been glad if that could
+be, being alone and motherless I knew not whom to open my mind to, and
+so I left it as it was, showing him no favour, except when my
+father, and his too, were from home, to raise the curtain or the
+lattice a little and let him see me plainly, at which he would show
+such delight that he seemed as if he were going mad. Meanwhile the
+time for my father's departure arrived, which he became aware of,
+but not from me, for I had never been able to tell him of it. He
+fell sick, of grief I believe, and so the day we were going away I
+could not see him to take farewell of him, were it only with the eyes.
+But after we had been two days on the road, on entering the posada
+of a village a day's journey from this, I saw him at the inn door in
+the dress of a muleteer, and so well disguised, that if I did not
+carry his image graven on my heart it would have been impossible for
+me to recognise him. But I knew him, and I was surprised, and glad; he
+watched me, unsuspected by my father, from whom he always hides
+himself when he crosses my path on the road, or in the posadas where
+we halt; and, as I know what he is, and reflect that for love of me he
+makes this journey on foot in all this hardship, I am ready to die
+of sorrow; and where he sets foot there I set my eyes. I know not with
+what object he has come; or how he could have got away from his
+father, who loves him beyond measure, having no other heir, and
+because he deserves it, as you will perceive when you see him. And
+moreover, I can tell you, all that he sings is out of his own head;
+for I have heard them say he is a great scholar and poet; and what is
+more, every time I see him or hear him sing I tremble all over, and am
+terrified lest my father should recognise him and come to know of our
+loves. I have never spoken a word to him in my life; and for all that
+I love him so that I could not live without him. This, dear senora, is
+all I have to tell you about the musician whose voice has delighted
+you so much; and from it alone you might easily perceive he is no
+muleteer, but a lord of hearts and towns, as I told you already."
+
+"Say no more, Dona Clara," said Dorothea at this, at the same time
+kissing her a thousand times over, "say no more, I tell you, but
+wait till day comes; when I trust in God to arrange this affair of
+yours so that it may have the happy ending such an innocent
+beginning deserves."
+
+"Ah, senora," said Dona Clara, "what end can be hoped for when his
+father is of such lofty position, and so wealthy, that he would
+think I was not fit to be even a servant to his son, much less wife?
+And as to marrying without the knowledge of my father, I would not
+do it for all the world. I would not ask anything more than that
+this youth should go back and leave me; perhaps with not seeing him,
+and the long distance we shall have to travel, the pain I suffer now
+may become easier; though I daresay the remedy I propose will do me
+very little good. I don't know how the devil this has come about, or
+how this love I have for him got in; I such a young girl, and he
+such a mere boy; for I verily believe we are both of an age, and I
+am not sixteen yet; for I will be sixteen Michaelmas Day, next, my
+father says."
+
+Dorothea could not help laughing to hear how like a child Dona Clara
+spoke. "Let us go to sleep now, senora," said she, "for the little
+of the night that I fancy is left to us: God will soon send us
+daylight, and we will set all to rights, or it will go hard with me."
+
+With this they fell asleep, and deep silence reigned all through the
+inn. The only persons not asleep were the landlady's daughter and
+her servant Maritornes, who, knowing the weak point of Don Quixote's
+humour, and that he was outside the inn mounting guard in armour and
+on horseback, resolved, the pair of them, to play some trick upon him,
+or at any rate to amuse themselves for a while by listening to his
+nonsense. As it so happened there was not a window in the whole inn
+that looked outwards except a hole in the wall of a straw-loft through
+which they used to throw out the straw. At this hole the two
+demi-damsels posted themselves, and observed Don Quixote on his horse,
+leaning on his pike and from time to time sending forth such deep
+and doleful sighs, that he seemed to pluck up his soul by the roots
+with each of them; and they could hear him, too, saying in a soft,
+tender, loving tone, "Oh my lady Dulcinea del Toboso, perfection of
+all beauty, summit and crown of discretion, treasure house of grace,
+depositary of virtue, and finally, ideal of all that is good,
+honourable, and delectable in this world! What is thy grace doing now?
+Art thou, perchance, mindful of thy enslaved knight who of his own
+free will hath exposed himself to so great perils, and all to serve
+thee? Give me tidings of her, oh luminary of the three faces!
+Perhaps at this moment, envious of hers, thou art regarding her,
+either as she paces to and fro some gallery of her sumptuous
+palaces, or leans over some balcony, meditating how, whilst preserving
+her purity and greatness, she may mitigate the tortures this
+wretched heart of mine endures for her sake, what glory should
+recompense my sufferings, what repose my toil, and lastly what death
+my life, and what reward my services? And thou, oh sun, that art now
+doubtless harnessing thy steeds in haste to rise betimes and come
+forth to see my lady; when thou seest her I entreat of thee to
+salute her on my behalf: but have a care, when thou shalt see her
+and salute her, that thou kiss not her face; for I shall be more
+jealous of thee than thou wert of that light-footed ingrate that
+made thee sweat and run so on the plains of Thessaly, or on the
+banks of the Peneus (for I do not exactly recollect where it was
+thou didst run on that occasion) in thy jealousy and love."
+
+Don Quixote had got so far in his pathetic speech when the
+landlady's daughter began to signal to him, saying, "Senor, come
+over here, please."
+
+At these signals and voice Don Quixote turned his head and saw by
+the light of the moon, which then was in its full splendour, that some
+one was calling to him from the hole in the wall, which seemed to
+him to be a window, and what is more, with a gilt grating, as rich
+castles, such as he believed the inn to be, ought to have; and it
+immediately suggested itself to his imagination that, as on the former
+occasion, the fair damsel, the daughter of the lady of the castle,
+overcome by love for him, was once more endeavouring to win his
+affections; and with this idea, not to show himself discourteous, or
+ungrateful, he turned Rocinante's head and approached the hole, and as
+he perceived the two wenches he said:
+
+"I pity you, beauteous lady, that you should have directed your
+thoughts of love to a quarter from whence it is impossible that such a
+return can be made to you as is due to your great merit and gentle
+birth, for which you must not blame this unhappy knight-errant whom
+love renders incapable of submission to any other than her whom, the
+first moment his eyes beheld her, he made absolute mistress of his
+soul. Forgive me, noble lady, and retire to your apartment, and do
+not, by any further declaration of your passion, compel me to show
+myself more ungrateful; and if, of the love you bear me, you should
+find that there is anything else in my power wherein I can gratify
+you, provided it be not love itself, demand it of me; for I swear to
+you by that sweet absent enemy of mine to grant it this instant,
+though it be that you require of me a lock of Medusa's hair, which was
+all snakes, or even the very beams of the sun shut up in a vial."
+
+"My mistress wants nothing of that sort, sir knight," said
+Maritornes at this.
+
+"What then, discreet dame, is it that your mistress wants?"
+replied Don Quixote.
+
+"Only one of your fair hands," said Maritornes, "to enable her to
+vent over it the great passion passion which has brought her to this
+loophole, so much to the risk of her honour; for if the lord her
+father had heard her, the least slice he would cut off her would be
+her ear."
+
+"I should like to see that tried," said Don Quixote; "but he had
+better beware of that, if he does not want to meet the most disastrous
+end that ever father in the world met for having laid hands on the
+tender limbs of a love-stricken daughter."
+
+Maritornes felt sure that Don Quixote would present the hand she had
+asked, and making up her mind what to do, she got down from the hole
+and went into the stable, where she took the halter of Sancho
+Panza's ass, and in all haste returned to the hole, just as Don
+Quixote had planted himself standing on Rocinante's saddle in order to
+reach the grated window where he supposed the lovelorn damsel to be;
+and giving her his hand, he said, "Lady, take this hand, or rather
+this scourge of the evil-doers of the earth; take, I say, this hand
+which no other hand of woman has ever touched, not even hers who has
+complete possession of my entire body. I present it to you, not that
+you may kiss it, but that you may observe the contexture of the
+sinews, the close network of the muscles, the breadth and capacity
+of the veins, whence you may infer what must be the strength of the
+arm that has such a hand."
+
+"That we shall see presently," said Maritornes, and making a running
+knot on the halter, she passed it over his wrist and coming down
+from the hole tied the other end very firmly to the bolt of the door
+of the straw-loft.
+
+Don Quixote, feeling the roughness of the rope on his wrist,
+exclaimed, "Your grace seems to be grating rather than caressing my
+hand; treat it not so harshly, for it is not to blame for the
+offence my resolution has given you, nor is it just to wreak all
+your vengeance on so small a part; remember that one who loves so well
+should not revenge herself so cruelly."
+
+But there was nobody now to listen to these words of Don
+Quixote's, for as soon as Maritornes had tied him she and the other
+made off, ready to die with laughing, leaving him fastened in such a
+way that it was impossible for him to release himself.
+
+He was, as has been said, standing on Rocinante, with his arm passed
+through the hole and his wrist tied to the bolt of the door, and in
+mighty fear and dread of being left hanging by the arm if Rocinante
+were to stir one side or the other; so he did not dare to make the
+least movement, although from the patience and imperturbable
+disposition of Rocinante, he had good reason to expect that he would
+stand without budging for a whole century. Finding himself fast, then,
+and that the ladies had retired, he began to fancy that all this was
+done by enchantment, as on the former occasion when in that same
+castle that enchanted Moor of a carrier had belaboured him; and he
+cursed in his heart his own want of sense and judgment in venturing to
+enter the castle again, after having come off so badly the first time;
+it being a settled point with knights-errant that when they have tried
+an adventure, and have not succeeded in it, it is a sign that it is
+not reserved for them but for others, and that therefore they need not
+try it again. Nevertheless he pulled his arm to see if he could
+release himself, but it had been made so fast that all his efforts
+were in vain. It is true he pulled it gently lest Rocinante should
+move, but try as he might to seat himself in the saddle, he had
+nothing for it but to stand upright or pull his hand off. Then it
+was he wished for the sword of Amadis, against which no enchantment
+whatever had any power; then he cursed his ill fortune; then he
+magnified the loss the world would sustain by his absence while he
+remained there enchanted, for that he believed he was beyond all
+doubt; then he once more took to thinking of his beloved Dulcinea
+del Toboso; then he called to his worthy squire Sancho Panza, who,
+buried in sleep and stretched upon the pack-saddle of his ass, was
+oblivious, at that moment, of the mother that bore him; then he called
+upon the sages Lirgandeo and Alquife to come to his aid; then he
+invoked his good friend Urganda to succour him; and then, at last,
+morning found him in such a state of desperation and perplexity that
+he was bellowing like a bull, for he had no hope that day would
+bring any relief to his suffering, which he believed would last for
+ever, inasmuch as he was enchanted; and of this he was convinced by
+seeing that Rocinante never stirred, much or little, and he felt
+persuaded that he and his horse were to remain in this state,
+without eating or drinking or sleeping, until the malign influence
+of the stars was overpast, or until some other more sage enchanter
+should disenchant him.
+
+But he was very much deceived in this conclusion, for daylight had
+hardly begun to appear when there came up to the inn four men on
+horseback, well equipped and accoutred, with firelocks across their
+saddle-bows. They called out and knocked loudly at the gate of the
+inn, which was still shut; on seeing which, Don Quixote, even there
+where he was, did not forget to act as sentinel, and said in a loud
+and imperious tone, "Knights, or squires, or whatever ye be, ye have
+no right to knock at the gates of this castle; for it is plain
+enough that they who are within are either asleep, or else are not
+in the habit of throwing open the fortress until the sun's rays are
+spread over the whole surface of the earth. Withdraw to a distance,
+and wait till it is broad daylight, and then we shall see whether it
+will be proper or not to open to you."
+
+"What the devil fortress or castle is this," said one, "to make us
+stand on such ceremony? If you are the innkeeper bid them open to
+us; we are travellers who only want to feed our horses and go on,
+for we are in haste."
+
+"Do you think, gentlemen, that I look like an innkeeper?" said Don
+Quixote.
+
+"I don't know what you look like," replied the other; "but I know
+that you are talking nonsense when you call this inn a castle."
+
+"A castle it is," returned Don Quixote, "nay, more, one of the
+best in this whole province, and it has within it people who have
+had the sceptre in the hand and the crown on the head."
+
+"It would be better if it were the other way," said the traveller,
+"the sceptre on the head and the crown in the hand; but if so, may
+be there is within some company of players, with whom it is a common
+thing to have those crowns and sceptres you speak of; for in such a
+small inn as this, and where such silence is kept, I do not believe
+any people entitled to crowns and sceptres can have taken up their
+quarters."
+
+"You know but little of the world," returned Don Quixote, "since you
+are ignorant of what commonly occurs in knight-errantry."
+
+But the comrades of the spokesman, growing weary of the dialogue
+with Don Quixote, renewed their knocks with great vehemence, so much
+so that the host, and not only he but everybody in the inn, awoke, and
+he got up to ask who knocked. It happened at this moment that one of
+the horses of the four who were seeking admittance went to smell
+Rocinante, who melancholy, dejected, and with drooping ears stood
+motionless, supporting his sorely stretched master; and as he was,
+after all, flesh, though he looked as if he were made of wood, he
+could not help giving way and in return smelling the one who had come
+to offer him attentions. But he had hardly moved at all when Don
+Quixote lost his footing; and slipping off the saddle, he would have
+come to the ground, but for being suspended by the arm, which caused
+him such agony that he believed either his wrist would be cut through
+or his arm torn off; and he hung so near the ground that he could just
+touch it with his feet, which was all the worse for him; for, finding
+how little was wanted to enable him to plant his feet firmly, he
+struggled and stretched himself as much as he could to gain a footing;
+just like those undergoing the torture of the strappado, when they are
+fixed at "touch and no touch," who aggravate their own sufferings by
+their violent efforts to stretch themselves, deceived by the hope
+which makes them fancy that with a very little more they will reach
+the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+
+IN WHICH ARE CONTINUED THE UNHEARD-OF ADVENTURES OF THE INN
+
+So loud, in fact, were the shouts of Don Quixote, that the
+landlord opening the gate of the inn in all haste, came out in dismay,
+and ran to see who was uttering such cries, and those who were outside
+joined him. Maritornes, who had been by this time roused up by the
+same outcry, suspecting what it was, ran to the loft and, without
+anyone seeing her, untied the halter by which Don Quixote was
+suspended, and down he came to the ground in the sight of the landlord
+and the travellers, who approaching asked him what was the matter with
+him that he shouted so. He without replying a word took the rope off
+his wrist, and rising to his feet leaped upon Rocinante, braced his
+buckler on his arm, put his lance in rest, and making a considerable
+circuit of the plain came back at a half-gallop exclaiming:
+
+"Whoever shall say that I have been enchanted with just cause,
+provided my lady the Princess Micomicona grants me permission to do
+so, I give him the lie, challenge him and defy him to single combat."
+
+The newly arrived travellers were amazed at the words of Don
+Quixote; but the landlord removed their surprise by telling them who
+he was, and not to mind him as he was out of his senses. They then
+asked the landlord if by any chance a youth of about fifteen years
+of age had come to that inn, one dressed like a muleteer, and of
+such and such an appearance, describing that of Dona Clara's lover.
+The landlord replied that there were so many people in the inn he
+had not noticed the person they were inquiring for; but one of them
+observing the coach in which the Judge had come, said, "He is here
+no doubt, for this is the coach he is following: let one of us stay at
+the gate, and the rest go in to look for him; or indeed it would be as
+well if one of us went round the inn, lest he should escape over the
+wall of the yard." "So be it," said another; and while two of them
+went in, one remained at the gate and the other made the circuit of
+the inn; observing all which, the landlord was unable to conjecture
+for what reason they were taking all these precautions, though he
+understood they were looking for the youth whose description they
+had given him.
+
+It was by this time broad daylight; and for that reason, as well
+as in consequence of the noise Don Quixote had made, everybody was
+awake and up, but particularly Dona Clara and Dorothea; for they had
+been able to sleep but badly that night, the one from agitation at
+having her lover so near her, the other from curiosity to see him. Don
+Quixote, when he saw that not one of the four travellers took any
+notice of him or replied to his challenge, was furious and ready to
+die with indignation and wrath; and if he could have found in the
+ordinances of chivalry that it was lawful for a knight-errant to
+undertake or engage in another enterprise, when he had plighted his
+word and faith not to involve himself in any until he had made an
+end of the one to which he was pledged, he would have attacked the
+whole of them, and would have made them return an answer in spite of
+themselves. But considering that it would not become him, nor be
+right, to begin any new emprise until he had established Micomicona in
+her kingdom, he was constrained to hold his peace and wait quietly
+to see what would be the upshot of the proceedings of those same
+travellers; one of whom found the youth they were seeking lying asleep
+by the side of a muleteer, without a thought of anyone coming in
+search of him, much less finding him.
+
+The man laid hold of him by the arm, saying, "It becomes you well
+indeed, Senor Don Luis, to be in the dress you wear, and well the
+bed in which I find you agrees with the luxury in which your mother
+reared you."
+
+The youth rubbed his sleepy eyes and stared for a while at him who
+held him, but presently recognised him as one of his father's
+servants, at which he was so taken aback that for some time he could
+not find or utter a word; while the servant went on to say, "There
+is nothing for it now, Senor Don Luis, but to submit quietly and
+return home, unless it is your wish that my lord, your father,
+should take his departure for the other world, for nothing else can be
+the consequence of the grief he is in at your absence."
+
+"But how did my father know that I had gone this road and in this
+dress?" said Don Luis.
+
+"It was a student to whom you confided your intentions," answered
+the servant, "that disclosed them, touched with pity at the distress
+he saw your father suffer on missing you; he therefore despatched four
+of his servants in quest of you, and here we all are at your
+service, better pleased than you can imagine that we shall return so
+soon and be able to restore you to those eyes that so yearn for you."
+
+"That shall be as I please, or as heaven orders," returned Don Luis.
+
+"What can you please or heaven order," said the other, "except to
+agree to go back? Anything else is impossible."
+
+All this conversation between the two was overheard by the
+muleteer at whose side Don Luis lay, and rising, he went to report
+what had taken place to Don Fernando, Cardenio, and the others, who
+had by this time dressed themselves; and told them how the man had
+addressed the youth as "Don," and what words had passed, and how he
+wanted him to return to his father, which the youth was unwilling to
+do. With this, and what they already knew of the rare voice that
+heaven had bestowed upon him, they all felt very anxious to know
+more particularly who he was, and even to help him if it was attempted
+to employ force against him; so they hastened to where he was still
+talking and arguing with his servant. Dorothea at this instant came
+out of her room, followed by Dona Clara all in a tremor; and calling
+Cardenio aside, she told him in a few words the story of the
+musician and Dona Clara, and he at the same time told her what had
+happened, how his father's servants had come in search of him; but
+in telling her so, he did not speak low enough but that Dona Clara
+heard what he said, at which she was so much agitated that had not
+Dorothea hastened to support her she would have fallen to the
+ground. Cardenio then bade Dorothea return to her room, as he would
+endeavour to make the whole matter right, and they did as he
+desired. All the four who had come in quest of Don Luis had now come
+into the inn and surrounded him, urging him to return and console
+his father at once and without a moment's delay. He replied that he
+could not do so on any account until he had concluded some business in
+which his life, honour, and heart were at stake. The servants
+pressed him, saying that most certainly they would not return
+without him, and that they would take him away whether he liked it
+or not.
+
+"You shall not do that," replied Don Luis, "unless you take me dead;
+though however you take me, it will be without life."
+
+By this time most of those in the inn had been attracted by the
+dispute, but particularly Cardenio, Don Fernando, his companions,
+the Judge, the curate, the barber, and Don Quixote; for he now
+considered there was no necessity for mounting guard over the castle
+any longer. Cardenio being already acquainted with the young man's
+story, asked the men who wanted to take him away, what object they had
+in seeking to carry off this youth against his will.
+
+"Our object," said one of the four, "is to save the life of his
+father, who is in danger of losing it through this gentleman's
+disappearance."
+
+Upon this Don Luis exclaimed, "There is no need to make my affairs
+public here; I am free, and I will return if I please; and if not,
+none of you shall compel me."
+
+"Reason will compel your worship," said the man, "and if it has no
+power over you, it has power over us, to make us do what we came
+for, and what it is our duty to do."
+
+"Let us hear what the whole affair is about," said the Judge at
+this; but the man, who knew him as a neighbour of theirs, replied, "Do
+you not know this gentleman, Senor Judge? He is the son of your
+neighbour, who has run away from his father's house in a dress so
+unbecoming his rank, as your worship may perceive."
+
+The judge on this looked at him more carefully and recognised him,
+and embracing him said, "What folly is this, Senor Don Luis, or what
+can have been the cause that could have induced you to come here in
+this way, and in this dress, which so ill becomes your condition?"
+
+Tears came into the eyes of the young man, and he was unable to
+utter a word in reply to the Judge, who told the four servants not
+to be uneasy, for all would be satisfactorily settled; and then taking
+Don Luis by the hand, he drew him aside and asked the reason of his
+having come there.
+
+But while he was questioning him they heard a loud outcry at the
+gate of the inn, the cause of which was that two of the guests who had
+passed the night there, seeing everybody busy about finding out what
+it was the four men wanted, had conceived the idea of going off
+without paying what they owed; but the landlord, who minded his own
+affairs more than other people's, caught them going out of the gate
+and demanded his reckoning, abusing them for their dishonesty with
+such language that he drove them to reply with their fists, and so
+they began to lay on him in such a style that the poor man was
+forced to cry out, and call for help. The landlady and her daughter
+could see no one more free to give aid than Don Quixote, and to him
+the daughter said, "Sir knight, by the virtue God has given you,
+help my poor father, for two wicked men are beating him to a mummy."
+
+To which Don Quixote very deliberately and phlegmatically replied,
+"Fair damsel, at the present moment your request is inopportune, for I
+am debarred from involving myself in any adventure until I have
+brought to a happy conclusion one to which my word has pledged me; but
+that which I can do for you is what I will now mention: run and tell
+your father to stand his ground as well as he can in this battle,
+and on no account to allow himself to be vanquished, while I go and
+request permission of the Princess Micomicona to enable me to
+succour him in his distress; and if she grants it, rest assured I will
+relieve him from it."
+
+"Sinner that I am," exclaimed Maritornes, who stood by; "before
+you have got your permission my master will be in the other world."
+
+"Give me leave, senora, to obtain the permission I speak of,"
+returned Don Quixote; "and if I get it, it will matter very little
+if he is in the other world; for I will rescue him thence in spite
+of all the same world can do; or at any rate I will give you such a
+revenge over those who shall have sent him there that you will be more
+than moderately satisfied;" and without saying anything more he went
+and knelt before Dorothea, requesting her Highness in knightly and
+errant phrase to be pleased to grant him permission to aid and succour
+the castellan of that castle, who now stood in grievous jeopardy.
+The princess granted it graciously, and he at once, bracing his
+buckler on his arm and drawing his sword, hastened to the inn-gate,
+where the two guests were still handling the landlord roughly; but
+as soon as he reached the spot he stopped short and stood still,
+though Maritornes and the landlady asked him why he hesitated to
+help their master and husband.
+
+"I hesitate," said Don Quixote, "because it is not lawful for me
+to draw sword against persons of squirely condition; but call my
+squire Sancho to me; for this defence and vengeance are his affair and
+business."
+
+Thus matters stood at the inn-gate, where there was a very lively
+exchange of fisticuffs and punches, to the sore damage of the landlord
+and to the wrath of Maritornes, the landlady, and her daughter, who
+were furious when they saw the pusillanimity of Don Quixote, and the
+hard treatment their master, husband and father was undergoing. But
+let us leave him there; for he will surely find some one to help
+him, and if not, let him suffer and hold his tongue who attempts
+more than his strength allows him to do; and let us go back fifty
+paces to see what Don Luis said in reply to the Judge whom we left
+questioning him privately as to his reasons for coming on foot and
+so meanly dressed.
+
+To which the youth, pressing his hand in a way that showed his heart
+was troubled by some great sorrow, and shedding a flood of tears, made
+answer:
+
+"Senor, I have no more to tell you than that from the moment when,
+through heaven's will and our being near neighbours, I first saw
+Dona Clara, your daughter and my lady, from that instant I made her
+the mistress of my will, and if yours, my true lord and father, offers
+no impediment, this very day she shall become my wife. For her I
+left my father's house, and for her I assumed this disguise, to follow
+her whithersoever she may go, as the arrow seeks its mark or the
+sailor the pole-star. She knows nothing more of my passion than what
+she may have learned from having sometimes seen from a distance that
+my eyes were filled with tears. You know already, senor, the wealth
+and noble birth of my parents, and that I am their sole heir; if
+this be a sufficient inducement for you to venture to make me
+completely happy, accept me at once as your son; for if my father,
+influenced by other objects of his own, should disapprove of this
+happiness I have sought for myself, time has more power to alter and
+change things, than human will."
+
+With this the love-smitten youth was silent, while the Judge,
+after hearing him, was astonished, perplexed, and surprised, as well
+at the manner and intelligence with which Don Luis had confessed the
+secret of his heart, as at the position in which he found himself, not
+knowing what course to take in a matter so sudden and unexpected.
+All the answer, therefore, he gave him was to bid him to make his mind
+easy for the present, and arrange with his servants not to take him
+back that day, so that there might be time to consider what was best
+for all parties. Don Luis kissed his hands by force, nay, bathed
+them with his tears, in a way that would have touched a heart of
+marble, not to say that of the Judge, who, as a shrewd man, had
+already perceived how advantageous the marriage would be to his
+daughter; though, were it possible, he would have preferred that it
+should be brought about with the consent of the father of Don Luis,
+who he knew looked for a title for his son.
+
+The guests had by this time made peace with the landlord, for, by
+persuasion and Don Quixote's fair words more than by threats, they had
+paid him what he demanded, and the servants of Don Luis were waiting
+for the end of the conversation with the Judge and their master's
+decision, when the devil, who never sleeps, contrived that the barber,
+from whom Don Quixote had taken Mambrino's helmet, and Sancho Panza
+the trappings of his ass in exchange for those of his own, should at
+this instant enter the inn; which said barber, as he led his ass to
+the stable, observed Sancho Panza engaged in repairing something or
+other belonging to the pack-saddle; and the moment he saw it he knew
+it, and made bold to attack Sancho, exclaiming, "Ho, sir thief, I have
+caught you! hand over my basin and my pack-saddle, and all my
+trappings that you robbed me of."
+
+Sancho, finding himself so unexpectedly assailed, and hearing the
+abuse poured upon him, seized the pack-saddle with one hand, and
+with the other gave the barber a cuff that bathed his teeth in
+blood. The barber, however, was not so ready to relinquish the prize
+he had made in the pack-saddle; on the contrary, he raised such an
+outcry that everyone in the inn came running to know what the noise
+and quarrel meant. "Here, in the name of the king and justice!" he
+cried, "this thief and highwayman wants to kill me for trying to
+recover my property."
+
+"You lie," said Sancho, "I am no highwayman; it was in fair war my
+master Don Quixote won these spoils."
+
+Don Quixote was standing by at the time, highly pleased to see his
+squire's stoutness, both offensive and defensive, and from that time
+forth he reckoned him a man of mettle, and in his heart resolved to
+dub him a knight on the first opportunity that presented itself,
+feeling sure that the order of chivalry would be fittingly bestowed
+upon him.
+
+In the course of the altercation, among other things the barber
+said, "Gentlemen, this pack-saddle is mine as surely as I owe God a
+death, and I know it as well as if I had given birth to it, and here
+is my ass in the stable who will not let me lie; only try it, and if
+it does not fit him like a glove, call me a rascal; and what is
+more, the same day I was robbed of this, they robbed me likewise of
+a new brass basin, never yet handselled, that would fetch a crown
+any day."
+
+At this Don Quixote could not keep himself from answering; and
+interposing between the two, and separating them, he placed the
+pack-saddle on the ground, to lie there in sight until the truth was
+established, and said, "Your worships may perceive clearly and plainly
+the error under which this worthy squire lies when he calls a basin
+which was, is, and shall be the helmet of Mambrino which I won from
+him in air war, and made myself master of by legitimate and lawful
+possession. With the pack-saddle I do not concern myself; but I may
+tell you on that head that my squire Sancho asked my permission to
+strip off the caparison of this vanquished poltroon's steed, and
+with it adorn his own; I allowed him, and he took it; and as to its
+having been changed from a caparison into a pack-saddle, I can give no
+explanation except the usual one, that such transformations will
+take place in adventures of chivalry. To confirm all which, run,
+Sancho my son, and fetch hither the helmet which this good fellow
+calls a basin."
+
+"Egad, master," said Sancho, "if we have no other proof of our
+case than what your worship puts forward, Mambrino's helmet is just as
+much a basin as this good fellow's caparison is a pack-saddle."
+
+"Do as I bid thee," said Don Quixote; "it cannot be that
+everything in this castle goes by enchantment."
+
+Sancho hastened to where the basin was, and brought it back with
+him, and when Don Quixote saw it, he took hold of it and said:
+
+"Your worships may see with what a face this squire can assert
+that this is a basin and not the helmet I told you of; and I swear
+by the order of chivalry I profess, that this helmet is the
+identical one I took from him, without anything added to or taken from
+it."
+
+"There is no doubt of that," said Sancho, "for from the time my
+master won it until now he has only fought one battle in it, when he
+let loose those unlucky men in chains; and if had not been for this
+basin-helmet he would not have come off over well that time, for there
+was plenty of stone-throwing in that affair."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+
+IN WHICH THE DOUBTFUL QUESTION OF MAMBRINO'S HELMET AND THE
+PACK-SADDLE IS FINALLY SETTLED, WITH OTHER ADVENTURES THAT OCCURRED IN
+TRUTH AND EARNEST
+
+What do you think now, gentlemen," said the barber, "of what these
+gentles say, when they want to make out that this is a helmet?"
+
+"And whoever says the contrary," said Don Quixote, "I will let him
+know he lies if he is a knight, and if he is a squire that he lies
+again a thousand times."
+
+Our own barber, who was present at all this, and understood Don
+Quixote's humour so thoroughly, took it into his head to back up his
+delusion and carry on the joke for the general amusement; so
+addressing the other barber he said:
+
+"Senor barber, or whatever you are, you must know that I belong to
+your profession too, and have had a licence to practise for more
+than twenty years, and I know the implements of the barber craft,
+every one of them, perfectly well; and I was likewise a soldier for
+some time in the days of my youth, and I know also what a helmet is,
+and a morion, and a headpiece with a visor, and other things
+pertaining to soldiering, I meant to say to soldiers' arms; and I say-
+saving better opinions and always with submission to sounder judgments
+-that this piece we have now before us, which this worthy gentleman
+has in his hands, not only is no barber's basin, but is as far from
+being one as white is from black, and truth from falsehood; I say,
+moreover, that this, although it is a helmet, is not a complete
+helmet."
+
+"Certainly not," said Don Quixote, "for half of it is wanting,
+that is to say the beaver."
+
+"It is quite true," said the curate, who saw the object of his
+friend the barber; and Cardenio, Don Fernando and his companions
+agreed with him, and even the Judge, if his thoughts had not been so
+full of Don Luis's affair, would have helped to carry on the joke; but
+he was so taken up with the serious matters he had on his mind that he
+paid little or no attention to these facetious proceedings.
+
+"God bless me!" exclaimed their butt the barber at this; "is it
+possible that such an honourable company can say that this is not a
+basin but a helmet? Why, this is a thing that would astonish a whole
+university, however wise it might be! That will do; if this basin is a
+helmet, why, then the pack-saddle must be a horse's caparison, as this
+gentleman has said."
+
+"To me it looks like a pack-saddle," said Don Quixote; "but I have
+already said that with that question I do not concern myself."
+
+"As to whether it be pack-saddle or caparison," said the curate, "it
+is only for Senor Don Quixote to say; for in these matters of chivalry
+all these gentlemen and I bow to his authority."
+
+"By God, gentlemen," said Don Quixote, "so many strange things
+have happened to me in this castle on the two occasions on which I
+have sojourned in it, that I will not venture to assert anything
+positively in reply to any question touching anything it contains; for
+it is my belief that everything that goes on within it goes by
+enchantment. The first time, an enchanted Moor that there is in it
+gave me sore trouble, nor did Sancho fare well among certain followers
+of his; and last night I was kept hanging by this arm for nearly two
+hours, without knowing how or why I came by such a mishap. So that
+now, for me to come forward to give an opinion in such a puzzling
+matter, would be to risk a rash decision. As regards the assertion
+that this is a basin and not a helmet I have already given an
+answer; but as to the question whether this is a pack-saddle or a
+caparison I will not venture to give a positive opinion, but will
+leave it to your worships' better judgment. Perhaps as you are not
+dubbed knights like myself, the enchantments of this place have
+nothing to do with you, and your faculties are unfettered, and you can
+see things in this castle as they really and truly are, and not as
+they appear to me."
+
+"There can be no question," said Don Fernando on this, "but that
+Senor Don Quixote has spoken very wisely, and that with us rests the
+decision of this matter; and that we may have surer ground to go on, I
+will take the votes of the gentlemen in secret, and declare the result
+clearly and fully."
+
+To those who were in the secret of Don Quixote's humour all this
+afforded great amusement; but to those who knew nothing about it, it
+seemed the greatest nonsense in the world, in particular to the four
+servants of Don Luis, as well as to Don Luis himself, and to three
+other travellers who had by chance come to the inn, and had the
+appearance of officers of the Holy Brotherhood, as indeed they were;
+but the one who above all was at his wits' end, was the barber
+basin, there before his very eyes, had been turned into Mambrino's
+helmet, and whose pack-saddle he had no doubt whatever was about to
+become a rich caparison for a horse. All laughed to see Don Fernando
+going from one to another collecting the votes, and whispering to them
+to give him their private opinion whether the treasure over which
+there had been so much fighting was a pack-saddle or a caparison;
+but after he had taken the votes of those who knew Don Quixote, he
+said aloud, "The fact is, my good fellow, that I am tired collecting
+such a number of opinions, for I find that there is not one of whom
+I ask what I desire to know, who does not tell me that it is absurd to
+say that this is the pack-saddle of an ass, and not the caparison of a
+horse, nay, of a thoroughbred horse; so you must submit, for, in spite
+of you and your ass, this is a caparison and no pack-saddle, and you
+have stated and proved your case very badly."
+
+"May I never share heaven," said the poor barber, "if your
+worships are not all mistaken; and may my soul appear before God as
+that appears to me a pack-saddle and not a caparison; but, 'laws go,'-
+I say no more; and indeed I am not drunk, for I am fasting, except
+it be from sin."
+
+The simple talk of the barber did not afford less amusement than the
+absurdities of Don Quixote, who now observed:
+
+"There is no more to be done now than for each to take what
+belongs to him, and to whom God has given it, may St. Peter add his
+blessing."
+
+But said one of the four servants, "Unless, indeed, this is a
+deliberate joke, I cannot bring myself to believe that men so
+intelligent as those present are, or seem to be, can venture to
+declare and assert that this is not a basin, and that not a
+pack-saddle; but as I perceive that they do assert and declare it, I
+can only come to the conclusion that there is some mystery in this
+persistence in what is so opposed to the evidence of experience and
+truth itself; for I swear by"- and here he rapped out a round oath-
+"all the people in the world will not make me believe that this is not
+a barber's basin and that a jackass's pack-saddle."
+
+"It might easily be a she-ass's," observed the curate.
+
+"It is all the same," said the servant; "that is not the point;
+but whether it is or is not a pack-saddle, as your worships say."
+
+On hearing this one of the newly arrived officers of the
+Brotherhood, who had been listening to the dispute and controversy,
+unable to restrain his anger and impatience, exclaimed, "It is a
+pack-saddle as sure as my father is my father, and whoever has said or
+will say anything else must be drunk."
+
+"You lie like a rascally clown," returned Don Quixote; and lifting
+his pike, which he had never let out of his hand, he delivered such
+a blow at his head that, had not the officer dodged it, it would
+have stretched him at full length. The pike was shivered in pieces
+against the ground, and the rest of the officers, seeing their comrade
+assaulted, raised a shout, calling for help for the Holy
+Brotherhood. The landlord, who was of the fraternity, ran at once to
+fetch his staff of office and his sword, and ranged himself on the
+side of his comrades; the servants of Don Luis clustered round him,
+lest he should escape from them in the confusion; the barber, seeing
+the house turned upside down, once more laid hold of his pack-saddle
+and Sancho did the same; Don Quixote drew his sword and charged the
+officers; Don Luis cried out to his servants to leave him alone and go
+and help Don Quixote, and Cardenio and Don Fernando, who were
+supporting him; the curate was shouting at the top of his voice, the
+landlady was screaming, her daughter was wailing, Maritornes was
+weeping, Dorothea was aghast, Luscinda terror-stricken, and Dona Clara
+in a faint. The barber cudgelled Sancho, and Sancho pommelled the
+barber; Don Luis gave one of his servants, who ventured to catch him
+by the arm to keep him from escaping, a cuff that bathed his teeth
+in blood; the Judge took his part; Don Fernando had got one of the
+officers down and was belabouring him heartily; the landlord raised
+his voice again calling for help for the Holy Brotherhood; so that the
+whole inn was nothing but cries, shouts, shrieks, confusion, terror,
+dismay, mishaps, sword-cuts, fisticuffs, cudgellings, kicks, and
+bloodshed; and in the midst of all this chaos, complication, and
+general entanglement, Don Quixote took it into his head that he had
+been plunged into the thick of the discord of Agramante's camp; and,
+in a voice that shook the inn like thunder, he cried out:
+
+"Hold all, let all sheathe their swords, let all be calm and
+attend to me as they value their lives!"
+
+All paused at his mighty voice, and he went on to say, "Did I not
+tell you, sirs, that this castle was enchanted, and that a legion or
+so of devils dwelt in it? In proof whereof I call upon you to behold
+with your own eyes how the discord of Agramante's camp has come
+hither, and been transferred into the midst of us. See how they fight,
+there for the sword, here for the horse, on that side for the eagle,
+on this for the helmet; we are all fighting, and all at cross
+purposes. Come then, you, Senor Judge, and you, senor curate; let
+the one represent King Agramante and the other King Sobrino, and
+make peace among us; for by God Almighty it is a sorry business that
+so many persons of quality as we are should slay one another for
+such trifling cause."
+ The officers, who did not understand Don Quixote's mode of
+speaking, and found themselves roughly handled by Don Fernando,
+Cardenio, and their companions, were not to be appeased; the barber
+was, however, for both his beard and his pack-saddle were the worse
+for the struggle; Sancho like a good servant obeyed the slightest word
+of his master; while the four servants of Don Luis kept quiet when
+they saw how little they gained by not being so. The landlord alone
+insisted upon it that they must punish the insolence of this madman,
+who at every turn raised a disturbance in the inn; but at length the
+uproar was stilled for the present; the pack-saddle remained a
+caparison till the day of judgment, and the basin a helmet and the inn
+a castle in Don Quixote's imagination.
+
+All having been now pacified and made friends by the persuasion of
+the Judge and the curate, the servants of Don Luis began again to urge
+him to return with them at once; and while he was discussing the
+matter with them, the Judge took counsel with Don Fernando,
+Cardenio, and the curate as to what he ought to do in the case,
+telling them how it stood, and what Don Luis had said to him. It was
+agreed at length that Don Fernando should tell the servants of Don
+Luis who he was, and that it was his desire that Don Luis should
+accompany him to Andalusia, where he would receive from the marquis
+his brother the welcome his quality entitled him to; for, otherwise,
+it was easy to see from the determination of Don Luis that he would
+not return to his father at present, though they tore him to pieces.
+On learning the rank of Don Fernando and the resolution of Don Luis
+the four then settled it between themselves that three of them
+should return to tell his father how matters stood, and that the other
+should remain to wait upon Don Luis, and not leave him until they came
+back for him, or his father's orders were known. Thus by the authority
+of Agramante and the wisdom of King Sobrino all this complication of
+disputes was arranged; but the enemy of concord and hater of peace,
+feeling himself slighted and made a fool of, and seeing how little
+he had gained after having involved them all in such an elaborate
+entanglement, resolved to try his hand once more by stirring up
+fresh quarrels and disturbances.
+
+It came about in this wise: the officers were pacified on learning
+the rank of those with whom they had been engaged, and withdrew from
+the contest, considering that whatever the result might be they were
+likely to get the worst of the battle; but one of them, the one who
+had been thrashed and kicked by Don Fernando, recollected that among
+some warrants he carried for the arrest of certain delinquents, he had
+one against Don Quixote, whom the Holy Brotherhood had ordered to be
+arrested for setting the galley slaves free, as Sancho had, with
+very good reason, apprehended. Suspecting how it was, then, he
+wished to satisfy himself as to whether Don Quixote's features
+corresponded; and taking a parchment out of his bosom he lit upon what
+he was in search of, and setting himself to read it deliberately,
+for he was not a quick reader, as he made out each word he fixed his
+eyes on Don Quixote, and went on comparing the description in the
+warrant with his face, and discovered that beyond all doubt he was the
+person described in it. As soon as he had satisfied himself, folding
+up the parchment, he took the warrant in his left hand and with his
+right seized Don Quixote by the collar so tightly that he did not
+allow him to breathe, and shouted aloud, "Help for the Holy
+Brotherhood! and that you may see I demand it in earnest, read this
+warrant which says this highwayman is to be arrested."
+
+The curate took the warrant and saw that what the officer said was
+true, and that it agreed with Don Quixote's appearance, who, on his
+part, when he found himself roughly handled by this rascally clown,
+worked up to the highest pitch of wrath, and all his joints cracking
+with rage, with both hands seized the officer by the throat with all
+his might, so that had he not been helped by his comrades he would
+have yielded up his life ere Don Quixote released his hold. The
+landlord, who had perforce to support his brother officers, ran at
+once to aid them. The landlady, when she saw her husband engaged in
+a fresh quarrel, lifted up her voice afresh, and its note was
+immediately caught up by Maritornes and her daughter, calling upon
+heaven and all present for help; and Sancho, seeing what was going on,
+exclaimed, "By the Lord, it is quite true what my master says about
+the enchantments of this castle, for it is impossible to live an
+hour in peace in it!"
+
+Don Fernando parted the officer and Don Quixote, and to their mutual
+contentment made them relax the grip by which they held, the one the
+coat collar, the other the throat of his adversary; for all this,
+however, the officers did not cease to demand their prisoner and
+call on them to help, and deliver him over bound into their power,
+as was required for the service of the King and of the Holy
+Brotherhood, on whose behalf they again demanded aid and assistance to
+effect the capture of this robber and footpad of the highways.
+
+Don Quixote smiled when he heard these words, and said very
+calmly, "Come now, base, ill-born brood; call ye it highway robbery to
+give freedom to those in bondage, to release the captives, to
+succour the miserable, to raise up the fallen, to relieve the needy?
+Infamous beings, who by your vile grovelling intellects deserve that
+heaven should not make known to you the virtue that lies in
+knight-errantry, or show you the sin and ignorance in which ye lie
+when ye refuse to respect the shadow, not to say the presence, of
+any knight-errant! Come now; band, not of officers, but of thieves;
+footpads with the licence of the Holy Brotherhood; tell me who was the
+ignoramus who signed a warrant of arrest against such a knight as I
+am? Who was he that did not know that knights-errant are independent
+of all jurisdictions, that their law is their sword, their charter
+their prowess, and their edicts their will? Who, I say again, was
+the fool that knows not that there are no letters patent of nobility
+that confer such privileges or exemptions as a knight-errant
+acquires the day he is dubbed a knight, and devotes himself to the
+arduous calling of chivalry? What knight-errant ever paid poll-tax,
+duty, queen's pin-money, king's dues, toll or ferry? What tailor
+ever took payment of him for making his clothes? What castellan that
+received him in his castle ever made him pay his shot? What king did
+not seat him at his table? What damsel was not enamoured of him and
+did not yield herself up wholly to his will and pleasure? And, lastly,
+what knight-errant has there been, is there, or will there ever be
+in the world, not bold enough to give, single-handed, four hundred
+cudgellings to four hundred officers of the Holy Brotherhood if they
+come in his way?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI
+
+OF THE END OF THE NOTABLE ADVENTURE OF THE OFFICERS OF THE HOLY
+BROTHERHOOD; AND OF THE GREAT FEROCITY OF OUR WORTHY KNIGHT, DON
+QUIXOTE
+
+While Don Quixote was talking in this strain, the curate was
+endeavouring to persuade the officers that he was out of his senses,
+as they might perceive by his deeds and his words, and that they
+need not press the matter any further, for even if they arrested him
+and carried him off, they would have to release him by-and-by as a
+madman; to which the holder of the warrant replied that he had nothing
+to do with inquiring into Don Quixote's madness, but only to execute
+his superior's orders, and that once taken they might let him go three
+hundred times if they liked.
+
+"For all that," said the curate, "you must not take him away this
+time, nor will he, it is my opinion, let himself be taken away."
+
+In short, the curate used such arguments, and Don Quixote did such
+mad things, that the officers would have been more mad than he was
+if they had not perceived his want of wits, and so they thought it
+best to allow themselves to be pacified, and even to act as
+peacemakers between the barber and Sancho Panza, who still continued
+their altercation with much bitterness. In the end they, as officers
+of justice, settled the question by arbitration in such a manner
+that both sides were, if not perfectly contented, at least to some
+extent satisfied; for they changed the pack-saddles, but not the
+girths or head-stalls; and as to Mambrino's helmet, the curate,
+under the rose and without Don Quixote's knowing it, paid eight
+reals for the basin, and the barber executed a full receipt and
+engagement to make no further demand then or thenceforth for evermore,
+amen. These two disputes, which were the most important and gravest,
+being settled, it only remained for the servants of Don Luis to
+consent that three of them should return while one was left to
+accompany him whither Don Fernando desired to take him; and good
+luck and better fortune, having already begun to solve difficulties
+and remove obstructions in favour of the lovers and warriors of the
+inn, were pleased to persevere and bring everything to a happy
+issue; for the servants agreed to do as Don Luis wished; which gave
+Dona Clara such happiness that no one could have looked into her
+face just then without seeing the joy of her heart. Zoraida, though
+she did not fully comprehend all she saw, was grave or gay without
+knowing why, as she watched and studied the various countenances,
+but particularly her Spaniard's, whom she followed with her eyes and
+clung to with her soul. The gift and compensation which the curate
+gave the barber had not escaped the landlord's notice, and he demanded
+Don Quixote's reckoning, together with the amount of the damage to his
+wine-skins, and the loss of his wine, swearing that neither
+Rocinante nor Sancho's ass should leave the inn until he had been paid
+to the very last farthing. The curate settled all amicably, and Don
+Fernando paid; though the Judge had also very readily offered to pay
+the score; and all became so peaceful and quiet that the inn no longer
+reminded one of the discord of Agramante's camp, as Don Quixote
+said, but of the peace and tranquillity of the days of Octavianus: for
+all which it was the universal opinion that their thanks were due to
+the great zeal and eloquence of the curate, and to the unexampled
+generosity of Don Fernando.
+
+Finding himself now clear and quit of all quarrels, his squire's
+as well as his own, Don Quixote considered that it would be
+advisable to continue the journey he had begun, and bring to a close
+that great adventure for which he had been called and chosen; and with
+this high resolve he went and knelt before Dorothea, who, however,
+would not allow him to utter a word until he had risen; so to obey her
+he rose, and said, "It is a common proverb, fair lady, that 'diligence
+is the mother of good fortune,' and experience has often shown in
+important affairs that the earnestness of the negotiator brings the
+doubtful case to a successful termination; but in nothing does this
+truth show itself more plainly than in war, where quickness and
+activity forestall the devices of the enemy, and win the victory
+before the foe has time to defend himself. All this I say, exalted and
+esteemed lady, because it seems to me that for us to remain any longer
+in this castle now is useless, and may be injurious to us in a way
+that we shall find out some day; for who knows but that your enemy the
+giant may have learned by means of secret and diligent spies that I am
+going to destroy him, and if the opportunity be given him he may seize
+it to fortify himself in some impregnable castle or stronghold,
+against which all my efforts and the might of my indefatigable arm may
+avail but little? Therefore, lady, let us, as I say, forestall his
+schemes by our activity, and let us depart at once in quest of fair
+fortune; for your highness is only kept from enjoying it as fully as
+you could desire by my delay in encountering your adversary."
+
+Don Quixote held his peace and said no more, calmly awaiting the
+reply of the beauteous princess, who, with commanding dignity and in a
+style adapted to Don Quixote's own, replied to him in these words,
+"I give you thanks, sir knight, for the eagerness you, like a good
+knight to whom it is a natural obligation to succour the orphan and
+the needy, display to afford me aid in my sore trouble; and heaven
+grant that your wishes and mine may be realised, so that you may see
+that there are women in this world capable of gratitude; as to my
+departure, let it be forthwith, for I have no will but yours;
+dispose of me entirely in accordance with your good pleasure; for
+she who has once entrusted to you the defence of her person, and
+placed in your hands the recovery of her dominions, must not think
+of offering opposition to that which your wisdom may ordain."
+
+"On, then, in God's name," said Don Quixote; "for, when a lady
+humbles herself to me, I will not lose the opportunity of raising
+her up and placing her on the throne of her ancestors. Let us depart
+at once, for the common saying that in delay there is danger, lends
+spurs to my eagerness to take the road; and as neither heaven has
+created nor hell seen any that can daunt or intimidate me, saddle
+Rocinante, Sancho, and get ready thy ass and the queen's palfrey,
+and let us take leave of the castellan and these gentlemen, and go
+hence this very instant."
+
+Sancho, who was standing by all the time, said, shaking his head,
+"Ah! master, master, there is more mischief in the village than one
+hears of, begging all good bodies' pardon."
+
+"What mischief can there be in any village, or in all the cities
+of the world, you booby, that can hurt my reputation?" said Don
+Quixote.
+
+"If your worship is angry," replied Sancho, "I will hold my tongue
+and leave unsaid what as a good squire I am bound to say, and what a
+good servant should tell his master."
+
+"Say what thou wilt," returned Don Quixote, "provided thy words be
+not meant to work upon my fears; for thou, if thou fearest, art
+behaving like thyself; but I like myself, in not fearing."
+
+"It is nothing of the sort, as I am a sinner before God," said
+Sancho, "but that I take it to be sure and certain that this lady, who
+calls herself queen of the great kingdom of Micomicon, is no more so
+than my mother; for, if she was what she says, she would not go
+rubbing noses with one that is here every instant and behind every
+door."
+
+Dorothea turned red at Sancho's words, for the truth was that her
+husband Don Fernando had now and then, when the others were not
+looking, gathered from her lips some of the reward his love had
+earned, and Sancho seeing this had considered that such freedom was
+more like a courtesan than a queen of a great kingdom; she, however,
+being unable or not caring to answer him, allowed him to proceed,
+and he continued, "This I say, senor, because, if after we have
+travelled roads and highways, and passed bad nights and worse days,
+one who is now enjoying himself in this inn is to reap the fruit of
+our labours, there is no need for me to be in a hurry to saddle
+Rocinante, put the pad on the ass, or get ready the palfrey; for it
+will be better for us to stay quiet, and let every jade mind her
+spinning, and let us go to dinner."
+
+Good God, what was the indignation of Don Quixote when he heard
+the audacious words of his squire! So great was it, that in a voice
+inarticulate with rage, with a stammering tongue, and eyes that
+flashed living fire, he exclaimed, "Rascally clown, boorish, insolent,
+and ignorant, ill-spoken, foul-mouthed, impudent backbiter and
+slanderer! Hast thou dared to utter such words in my presence and in
+that of these illustrious ladies? Hast thou dared to harbour such
+gross and shameless thoughts in thy muddled imagination? Begone from
+my presence, thou born monster, storehouse of lies, hoard of untruths,
+garner of knaveries, inventor of scandals, publisher of absurdities,
+enemy of the respect due to royal personages! Begone, show thyself
+no more before me under pain of my wrath;" and so saying he knitted
+his brows, puffed out his cheeks, gazed around him, and stamped on the
+ground violently with his right foot, showing in every way the rage
+that was pent up in his heart; and at his words and furious gestures
+Sancho was so scared and terrified that he would have been glad if the
+earth had opened that instant and swallowed him, and his only
+thought was to turn round and make his escape from the angry
+presence of his master.
+
+But the ready-witted Dorothea, who by this time so well understood
+Don Quixote's humour, said, to mollify his wrath, "Be not irritated at
+the absurdities your good squire has uttered, Sir Knight of the Rueful
+Countenance, for perhaps he did not utter them without cause, and from
+his good sense and Christian conscience it is not likely that he would
+bear false witness against anyone. We may therefore believe, without
+any hesitation, that since, as you say, sir knight, everything in this
+castle goes and is brought about by means of enchantment, Sancho, I
+say, may possibly have seen, through this diabolical medium, what he
+says he saw so much to the detriment of my modesty."
+
+"I swear by God Omnipotent," exclaimed Don Quixote at this, "your
+highness has hit the point; and that some vile illusion must have come
+before this sinner of a Sancho, that made him see what it would have
+been impossible to see by any other means than enchantments; for I
+know well enough, from the poor fellow's goodness and harmlessness,
+that he is incapable of bearing false witness against anybody."
+
+"True, no doubt," said Don Fernando, "for which reason, Senor Don
+Quixote, you ought to forgive him and restore him to the bosom of your
+favour, sicut erat in principio, before illusions of this sort had
+taken away his senses."
+
+Don Quixote said he was ready to pardon him, and the curate went for
+Sancho, who came in very humbly, and falling on his knees begged for
+the hand of his master, who having presented it to him and allowed him
+to kiss it, gave him his blessing and said, "Now, Sancho my son,
+thou wilt be convinced of the truth of what I have many a time told
+thee, that everything in this castle is done by means of enchantment."
+
+"So it is, I believe," said Sancho, "except the affair of the
+blanket, which came to pass in reality by ordinary means."
+
+"Believe it not," said Don Quixote, "for had it been so, I would
+have avenged thee that instant, or even now; but neither then nor
+now could I, nor have I seen anyone upon whom to avenge thy wrong."
+
+They were all eager to know what the affair of the blanket was,
+and the landlord gave them a minute account of Sancho's flights, at
+which they laughed not a little, and at which Sancho would have been
+no less out of countenance had not his master once more assured him it
+was all enchantment. For all that his simplicity never reached so high
+a pitch that he could persuade himself it was not the plain and simple
+truth, without any deception whatever about it, that he had been
+blanketed by beings of flesh and blood, and not by visionary and
+imaginary phantoms, as his master believed and protested.
+
+The illustrious company had now been two days in the inn; and as
+it seemed to them time to depart, they devised a plan so that, without
+giving Dorothea and Don Fernando the trouble of going back with Don
+Quixote to his village under pretence of restoring Queen Micomicona,
+the curate and the barber might carry him away with them as they
+proposed, and the curate be able to take his madness in hand at
+home; and in pursuance of their plan they arranged with the owner of
+an oxcart who happened to be passing that way to carry him after
+this fashion. They constructed a kind of cage with wooden bars,
+large enough to hold Don Quixote comfortably; and then Don Fernando
+and his companions, the servants of Don Luis, and the officers of
+the Brotherhood, together with the landlord, by the directions and
+advice of the curate, covered their faces and disguised themselves,
+some in one way, some in another, so as to appear to Don Quixote quite
+different from the persons he had seen in the castle. This done, in
+profound silence they entered the room where he was asleep, taking his
+his rest after the past frays, and advancing to where he was
+sleeping tranquilly, not dreaming of anything of the kind happening,
+they seized him firmly and bound him fast hand and foot, so that, when
+he awoke startled, he was unable to move, and could only marvel and
+wonder at the strange figures he saw before him; upon which he at once
+gave way to the idea which his crazed fancy invariably conjured up
+before him, and took it into his head that all these shapes were
+phantoms of the enchanted castle, and that he himself was
+unquestionably enchanted as he could neither move nor help himself;
+precisely what the curate, the concoctor of the scheme, expected would
+happen. Of all that were there Sancho was the only one who was at once
+in his senses and in his own proper character, and he, though he was
+within very little of sharing his master's infirmity, did not fail
+to perceive who all these disguised figures were; but he did not
+dare to open his lips until he saw what came of this assault and
+capture of his master; nor did the latter utter a word, waiting to the
+upshot of his mishap; which was that bringing in the cage, they shut
+him up in it and nailed the bars so firmly that they could not be
+easily burst open. They then took him on their shoulders, and as
+they passed out of the room an awful voice- as much so as the
+barber, not he of the pack-saddle but the other, was able to make
+it- was heard to say, "O Knight of the Rueful Countenance, let not
+this captivity in which thou art placed afflict thee, for this must
+needs be, for the more speedy accomplishment of the adventure in which
+thy great heart has engaged thee; the which shall be accomplished when
+the raging Manchegan lion and the white Tobosan dove shall be linked
+together, having first humbled their haughty necks to the gentle
+yoke of matrimony. And from this marvellous union shall come forth
+to the light of the world brave whelps that shall rival the ravening
+claws of their valiant father; and this shall come to pass ere the
+pursuer of the flying nymph shall in his swift natural course have
+twice visited the starry signs. And thou, O most noble and obedient
+squire that ever bore sword at side, beard on face, or nose to smell
+with, be not dismayed or grieved to see the flower of
+knight-errantry carried away thus before thy very eyes; for soon, if
+it so please the Framer of the universe, thou shalt see thyself
+exalted to such a height that thou shalt not know thyself, and the
+promises which thy good master has made thee shall not prove false;
+and I assure thee, on the authority of the sage Mentironiana, that thy
+wages shall be paid thee, as thou shalt see in due season. Follow then
+the footsteps of the valiant enchanted knight, for it is expedient
+that thou shouldst go to the destination assigned to both of you;
+and as it is not permitted to me to say more, God be with thee; for
+I return to that place I wot of;" and as he brought the prophecy to
+a close he raised his voice to a high pitch, and then lowered it to
+such a soft tone, that even those who knew it was all a joke were
+almost inclined to take what they heard seriously.
+
+Don Quixote was comforted by the prophecy he heard, for he at once
+comprehended its meaning perfectly, and perceived it was promised to
+him that he should see himself united in holy and lawful matrimony
+with his beloved Dulcinea del Toboso, from whose blessed womb should
+proceed the whelps, his sons, to the eternal glory of La Mancha; and
+being thoroughly and firmly persuaded of this, he lifted up his voice,
+and with a deep sigh exclaimed, "Oh thou, whoever thou art, who hast
+foretold me so much good, I implore of thee that on my part thou
+entreat that sage enchanter who takes charge of my interests, that
+he leave me not to perish in this captivity in which they are now
+carrying me away, ere I see fulfilled promises so joyful and
+incomparable as those which have been now made me; for, let this but
+come to pass, and I shall glory in the pains of my prison, find
+comfort in these chains wherewith they bind me, and regard this bed
+whereon they stretch me, not as a hard battle-field, but as a soft and
+happy nuptial couch; and touching the consolation of Sancho Panza,
+my squire, I rely upon his goodness and rectitude that he will not
+desert me in good or evil fortune; for if, by his ill luck or mine, it
+may not happen to be in my power to give him the island I have
+promised, or any equivalent for it, at least his wages shall not be
+lost; for in my will, which is already made, I have declared the sum
+that shall be paid to him, measured, not by his many faithful
+services, but by the means at my disposal."
+
+Sancho bowed his head very respectfully and kissed both his hands,
+for, being tied together, he could not kiss one; and then the
+apparitions lifted the cage upon their shoulders and fixed it upon the
+ox-cart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII
+
+OF THE STRANGE MANNER IN WHICH DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA WAS
+CARRIED AWAY ENCHANTED, TOGETHER WITH OTHER REMARKABLE INCIDENTS
+
+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?"
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+"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.
+
+"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."
+
+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:
+
+"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."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+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."
+
+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."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII
+
+IN WHICH THE CANON PURSUES THE SUBJECT OF THE BOOKS OF CHIVALRY,
+WITH OTHER MATTERS WORTHY OF HIS WIT
+
+"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."
+
+"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.
+
+"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.
+
+"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?'
+
+"'No doubt,' replied the actor in question, 'you mean the
+"Isabella," the "Phyllis," and the "Alexandra."'
+
+"'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."
+
+"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."
+
+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."
+
+"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.
+
+"In that case," said the canon, "take all the beasts there, and
+bring the sumpter mule back."
+
+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."
+
+"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 he 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."
+
+"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-"
+
+"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."
+
+"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-"
+
+"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."
+
+"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?"
+
+"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."
+
+"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?"
+
+"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."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE SHREWD CONVERSATION WHICH SANCHO PANZA HELD WITH
+HIS MASTER DON QUIXOTE
+
+"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."
+
+"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 aint-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."
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+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.
+
+"I will answer for his not running away," said Sancho.
+
+"And I also," said the canon, "especially if he gives me his word as
+a knight not to leave us without our consent."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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:
+
+"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."
+
+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:
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+"Just so," said the canon.
+
+"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."
+
+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:
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+"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."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L
+
+OF THE SHREWD CONTROVERSY WHICH DON QUIXOTE AND THE CANON HELD,
+TOGETHER WITH OTHER INCIDENTS
+
+"A good joke, that!" returned Don Quixote. "Books that have been
+printed with the king's licence, and with the approbation of those
+to whom they have been submitted, and read with universal delight, and
+extolled by great and small, rich and poor, learned and ignorant,
+gentle and simple, in a word by people of every sort, of whatever rank
+or condition they may be- that these should be lies! And above all
+when they carry such an appearance of truth with them; for they tell
+us the father, mother, country, kindred, age, place, and the
+achievements, step by step, and day by day, performed by such a knight
+or knights! Hush, sir; utter not such blasphemy; trust me I am
+advising you now to act as a sensible man should; only read them,
+and you will see the pleasure you will derive from them. For, come,
+tell me, can there be anything more delightful than to see, as it
+were, here now displayed before us a vast lake of bubbling pitch
+with a host of snakes and serpents and lizards, and ferocious and
+terrible creatures of all sorts swimming about in it, while from the
+middle of the lake there comes a plaintive voice saying: 'Knight,
+whosoever thou art who beholdest this dread lake, if thou wouldst
+win the prize that lies hidden beneath these dusky waves, prove the
+valour of thy stout heart and cast thyself into the midst of its
+dark burning waters, else thou shalt not be worthy to see the mighty
+wonders contained in the seven castles of the seven Fays that lie
+beneath this black expanse;' and then the knight, almost ere the awful
+voice has ceased, without stopping to consider, without pausing to
+reflect upon the danger to which he is exposing himself, without
+even relieving himself of the weight of his massive armour, commending
+himself to God and to his lady, plunges into the midst of the
+boiling lake, and when he little looks for it, or knows what his
+fate is to be, he finds himself among flowery meadows, with which
+the Elysian fields are not to be compared. The sky seems more
+transparent there, and the sun shines with a strange brilliancy, and a
+delightful grove of green leafy trees presents itself to the eyes
+and charms the sight with its verdure, while the ear is soothed by the
+sweet untutored melody of the countless birds of gay plumage that flit
+to and fro among the interlacing branches. Here he sees a brook
+whose limpid waters, like liquid crystal, ripple over fine sands and
+white pebbles that look like sifted gold and purest pearls. There he
+perceives a cunningly wrought fountain of many-coloured jasper and
+polished marble; here another of rustic fashion where the little
+mussel-shells and the spiral white and yellow mansions of the snail
+disposed in studious disorder, mingled with fragments of glittering
+crystal and mock emeralds, make up a work of varied aspect, where art,
+imitating nature, seems to have outdone it. Suddenly there is
+presented to his sight a strong castle or gorgeous palace with walls
+of massy gold, turrets of diamond and gates of jacinth; in short, so
+marvellous is its structure that though the materials of which it is
+built are nothing less than diamonds, carbuncles, rubies, pearls,
+gold, and emeralds, the workmanship is still more rare. And after
+having seen all this, what can be more charming than to see how a bevy
+of damsels comes forth from the gate of the castle in gay and gorgeous
+attire, such that, were I to set myself now to depict it as the
+histories describe it to us, I should never have done; and then how
+she who seems to be the first among them all takes the bold knight who
+plunged into the boiling lake by the hand, and without addressing a
+word to him leads him into the rich palace or castle, and strips him
+as naked as when his mother bore him, and bathes him in lukewarm
+water, and anoints him all over with sweet-smelling unguents, and
+clothes him in a shirt of the softest sendal, all scented and
+perfumed, while another damsel comes and throws over his shoulders a
+mantle which is said to be worth at the very least a city, and even
+more? How charming it is, then, when they tell us how, after all this,
+they lead him to another chamber where he finds the tables set out
+in such style that he is filled with amazement and wonder; to see
+how they pour out water for his hands distilled from amber and
+sweet-scented flowers; how they seat him on an ivory chair; to see how
+the damsels wait on him all in profound silence; how they bring him
+such a variety of dainties so temptingly prepared that the appetite is
+at a loss which to select; to hear the music that resounds while he is
+at table, by whom or whence produced he knows not. And then when the
+repast is over and the tables removed, for the knight to recline in
+the chair, picking his teeth perhaps as usual, and a damsel, much
+lovelier than any of the others, to enter unexpectedly by the
+chamber door, and herself by his side, and begin to tell him what
+the castle is, and how she is held enchanted there, and other things
+that amaze the knight and astonish the readers who are perusing his
+history. But I will not expatiate any further upon this, as it may
+be gathered from it that whatever part of whatever history of a
+knight-errant one reads, it will fill the reader, whoever he be,
+with delight and wonder; and take my advice, sir, and, as I said
+before, read these books and you will see how they will banish any
+melancholy you may feel and raise your spirits should they be
+depressed. For myself I can say that since I have been a knight-errant
+I have become valiant, polite, generous, well-bred, magnanimous,
+courteous, dauntless, gentle, patient, and have learned to bear
+hardships, imprisonments, and enchantments; and though it be such a
+short time since I have seen myself shut up in a cage like a madman, I
+hope by the might of my arm, if heaven aid me and fortune thwart me
+not, to see myself king of some kingdom where I may be able to show
+the gratitude and generosity that dwell in my heart; for by my
+faith, senor, the poor man is incapacitated from showing the virtue of
+generosity to anyone, though he may possess it in the highest
+degree; and gratitude that consists of disposition only is a dead
+thing, just as faith without works is dead. For this reason I should
+be glad were fortune soon to offer me some opportunity of making
+myself an emperor, so as to show my heart in doing good to my friends,
+particularly to this poor Sancho Panza, my squire, who is the best
+fellow in the world; and I would gladly give him a county I have
+promised him this ever so long, only that I am afraid he has not the
+capacity to govern his realm."
+
+Sancho partly heard these last words of his master, and said to him,
+"Strive hard you, Senor Don Quixote, to give me that county so often
+promised by you and so long looked for by me, for I promise you
+there will be no want of capacity in me to govern it; and even if
+there is, I have heard say there are men in the world who farm
+seigniories, paying so much a year, and they themselves taking
+charge of the government, while the lord, with his legs stretched out,
+enjoys the revenue they pay him, without troubling himself about
+anything else. That's what I'll do, and not stand haggling over
+trifles, but wash my hands at once of the whole business, and enjoy my
+rents like a duke, and let things go their own way."
+
+"That, brother Sancho," said the canon, "only holds good as far as
+the enjoyment of the revenue goes; but the lord of the seigniory
+must attend to the administration of justice, and here capacity and
+sound judgment come in, and above all a firm determination to find out
+the truth; for if this be wanting in the beginning, the middle and the
+end will always go wrong; and God as commonly aids the honest
+intentions of the simple as he frustrates the evil designs of the
+crafty."
+
+"I don't understand those philosophies," returned Sancho Panza; "all
+I know is I would I had the county as soon as I shall know how to
+govern it; for I have as much soul as another, and as much body as
+anyone, and I shall be as much king of my realm as any other of his;
+and being so I should do as I liked, and doing as I liked I should
+please myself, and pleasing myself I should be content, and when one
+is content he has nothing more to desire, and when one has nothing
+more to desire there is an end of it; so let the county come, and
+God he with you, and let us see one another, as one blind man said
+to the other."
+
+"That is not bad philosophy thou art talking, Sancho," said the
+canon; "but for all that there is a good deal to be said on this
+matter of counties."
+
+To which Don Quixote returned, "I know not what more there is to
+be said; I only guide myself by the example set me by the great Amadis
+of Gaul, when he made his squire count of the Insula Firme; and so,
+without any scruples of conscience, I can make a count of Sancho
+Panza, for he is one of the best squires that ever knight-errant had."
+
+The canon was astonished at the methodical nonsense (if nonsense
+be capable of method) that Don Quixote uttered, at the way in which he
+had described the adventure of the knight of the lake, at the
+impression that the deliberate lies of the books he read had made upon
+him, and lastly he marvelled at the simplicity of Sancho, who
+desired so eagerly to obtain the county his master had promised him.
+
+By this time the canon's servants, who had gone to the inn to
+fetch the sumpter mule, had returned, and making a carpet and the
+green grass of the meadow serve as a table, they seated themselves
+in the shade of some trees and made their repast there, that the
+carter might not be deprived of the advantage of the spot, as has been
+already said. As they were eating they suddenly heard a loud noise and
+the sound of a bell that seemed to come from among some brambles and
+thick bushes that were close by, and the same instant they observed
+a beautiful goat, spotted all over black, white, and brown, spring out
+of the thicket with a goatherd after it, calling to it and uttering
+the usual cries to make it stop or turn back to the fold. The fugitive
+goat, scared and frightened, ran towards the company as if seeking
+their protection and then stood still, and the goatherd coming up
+seized it by the horns and began to talk to it as if it were possessed
+of reason and understanding: "Ah wanderer, wanderer, Spotty, Spotty;
+how have you gone limping all this time? What wolves have frightened
+you, my daughter? Won't you tell me what is the matter, my beauty? But
+what else can it be except that you are a she, and cannot keep
+quiet? A plague on your humours and the humours of those you take
+after! Come back, come back, my darling; and if you will not be so
+happy, at any rate you will be safe in the fold or with your
+companions; for if you who ought to keep and lead them, go wandering
+astray, what will become of them?"
+
+The goatherd's talk amused all who heard it, but especially the
+canon, who said to him, "As you live, brother, take it easy, and be
+not in such a hurry to drive this goat back to the fold; for, being
+a female, as you say, she will follow her natural instinct in spite of
+all you can do to prevent it. Take this morsel and drink a sup, and
+that will soothe your irritation, and in the meantime the goat will
+rest herself," and so saying, he handed him the loins of a cold rabbit
+on a fork.
+
+The goatherd took it with thanks, and drank and calmed himself,
+and then said, "I should be sorry if your worships were to take me for
+a simpleton for having spoken so seriously as I did to this animal;
+but the truth is there is a certain mystery in the words I used. I
+am a clown, but not so much of one but that I know how to behave to
+men and to beasts."
+
+"That I can well believe," said the curate, "for I know already by
+experience that the woods breed men of learning, and shepherds'
+harbour philosophers."
+
+"At all events, senor," returned the goatherd, "they shelter men
+of experience; and that you may see the truth of this and grasp it,
+though I may seem to put myself forward without being asked, I will,
+if it will not tire you, gentlemen, and you will give me your
+attention for a little, tell you a true story which will confirm
+this gentleman's word (and he pointed to the curate) as well as my
+own."
+
+To this Don Quixote replied, "Seeing that this affair has a
+certain colour of chivalry about it, I for my part, brother, will hear
+you most gladly, and so will all these gentlemen, from the high
+intelligence they possess and their love of curious novelties that
+interest, charm, and entertain the mind, as I feel quite sure your
+story will do. So begin, friend, for we are all prepared to listen."
+
+"I draw my stakes," said Sancho, "and will retreat with this pasty
+to the brook there, where I mean to victual myself for three days; for
+I have heard my lord, Don Quixote, say that a knight-errant's squire
+should eat until he can hold no more, whenever he has the chance,
+because it often happens them to get by accident into a wood so
+thick that they cannot find a way out of it for six days; and if the
+man is not well filled or his alforjas well stored, there he may stay,
+as very often he does, turned into a dried mummy."
+
+"Thou art in the right of it, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "go where
+thou wilt and eat all thou canst, for I have had enough, and only want
+to give my mind its refreshment, as I shall by listening to this
+good fellow's story."
+
+"It is what we shall all do," said the canon; and then begged the
+goatherd to begin the promised tale.
+
+The goatherd gave the goat which he held by the horns a couple of
+slaps on the back, saying, "Lie down here beside me, Spotty, for we
+have time enough to return to our fold." The goat seemed to understand
+him, for as her master seated himself, she stretched herself quietly
+beside him and looked up in his face to show him she was all attention
+to what he was going to say, and then in these words he began his
+story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI
+
+WHICH DEALS WITH WHAT THE GOATHERD TOLD THOSE WHO WERE CARRYING
+OFF DON QUIXOTE
+
+Three leagues from this valley there is a village which, though
+small, is one of the richest in all this neighbourhood, and in it
+there lived a farmer, a very worthy man, and so much respected that,
+although to be so is the natural consequence of being rich, he was
+even more respected for his virtue than for the wealth he had
+acquired. But what made him still more fortunate, as he said
+himself, was having a daughter of such exceeding beauty, rare
+intelligence, gracefulness, and virtue, that everyone who knew her and
+beheld her marvelled at the extraordinary gifts with which heaven
+and nature had endowed her. As a child she was beautiful, she
+continued to grow in beauty, and at the age of sixteen she was most
+lovely. The fame of her beauty began to spread abroad through all
+the villages around- but why do I say the villages around, merely,
+when it spread to distant cities, and even made its way into the halls
+of royalty and reached the ears of people of every class, who came
+from all sides to see her as if to see something rare and curious,
+or some wonder-working image?
+
+Her father watched over her and she watched over herself; for
+there are no locks, or guards, or bolts that can protect a young
+girl better than her own modesty. The wealth of the father and the
+beauty of the daughter led many neighbours as well as strangers to
+seek her for a wife; but he, as one might well be who had the disposal
+of so rich a jewel, was perplexed and unable to make up his mind to
+which of her countless suitors he should entrust her. I was one
+among the many who felt a desire so natural, and, as her father knew
+who I was, and I was of the same town, of pure blood, in the bloom
+of life, and very rich in possessions, I had great hopes of success.
+There was another of the same place and qualifications who also sought
+her, and this made her father's choice hang in the balance, for he
+felt that on either of us his daughter would be well bestowed; so to
+escape from this state of perplexity he resolved to refer the matter
+to Leandra (for that is the name of the rich damsel who has reduced me
+to misery), reflecting that as we were both equal it would be best
+to leave it to his dear daughter to choose according to her
+inclination- a course that is worthy of imitation by all fathers who
+wish to settle their children in life. I do not mean that they ought
+to leave them to make a choice of what is contemptible and bad, but
+that they should place before them what is good and then allow them to
+make a good choice as they please. I do not know which Leandra
+chose; I only know her father put us both off with the tender age of
+his daughter and vague words that neither bound him nor dismissed
+us. My rival is called Anselmo and I myself Eugenio- that you may know
+the names of the personages that figure in this tragedy, the end of
+which is still in suspense, though it is plain to see it must be
+disastrous.
+
+About this time there arrived in our town one Vicente de la Roca,
+the son of a poor peasant of the same town, the said Vicente having
+returned from service as a soldier in Italy and divers other parts.
+A captain who chanced to pass that way with his company had carried
+him off from our village when he was a boy of about twelve years,
+and now twelve years later the young man came back in a soldier's
+uniform, arrayed in a thousand colours, and all over glass trinkets
+and fine steel chains. To-day he would appear in one gay dress,
+to-morrow in another; but all flimsy and gaudy, of little substance
+and less worth. The peasant folk, who are naturally malicious, and
+when they have nothing to do can be malice itself, remarked all
+this, and took note of his finery and jewellery, piece by piece, and
+discovered that he had three suits of different colours, with
+garters and stockings to match; but he made so many arrangements and
+combinations out of them, that if they had not counted them, anyone
+would have sworn that he had made a display of more than ten suits
+of clothes and twenty plumes. Do not look upon all this that I am
+telling you about the clothes as uncalled for or spun out, for they
+have a great deal to do with the story. He used to seat himself on a
+bench under the great poplar in our plaza, and there he would keep
+us all hanging open-mouthed on the stories he told us of his exploits.
+There was no country on the face of the globe he had not seen, nor
+battle he had not been engaged in; he had killed more Moors than there
+are in Morocco and Tunis, and fought more single combats, according to
+his own account, than Garcilaso, Diego Garcia de Paredes and a
+thousand others he named, and out of all he had come victorious
+without losing a drop of blood. On the other hand he showed marks of
+wounds, which, though they could not be made out, he said were gunshot
+wounds received in divers encounters and actions. Lastly, with
+monstrous impudence he used to say "you" to his equals and even
+those who knew what he was, and declare that his arm was his father
+and his deeds his pedigree, and that being a soldier he was as good as
+the king himself. And to add to these swaggering ways he was a
+trifle of a musician, and played the guitar with such a flourish
+that some said he made it speak; nor did his accomplishments end here,
+for he was something of a poet too, and on every trifle that
+happened in the town he made a ballad a league long.
+
+This soldier, then, that I have described, this Vicente de la
+Roca, this bravo, gallant, musician, poet, was often seen and
+watched by Leandra from a window of her house which looked out on
+the plaza. The glitter of his showy attire took her fancy, his ballads
+bewitched her (for he gave away twenty copies of every one he made),
+the tales of his exploits which he told about himself came to her
+ears; and in short, as the devil no doubt had arranged it, she fell in
+love with him before the presumption of making love to her had
+suggested itself to him; and as in love-affairs none are more easily
+brought to an issue than those which have the inclination of the
+lady for an ally, Leandra and Vicente came to an understanding without
+any difficulty; and before any of her numerous suitors had any
+suspicion of her design, she had already carried it into effect,
+having left the house of her dearly beloved father (for mother she had
+none), and disappeared from the village with the soldier, who came
+more triumphantly out of this enterprise than out of any of the
+large number he laid claim to. All the village and all who heard of it
+were amazed at the affair; I was aghast, Anselmo thunderstruck, her
+father full of grief, her relations indignant, the authorities all
+in a ferment, the officers of the Brotherhood in arms. They scoured
+the roads, they searched the woods and all quarters, and at the end of
+three days they found the flighty Leandra in a mountain cave, stript
+to her shift, and robbed of all the money and precious jewels she
+had carried away from home with her. They brought her back to her
+unhappy father, and questioned her as to her misfortune, and she
+confessed without pressure that Vicente de la Roca had deceived her,
+and under promise of marrying her had induced her to leave her
+father's house, as he meant to take her to the richest and most
+delightful city in the whole world, which was Naples; and that she,
+ill-advised and deluded, had believed him, and robbed her father,
+and handed over all to him the night she disappeared; and that he
+had carried her away to a rugged mountain and shut her up in the
+eave where they had found her. She said, moreover, that the soldier,
+without robbing her of her honour, had taken from her everything she
+had, and made off, leaving her in the cave, a thing that still further
+surprised everybody. It was not easy for us to credit the young
+man's continence, but she asserted it with such earnestness that it
+helped to console her distressed father, who thought nothing of what
+had been taken since the jewel that once lost can never be recovered
+had been left to his daughter. The same day that Leandra made her
+appearance her father removed her from our sight and took her away
+to shut her up in a convent in a town near this, in the hope that time
+may wear away some of the disgrace she has incurred. Leandra's youth
+furnished an excuse for her fault, at least with those to whom it
+was of no consequence whether she was good or bad; but those who
+knew her shrewdness and intelligence did not attribute her
+misdemeanour to ignorance but to wantonness and the natural
+disposition of women, which is for the most part flighty and
+ill-regulated.
+
+Leandra withdrawn from sight, Anselmo's eyes grew blind, or at any
+rate found nothing to look at that gave them any pleasure, and mine
+were in darkness without a ray of light to direct them to anything
+enjoyable while Leandra was away. Our melancholy grew greater, our
+patience grew less; we cursed the soldier's finery and railed at the
+carelessness of Leandra's father. At last Anselmo and I agreed to
+leave the village and come to this valley; and, he feeding a great
+flock of sheep of his own, and I a large herd of goats of mine, we
+pass our life among the trees, giving vent to our sorrows, together
+singing the fair Leandra's praises, or upbraiding her, or else sighing
+alone, and to heaven pouring forth our complaints in solitude.
+Following our example, many more of Leandra's lovers have come to
+these rude mountains and adopted our mode of life, and they are so
+numerous that one would fancy the place had been turned into the
+pastoral Arcadia, so full is it of shepherds and sheep-folds; nor is
+there a spot in it where the name of the fair Leandra is not heard.
+Here one curses her and calls her capricious, fickle, and immodest,
+there another condemns her as frail and frivolous; this pardons and
+absolves her, that spurns and reviles her; one extols her beauty,
+another assails her character, and in short all abuse her, and all
+adore her, and to such a pitch has this general infatuation gone
+that there are some who complain of her scorn without ever having
+exchanged a word with her, and even some that bewail and mourn the
+raging fever of jealousy, for which she never gave anyone cause,
+for, as I have already said, her misconduct was known before her
+passion. There is no nook among the rocks, no brookside, no shade
+beneath the trees that is not haunted by some shepherd telling his
+woes to the breezes; wherever there is an echo it repeats the name
+of Leandra; the mountains ring with "Leandra," "Leandra" murmur the
+brooks, and Leandra keeps us all bewildered and bewitched, hoping
+without hope and fearing without knowing what we fear. Of all this
+silly set the one that shows the least and also the most sense is my
+rival Anselmo, for having so many other things to complain of, he only
+complains of separation, and to the accompaniment of a rebeck, which
+he plays admirably, he sings his complaints in verses that show his
+ingenuity. I follow another, easier, and to my mind wiser course,
+and that is to rail at the frivolity of women, at their inconstancy,
+their double dealing, their broken promises, their unkept pledges, and
+in short the want of reflection they show in fixing their affections
+and inclinations. This, sirs, was the reason of words and
+expressions I made use of to this goat when I came up just now; for as
+she is a female I have a contempt for her, though she is the best in
+all my fold. This is the story I promised to tell you, and if I have
+been tedious in telling it, I will not be slow to serve you; my hut is
+close by, and I have fresh milk and dainty cheese there, as well as
+a variety of toothsome fruit, no less pleasing to the eye than to
+the palate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII
+
+OF THE QUARREL THAT DON QUIXOTE HAD WITH THE GOATHERD, TOGETHER WITH
+THE RARE ADVENTURE OF THE PENITENTS, WHICH WITH AN EXPENDITURE OF
+SWEAT HE BROUGHT TO A HAPPY CONCLUSION
+
+The goatherd's tale gave great satisfaction to all the hearers,
+and the canon especially enjoyed it, for he had remarked with
+particular attention the manner in which it had been told, which was
+as unlike the manner of a clownish goatherd as it was like that of a
+polished city wit; and he observed that the curate had been quite
+right in saying that the woods bred men of learning. They all
+offered their services to Eugenio but he who showed himself most
+liberal in this way was Don Quixote, who said to him, "Most assuredly,
+brother goatherd, if I found myself in a position to attempt any
+adventure, I would, this very instant, set out on your behalf, and
+would rescue Leandra from that convent (where no doubt she is kept
+against her will), in spite of the abbess and all who might try to
+prevent me, and would place her in your hands to deal with her
+according to your will and pleasure, observing, however, the laws of
+chivalry which lay down that no violence of any kind is to be
+offered to any damsel. But I trust in God our Lord that the might of
+one malignant enchanter may not prove so great but that the power of
+another better disposed may prove superior to it, and then I promise
+you my support and assistance, as I am bound to do by my profession,
+which is none other than to give aid to the weak and needy."
+
+The goatherd eyed him, and noticing Don Quixote's sorry appearance
+and looks, he was filled with wonder, and asked the barber, who was
+next him, "Senor, who is this man who makes such a figure and talks in
+such a strain?"
+
+"Who should it be," said the barber, "but the famous Don Quixote
+of La Mancha, the undoer of injustice, the righter of wrongs, the
+protector of damsels, the terror of giants, and the winner of
+battles?"
+
+"That," said the goatherd, "sounds like what one reads in the
+books of the knights-errant, who did all that you say this man does;
+though it is my belief that either you are joking, or else this
+gentleman has empty lodgings in his head."
+
+"You are a great scoundrel," said Don Quixote, "and it is you who
+are empty and a fool. I am fuller than ever was the whoreson bitch
+that bore you;" and passing from words to deeds, he caught up a loaf
+that was near him and sent it full in the goatherd's face, with such
+force that he flattened his nose; but the goatherd, who did not
+understand jokes, and found himself roughly handled in such good
+earnest, paying no respect to carpet, tablecloth, or diners, sprang
+upon Don Quixote, and seizing him by the throat with both hands
+would no doubt have throttled him, had not Sancho Panza that instant
+come to the rescue, and grasping him by the shoulders flung him down
+on the table, smashing plates, breaking glasses, and upsetting and
+scattering everything on it. Don Quixote, finding himself free, strove
+to get on top of the goatherd, who, with his face covered with
+blood, and soundly kicked by Sancho, was on all fours feeling about
+for one of the table-knives to take a bloody revenge with. The canon
+and the curate, however, prevented him, but the barber so contrived it
+that he got Don Quixote under him, and rained down upon him such a
+shower of fisticuffs that the poor knight's face streamed with blood
+as freely as his own. The canon and the curate were bursting with
+laughter, the officers were capering with delight, and both the one
+and the other hissed them on as they do dogs that are worrying one
+another in a fight. Sancho alone was frantic, for he could not free
+himself from the grasp of one of the canon's servants, who kept him
+from going to his master's assistance.
+
+At last, while they were all, with the exception of the two bruisers
+who were mauling each other, in high glee and enjoyment, they heard
+a trumpet sound a note so doleful that it made them all look in the
+direction whence the sound seemed to come. But the one that was most
+excited by hearing it was Don Quixote, who though sorely against his
+will he was under the goatherd, and something more than pretty well
+pummelled, said to him, "Brother devil (for it is impossible but
+that thou must be one since thou hast had might and strength enough to
+overcome mine), I ask thee to agree to a truce for but one hour for
+the solemn note of yonder trumpet that falls on our ears seems to me
+to summon me to some new adventure." The goatherd, who was by this
+time tired of pummelling and being pummelled, released him at once,
+and Don Quixote rising to his feet and turning his eyes to the quarter
+where the sound had been heard, suddenly saw coming down the slope
+of a hill several men clad in white like penitents.
+
+The fact was that the clouds had that year withheld their moisture
+from the earth, and in all the villages of the district they were
+organising processions, rogations, and penances, imploring God to open
+the hands of his mercy and send the rain; and to this end the people
+of a village that was hard by were going in procession to a holy
+hermitage there was on one side of that valley. Don Quixote when he
+saw the strange garb of the penitents, without reflecting how often he
+had seen it before, took it into his head that this was a case of
+adventure, and that it fell to him alone as a knight-errant to
+engage in it; and he was all the more confirmed in this notion, by the
+idea that an image draped in black they had with them was some
+illustrious lady that these villains and discourteous thieves were
+carrying off by force. As soon as this occurred to him he ran with all
+speed to Rocinante who was grazing at large, and taking the bridle and
+the buckler from the saddle-bow, he had him bridled in an instant, and
+calling to Sancho for his sword he mounted Rocinante, braced his
+buckler on his arm, and in a loud voice exclaimed to those who stood
+by, "Now, noble company, ye shall see how important it is that there
+should be knights in the world professing the of knight-errantry; now,
+I say, ye shall see, by the deliverance of that worthy lady who is
+borne captive there, whether knights-errant deserve to be held in
+estimation," and so saying he brought his legs to bear on Rocinante-
+for he had no spurs- and at a full canter (for in all this veracious
+history we never read of Rocinante fairly galloping) set off to
+encounter the penitents, though the curate, the canon, and the
+barber ran to prevent him. But it was out of their power, nor did he
+even stop for the shouts of Sancho calling after him, "Where are you
+going, Senor Don Quixote? What devils have possessed you to set you on
+against our Catholic faith? Plague take me! mind, that is a procession
+of penitents, and the lady they are carrying on that stand there is
+the blessed image of the immaculate Virgin. Take care what you are
+doing, senor, for this time it may be safely said you don't know
+what you are about." Sancho laboured in vain, for his master was so
+bent on coming to quarters with these sheeted figures and releasing
+the lady in black that he did not hear a word; and even had he
+heard, he would not have turned back if the king had ordered him. He
+came up with the procession and reined in Rocinante, who was already
+anxious enough to slacken speed a little, and in a hoarse, excited
+voice he exclaimed, "You who hide your faces, perhaps because you
+are not good subjects, pay attention and listen to what I am about
+to say to you." The first to halt were those who were carrying the
+image, and one of the four ecclesiastics who were chanting the Litany,
+struck by the strange figure of Don Quixote, the leanness of
+Rocinante, and the other ludicrous peculiarities he observed, said
+in reply to him, "Brother, if you have anything to say to us say it
+quickly, for these brethren are whipping themselves, and we cannot
+stop, nor is it reasonable we should stop to hear anything, unless
+indeed it is short enough to be said in two words."
+
+"I will say it in one," replied Don Quixote, "and it is this; that
+at once, this very instant, ye release that fair lady whose tears
+and sad aspect show plainly that ye are carrying her off against her
+will, and that ye have committed some scandalous outrage against
+her; and I, who was born into the world to redress all such like
+wrongs, will not permit you to advance another step until you have
+restored to her the liberty she pines for and deserves."
+
+From these words all the hearers concluded that he must be a madman,
+and began to laugh heartily, and their laughter acted like gunpowder
+on Don Quixote's fury, for drawing his sword without another word he
+made a rush at the stand. One of those who supported it, leaving the
+burden to his comrades, advanced to meet him, flourishing a forked
+stick that he had for propping up the stand when resting, and with
+this he caught a mighty cut Don Quixote made at him that severed it in
+two; but with the portion that remained in his hand he dealt such a
+thwack on the shoulder of Don Quixote's sword arm (which the buckler
+could not protect against the clownish assault) that poor Don
+Quixote came to the ground in a sad plight.
+
+Sancho Panza, who was coming on close behind puffing and blowing,
+seeing him fall, cried out to his assailant not to strike him again,
+for he was poor enchanted knight, who had never harmed anyone all
+the days of his life; but what checked the clown was, not Sancho's
+shouting, but seeing that Don Quixote did not stir hand or foot; and
+so, fancying he had killed him, he hastily hitched up his tunic
+under his girdle and took to his heels across the country like a deer.
+
+By this time all Don Quixote's companions had come up to where he
+lay; but the processionists seeing them come running, and with them
+the officers of the Brotherhood with their crossbows, apprehended
+mischief, and clustering round the image, raised their hoods, and
+grasped their scourges, as the priests did their tapers, and awaited
+the attack, resolved to defend themselves and even to take the
+offensive against their assailants if they could. Fortune, however,
+arranged the matter better than they expected, for all Sancho did
+was to fling himself on his master's body, raising over him the most
+doleful and laughable lamentation that ever was heard, for he believed
+he was dead. The curate was known to another curate who walked in
+the procession, and their recognition of one another set at rest the
+apprehensions of both parties; the first then told the other in two
+words who Don Quixote was, and he and the whole troop of penitents
+went to see if the poor gentleman was dead, and heard Sancho Panza
+saying, with tears in his eyes, "Oh flower of chivalry, that with
+one blow of a stick hast ended the course of thy well-spent life! Oh
+pride of thy race, honour and glory of all La Mancha, nay, of all
+the world, that for want of thee will be full of evil-doers, no longer
+in fear of punishment for their misdeeds! Oh thou, generous above
+all the Alexanders, since for only eight months of service thou hast
+given me the best island the sea girds or surrounds! Humble with the
+proud, haughty with the humble, encounterer of dangers, endurer of
+outrages, enamoured without reason, imitator of the good, scourge of
+the wicked, enemy of the mean, in short, knight-errant, which is all
+that can be said!"
+
+At the cries and moans of Sancho, Don Quixote came to himself, and
+the first word he said was, "He who lives separated from you, sweetest
+Dulcinea, has greater miseries to endure than these. Aid me, friend
+Sancho, to mount the enchanted cart, for I am not in a condition to
+press the saddle of Rocinante, as this shoulder is all knocked to
+pieces."
+
+"That I will do with all my heart, senor," said Sancho; "and let
+us return to our village with these gentlemen, who seek your good, and
+there we will prepare for making another sally, which may turn out
+more profitable and creditable to us."
+
+"Thou art right, Sancho," returned Don Quixote; "It will be wise
+to let the malign influence of the stars which now prevails pass off."
+
+The canon, the curate, and the barber told him he would act very
+wisely in doing as he said; and so, highly amused at Sancho Panza's
+simplicities, they placed Don Quixote in the cart as before. The
+procession once more formed itself in order and proceeded on its road;
+the goatherd took his leave of the party; the officers of the
+Brotherhood declined to go any farther, and the curate paid them
+what was due to them; the canon begged the curate to let him know
+how Don Quixote did, whether he was cured of his madness or still
+suffered from it, and then begged leave to continue his journey; in
+short, they all separated and went their ways, leaving to themselves
+the curate and the barber, Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and the good
+Rocinante, who regarded everything with as great resignation as his
+master. The carter yoked his oxen and made Don Quixote comfortable
+on a truss of hay, and at his usual deliberate pace took the road
+the curate directed, and at the end of six days they reached Don
+Quixote's village, and entered it about the middle of the day, which
+it so happened was a Sunday, and the people were all in the plaza,
+through which Don Quixote's cart passed. They all flocked to see
+what was in the cart, and when they recognised their townsman they
+were filled with amazement, and a boy ran off to bring the news to his
+housekeeper and his niece that their master and uncle had come back
+all lean and yellow and stretched on a truss of hay on an ox-cart.
+It was piteous to hear the cries the two good ladies raised, how
+they beat their breasts and poured out fresh maledictions on those
+accursed books of chivalry; all which was renewed when they saw Don
+Quixote coming in at the gate.
+
+At the news of Don Quixote's arrival Sancho Panza's wife came
+running, for she by this time knew that her husband had gone away with
+him as his squire, and on seeing Sancho, the first thing she asked him
+was if the ass was well. Sancho replied that he was, better than his
+master was.
+
+"Thanks be to God," said she, "for being so good to me; but now tell
+me, my friend, what have you made by your squirings? What gown have
+you brought me back? What shoes for your children?"
+
+"I bring nothing of that sort, wife," said Sancho; "though I bring
+other things of more consequence and value."
+
+"I am very glad of that," returned his wife; "show me these things
+of more value and consequence, my friend; for I want to see them to
+cheer my heart that has been so sad and heavy all these ages that
+you have been away."
+
+"I will show them to you at home, wife," said Sancho; "be content
+for the present; for if it please God that we should again go on our
+travels in search of adventures, you will soon see me a count, or
+governor of an island, and that not one of those everyday ones, but
+the best that is to be had."
+
+"Heaven grant it, husband," said she, "for indeed we have need of
+it. But tell me, what's this about islands, for I don't understand
+it?"
+
+"Honey is not for the mouth of the ass," returned Sancho; "all in
+good time thou shalt see, wife- nay, thou wilt be surprised to hear
+thyself called 'your ladyship' by all thy vassals."
+
+"What are you talking about, Sancho, with your ladyships, islands,
+and vassals?" returned Teresa Panza- for so Sancho's wife was
+called, though they were not relations, for in La Mancha it is
+customary for wives to take their husbands' surnames.
+
+"Don't be in such a hurry to know all this, Teresa," said Sancho;
+"it is enough that I am telling you the truth, so shut your mouth. But
+I may tell you this much by the way, that there is nothing in the
+world more delightful than to be a person of consideration, squire
+to a knight-errant, and a seeker of adventures. To be sure most of
+those one finds do not end as pleasantly as one could wish, for out of
+a hundred, ninety-nine will turn out cross and contrary. I know it
+by experience, for out of some I came blanketed, and out of others
+belaboured. Still, for all that, it is a fine thing to be on the
+look-out for what may happen, crossing mountains, searching woods,
+climbing rocks, visiting castles, putting up at inns, all at free
+quarters, and devil take the maravedi to pay."
+
+While this conversation passed between Sancho Panza and his wife,
+Don Quixote's housekeeper and niece took him in and undressed him
+and laid him in his old bed. He eyed them askance, and could not
+make out where he was. The curate charged his niece to be very careful
+to make her uncle comfortable and to keep a watch over him lest he
+should make his escape from them again, telling her what they had been
+obliged to do to bring him home. On this the pair once more lifted
+up their voices and renewed their maledictions upon the books of
+chivalry, and implored heaven to plunge the authors of such lies and
+nonsense into the midst of the bottomless pit. They were, in short,
+kept in anxiety and dread lest their uncle and master should give them
+the slip the moment he found himself somewhat better, and as they
+feared so it fell out.
+
+But the author of this history, though he has devoted research and
+industry to the discovery of the deeds achieved by Don Quixote in
+his third sally, has been unable to obtain any information
+respecting them, at any rate derived from authentic documents;
+tradition has merely preserved in the memory of La Mancha the fact
+that Don Quixote, the third time he sallied forth from his home,
+betook himself to Saragossa, where he was present at some famous
+jousts which came off in that city, and that he had adventures there
+worthy of his valour and high intelligence. Of his end and death he
+could learn no particulars, nor would he have ascertained it or
+known of it, if good fortune had not produced an old physician for him
+who had in his possession a leaden box, which, according to his
+account, had been discovered among the crumbling foundations of an
+ancient hermitage that was being rebuilt; in which box were found
+certain parchment manuscripts in Gothic character, but in Castilian
+verse, containing many of his achievements, and setting forth the
+beauty of Dulcinea, the form of Rocinante, the fidelity of Sancho
+Panza, and the burial of Don Quixote himself, together with sundry
+epitaphs and eulogies on his life and character; but all that could be
+read and deciphered were those which the trustworthy author of this
+new and unparalleled history here presents. And the said author asks
+of those that shall read it nothing in return for the vast toil
+which it has cost him in examining and searching the Manchegan
+archives in order to bring it to light, save that they give him the
+same credit that people of sense give to the books of chivalry that
+pervade the world and are so popular; for with this he will consider
+himself amply paid and fully satisfied, and will be encouraged to seek
+out and produce other histories, if not as truthful, at least equal in
+invention and not less entertaining. The first words written on the
+parchment found in the leaden box were these:
+
+      THE ACADEMICIANS OF
+   ARGAMASILLA, A VILLAGE OF
+           LA MANCHA,
+     ON THE LIFE AND DEATH
+   OF DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA,
+        HOC SCRIPSERUNT
+MONICONGO, ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA,
+
+
+
+ON THE TOMB OF DON QUIXOTE
+
+EPITAPH
+
+The scatterbrain that gave La Mancha more
+  Rich spoils than Jason's; who a point so keen
+  Had to his wit, and happier far had been
+If his wit's weathercock a blunter bore;
+The arm renowned far as Gaeta's shore,
+  Cathay, and all the lands that lie between;
+  The muse discreet and terrible in mien
+As ever wrote on brass in days of yore;
+He who surpassed the Amadises all,
+  And who as naught the Galaors accounted,
+    Supported by his love and gallantry:
+Who made the Belianises sing small,
+  And sought renown on Rocinante mounted;
+    Here, underneath this cold stone, doth he lie.
+
+
+PANIAGUADO,
+ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA,
+IN LAUDEM DULCINEAE DEL TOBOSO
+
+
+SONNET
+
+She, whose full features may be here descried,
+  High-bosomed, with a bearing of disdain,
+  Is Dulcinea, she for whom in vain
+The great Don Quixote of La Mancha sighed.
+For her, Toboso's queen, from side to side
+  He traversed the grim sierra, the champaign
+  Of Aranjuez, and Montiel's famous plain:
+On Rocinante oft a weary ride.
+Malignant planets, cruel destiny,
+  Pursued them both, the fair Manchegan dame,
+And the unconquered star of chivalry.
+  Nor youth nor beauty saved her from the claim
+Of death; he paid love's bitter penalty,
+  And left the marble to preserve his name.
+
+CAPRICHOSO, A MOST ACUTE ACADEMICIAN
+OF ARGAMASILLA, IN PRAISE OF ROCINANTE,
+STEED OF DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA
+
+SONNET
+
+On that proud throne of diamantine sheen,
+  Which the blood-reeking feet of Mars degrade,
+The mad Manchegan's banner now hath been
+  By him in all its bravery displayed.
+  There hath he hung his arms and trenchant blade
+Wherewith, achieving deeds till now unseen,
+  He slays, lays low, cleaves, hews; but art hath made
+A novel style for our new paladin.
+If Amadis be the proud boast of Gaul,
+  If by his progeny the fame of Greece
+    Through all the regions of the earth be spread,
+Great Quixote crowned in grim Bellona's hall
+  To-day exalts La Mancha over these,
+    And above Greece or Gaul she holds her head.
+Nor ends his glory here, for his good steed
+Doth Brillador and Bayard far exceed;
+As mettled steeds compared with Rocinante,
+The reputation they have won is scanty.
+
+
+BURLADOR, ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA,
+ON SANCHO PANZA
+
+SONNET
+
+  The worthy Sancho Panza here you see;
+    A great soul once was in that body small,
+    Nor was there squire upon this earthly ball
+So plain and simple, or of guile so free.
+Within an ace of being Count was he,
+    And would have been but for the spite and gall
+    Of this vile age, mean and illiberal,
+That cannot even let a donkey be.
+For mounted on an ass (excuse the word),
+    By Rocinante's side this gentle squire
+      Was wont his wandering master to attend.
+Delusive hopes that lure the common herd
+    With promises of ease, the heart's desire,
+      In shadows, dreams, and smoke ye always end.
+
+
+CACHIDIABLO,
+ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA,
+ON THE TOMB OF DON QUIXOTE
+EPITAPH
+
+The knight lies here below,
+  Ill-errant and bruised sore,
+  Whom Rocinante bore
+In his wanderings to and fro.
+By the side of the knight is laid
+  Stolid man Sancho too,
+  Than whom a squire more true
+Was not in the esquire trade.
+
+
+            TIQUITOC,
+   ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA,
+ON THE TOMB OF DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO
+
+            EPITAPH
+Here Dulcinea lies.
+  Plump was she and robust:
+  Now she is ashes and dust:
+The end of all flesh that dies.
+A lady of high degree,
+  With the port of a lofty dame,
+  And the great Don Quixote's flame,
+And the pride of her village was she.
+
+
+These were all the verses that could be deciphered; the rest, the
+writing being worm-eaten, were handed over to one of the
+Academicians to make out their meaning conjecturally. We have been
+informed that at the cost of many sleepless nights and much toil he
+has succeeded, and that he means to publish them in hopes of Don
+Quixote's third sally.
+
+
+"Forse altro cantera con miglior plectro."
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION OF PART II
+
+TO THE COUNT OF LEMOS:
+
+These days past, when sending Your Excellency my plays, that had
+appeared in print before being shown on the stage, I said, if I
+remember well, that Don Quixote was putting on his spurs to go and
+render homage to Your Excellency. Now I say that "with his spurs, he
+is on his way." Should he reach destination methinks I shall have
+rendered some service to Your Excellency, as from many parts I am
+urged to send him off, so as to dispel the loathing and disgust caused
+by another Don Quixote who, under the name of Second Part, has run
+masquerading through the whole world. And he who has shown the
+greatest longing for him has been the great Emperor of China, who
+wrote me a letter in Chinese a month ago and sent it by a special
+courier. He asked me, or to be truthful, he begged me to send him
+Don Quixote, for he intended to found a college where the Spanish
+tongue would be taught, and it was his wish that the book to be read
+should be the History of Don Quixote. He also added that I should go
+and be the rector of this college. I asked the bearer if His Majesty
+had afforded a sum in aid of my travel expenses. He answered, "No, not
+even in thought."
+
+"Then, brother," I replied, "you can return to your China, post
+haste or at whatever haste you are bound to go, as I am not fit for so
+long a travel and, besides being ill, I am very much without money,
+while Emperor for Emperor and Monarch for Monarch, I have at Naples
+the great Count of Lemos, who, without so many petty titles of
+colleges and rectorships, sustains me, protects me and does me more
+favour than I can wish for."
+
+Thus I gave him his leave and I beg mine from you, offering Your
+Excellency the "Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda," a book I shall
+finish within four months, Deo volente, and which will be either the
+worst or the best that has been composed in our language, I mean of
+those intended for entertainment; at which I repent of having called
+it the worst, for, in the opinion of friends, it is bound to attain
+the summit of possible quality. May Your Excellency return in such
+health that is wished you; Persiles will be ready to kiss your hand
+and I your feet, being as I am, Your Excellency's most humble servant.
+
+From Madrid, this last day of October of the year one thousand six
+hundred and fifteen.
+
+At the service of Your Excellency:
+
+MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA
+
+
+
+THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+Gof bless me, gentle (or it may be plebeian) reader, how eagerly
+must thou be looking forward to this preface, expecting to find
+there retaliation, scolding, and abuse against the author of the
+second Don Quixote- I mean him who was, they say, begotten at
+Tordesillas and born at Tarragona! Well then, the truth is, I am not
+going to give thee that satisfaction; for, though injuries stir up
+anger in humbler breasts, in mine the rule must admit of an exception.
+Thou wouldst have me call him ass, fool, and malapert, but I have no
+such intention; let his offence be his punishment, with his bread
+let him eat it, and there's an end of it. What I cannot help taking
+amiss is that he charges me with being old and one-handed, as if it
+had been in my power to keep time from passing over me, or as if the
+loss of my hand had been brought about in some tavern, and not on
+the grandest occasion the past or present has seen, or the future
+can hope to see. If my wounds have no beauty to the beholder's eye,
+they are, at least, honourable in the estimation of those who know
+where they were received; for the soldier shows to greater advantage
+dead in battle than alive in flight; and so strongly is this my
+feeling, that if now it were proposed to perform an impossibility
+for me, I would rather have had my share in that mighty action, than
+be free from my wounds this minute without having been present at
+it. Those the soldier shows on his face and breast are stars that
+direct others to the heaven of honour and ambition of merited
+praise; and moreover it is to be observed that it is not with grey
+hairs that one writes, but with the understanding, and that commonly
+improves with years. I take it amiss, too, that he calls me envious,
+and explains to me, as if I were ignorant, what envy is; for really
+and truly, of the two kinds there are, I only know that which is holy,
+noble, and high-minded; and if that be so, as it is, I am not likely
+to attack a priest, above all if, in addition, he holds the rank of
+familiar of the Holy Office. And if he said what he did on account
+of him on whose behalf it seems he spoke, he is entirely mistaken; for
+I worship the genius of that person, and admire his works and his
+unceasing and strenuous industry. After all, I am grateful to this
+gentleman, the author, for saying that my novels are more satirical
+than exemplary, but that they are good; for they could not be that
+unless there was a little of everything in them.
+
+I suspect thou wilt say that I am taking a very humble line, and
+keeping myself too much within the bounds of my moderation, from a
+feeling that additional suffering should not be inflicted upon a
+sufferer, and that what this gentleman has to endure must doubtless be
+very great, as he does not dare to come out into the open field and
+broad daylight, but hides his name and disguises his country as if
+he had been guilty of some lese majesty. If perchance thou shouldst
+come to know him, tell him from me that I do not hold myself
+aggrieved; for I know well what the temptations of the devil are,
+and that one of the greatest is putting it into a man's head that he
+can write and print a book by which he will get as much fame as money,
+and as much money as fame; and to prove it I will beg of you, in
+your own sprightly, pleasant way, to tell him this story.
+
+There was a madman in Seville who took to one of the drollest
+absurdities and vagaries that ever madman in the world gave way to. It
+was this: he made a tube of reed sharp at one end, and catching a
+dog in the street, or wherever it might be, he with his foot held
+one of its legs fast, and with his hand lifted up the other, and as
+best he could fixed the tube where, by blowing, he made the dog as
+round as a ball; then holding it in this position, he gave it a couple
+of slaps on the belly, and let it go, saying to the bystanders (and
+there were always plenty of them): "Do your worships think, now,
+that it is an easy thing to blow up a dog?"- Does your worship think
+now, that it is an easy thing to write a book?
+
+And if this story does not suit him, you may, dear reader, tell
+him this one, which is likewise of a madman and a dog.
+
+In Cordova there was another madman, whose way it was to carry a
+piece of marble slab or a stone, not of the lightest, on his head, and
+when he came upon any unwary dog he used to draw close to him and
+let the weight fall right on top of him; on which the dog in a rage,
+barking and howling, would run three streets without stopping. It so
+happened, however, that one of the dogs he discharged his load upon
+was a cap-maker's dog, of which his master was very fond. The stone
+came down hitting it on the head, the dog raised a yell at the blow,
+the master saw the affair and was wroth, and snatching up a
+measuring-yard rushed out at the madman and did not leave a sound bone
+in his body, and at every stroke he gave him he said, "You dog, you
+thief! my lurcher! Don't you see, you brute, that my dog is a
+lurcher?" and so, repeating the word "lurcher" again and again, he
+sent the madman away beaten to a jelly. The madman took the lesson
+to heart, and vanished, and for more than a month never once showed
+himself in public; but after that he came out again with his old trick
+and a heavier load than ever. He came up to where there was a dog, and
+examining it very carefully without venturing to let the stone fall,
+he said: "This is a lurcher; ware!" In short, all the dogs he came
+across, be they mastiffs or terriers, he said were lurchers; and he
+discharged no more stones. Maybe it will be the same with this
+historian; that he will not venture another time to discharge the
+weight of his wit in books, which, being bad, are harder than
+stones. Tell him, too, that I do not care a farthing for the threat he
+holds out to me of depriving me of my profit by means of his book;
+for, to borrow from the famous interlude of "The Perendenga," I say in
+answer to him, "Long life to my lord the Veintiquatro, and Christ be
+with us all." Long life to the great Conde de Lemos, whose Christian
+charity and well-known generosity support me against all the strokes
+of my curst fortune; and long life to the supreme benevolence of His
+Eminence of Toledo, Don Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas; and what
+matter if there be no printing-presses in the world, or if they
+print more books against me than there are letters in the verses of
+Mingo Revulgo! These two princes, unsought by any adulation or
+flattery of mine, of their own goodness alone, have taken it upon them
+to show me kindness and protect me, and in this I consider myself
+happier and richer than if Fortune had raised me to her greatest
+height in the ordinary way. The poor man may retain honour, but not
+the vicious; poverty may cast a cloud over nobility, but cannot hide
+it altogether; and as virtue of itself sheds a certain light, even
+though it be through the straits and chinks of penury, it wins the
+esteem of lofty and noble spirits, and in consequence their
+protection. Thou needst say no more to him, nor will I say anything
+more to thee, save to tell thee to bear in mind that this Second
+Part of "Don Quixote" which I offer thee is cut by the same
+craftsman and from the same cloth as the First, and that in it I
+present thee Don Quixote continued, and at length dead and buried,
+so that no one may dare to bring forward any further evidence
+against him, for that already produced is sufficient; and suffice
+it, too, that some reputable person should have given an account of
+all these shrewd lunacies of his without going into the matter
+again; for abundance, even of good things, prevents them from being
+valued; and scarcity, even in the case of what is bad, confers a
+certain value. I was forgetting to tell thee that thou mayest expect
+the "Persiles," which I am now finishing, and also the Second Part
+of "Galatea."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+OF THE INTERVIEW THE CURATE AND THE BARBER HAD WITH DON QUIXOTE
+ABOUT HIS MALADY
+
+Cide Hamete Benengeli, in the Second Part of this history, and third
+sally of Don Quixote, says that the curate and the barber remained
+nearly a month without seeing him, lest they should recall or bring
+back to his recollection what had taken place. They did not,
+however, omit to visit his niece and housekeeper, and charge them to
+be careful to treat him with attention, and give him comforting things
+to eat, and such as were good for the heart and the brain, whence,
+it was plain to see, all his misfortune proceeded. The niece and
+housekeeper replied that they did so, and meant to do so with all
+possible care and assiduity, for they could perceive that their master
+was now and then beginning to show signs of being in his right mind.
+This gave great satisfaction to the curate and the barber, for they
+concluded they had taken the right course in carrying him off
+enchanted on the ox-cart, as has been described in the First Part of
+this great as well as accurate history, in the last chapter thereof.
+So they resolved to pay him a visit and test the improvement in his
+condition, although they thought it almost impossible that there could
+be any; and they agreed not to touch upon any point connected with
+knight-errantry so as not to run the risk of reopening wounds which
+were still so tender.
+
+They came to see him consequently, and found him sitting up in bed
+in a green baize waistcoat and a red Toledo cap, and so withered and
+dried up that he looked as if he had been turned into a mummy. They
+were very cordially received by him; they asked him after his
+health, and he talked to them about himself very naturally and in very
+well-chosen language. In the course of their conversation they fell to
+discussing what they call State-craft and systems of government,
+correcting this abuse and condemning that, reforming one practice
+and abolishing another, each of the three setting up for a new
+legislator, a modern Lycurgus, or a brand-new Solon; and so completely
+did they remodel the State, that they seemed to have thrust it into
+a furnace and taken out something quite different from what they had
+put in; and on all the subjects they dealt with, Don Quixote spoke
+with such good sense that the pair of examiners were fully convinced
+that he was quite recovered and in his full senses.
+
+The niece and housekeeper were present at the conversation and could
+not find words enough to express their thanks to God at seeing their
+master so clear in his mind; the curate, however, changing his
+original plan, which was to avoid touching upon matters of chivalry,
+resolved to test Don Quixote's recovery thoroughly, and see whether it
+were genuine or not; and so, from one subject to another, he came at
+last to talk of the news that had come from the capital, and, among
+other things, he said it was considered certain that the Turk was
+coming down with a powerful fleet, and that no one knew what his
+purpose was, or when the great storm would burst; and that all
+Christendom was in apprehension of this, which almost every year calls
+us to arms, and that his Majesty had made provision for the security
+of the coasts of Naples and Sicily and the island of Malta.
+
+To this Don Quixote replied, "His Majesty has acted like a prudent
+warrior in providing for the safety of his realms in time, so that the
+enemy may not find him unprepared; but if my advice were taken I would
+recommend him to adopt a measure which at present, no doubt, his
+Majesty is very far from thinking of."
+
+The moment the curate heard this he said to himself, "God keep
+thee in his hand, poor Don Quixote, for it seems to me thou art
+precipitating thyself from the height of thy madness into the profound
+abyss of thy simplicity."
+
+But the barber, who had the same suspicion as the curate, asked
+Don Quixote what would be his advice as to the measures that he said
+ought to be adopted; for perhaps it might prove to be one that would
+have to be added to the list of the many impertinent suggestions
+that people were in the habit of offering to princes.
+
+"Mine, master shaver," said Don Quixote, "will not be impertinent,
+but, on the contrary, pertinent."
+
+"I don't mean that," said the barber, "but that experience has shown
+that all or most of the expedients which are proposed to his Majesty
+are either impossible, or absurd, or injurious to the King and to
+the kingdom."
+
+"Mine, however," replied Don Quixote, "is neither impossible nor
+absurd, but the easiest, the most reasonable, the readiest and most
+expeditious that could suggest itself to any projector's mind."
+
+"You take a long time to tell it, Senor Don Quixote," said the
+curate.
+
+"I don't choose to tell it here, now," said Don Quixote, "and have
+it reach the ears of the lords of the council to-morrow morning, and
+some other carry off the thanks and rewards of my trouble."
+
+"For my part," said the barber, "I give my word here and before
+God that I will not repeat what your worship says, to King, Rook or
+earthly man- an oath I learned from the ballad of the curate, who,
+in the prelude, told the king of the thief who had robbed him of the
+hundred gold crowns and his pacing mule."
+
+"I am not versed in stories," said Don Quixote; "but I know the oath
+is a good one, because I know the barber to be an honest fellow."
+
+"Even if he were not," said the curate, "I will go bail and answer
+for him that in this matter he will be as silent as a dummy, under
+pain of paying any penalty that may be pronounced."
+
+"And who will be security for you, senor curate?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"My profession," replied the curate, "which is to keep secrets."
+
+"Ods body!" said Don Quixote at this, "what more has his Majesty
+to do but to command, by public proclamation, all the knights-errant
+that are scattered over Spain to assemble on a fixed day in the
+capital, for even if no more than half a dozen come, there may be
+one among them who alone will suffice to destroy the entire might of
+the Turk. Give me your attention and follow me. Is it, pray, any new
+thing for a single knight-errant to demolish an army of two hundred
+thousand men, as if they all had but one throat or were made of
+sugar paste? Nay, tell me, how many histories are there filled with
+these marvels? If only (in an evil hour for me: I don't speak for
+anyone else) the famous Don Belianis were alive now, or any one of the
+innumerable progeny of Amadis of Gaul! If any these were alive
+today, and were to come face to face with the Turk, by my faith, I
+would not give much for the Turk's chance. But God will have regard
+for his people, and will provide some one, who, if not so valiant as
+the knights-errant of yore, at least will not be inferior to them in
+spirit; but God knows what I mean, and I say no more."
+
+"Alas!" exclaimed the niece at this, "may I die if my master does
+not want to turn knight-errant again;" to which Don Quixote replied,
+"A knight-errant I shall die, and let the Turk come down or go up when
+he likes, and in as strong force as he can, once more I say, God knows
+what I mean." But here the barber said, "I ask your worships to give
+me leave to tell a short story of something that happened in
+Seville, which comes so pat to the purpose just now that I should like
+greatly to tell it." Don Quixote gave him leave, and the rest prepared
+to listen, and he began thus:
+
+"In the madhouse at Seville there was a man whom his relations had
+placed there as being out of his mind. He was a graduate of Osuna in
+canon law; but even if he had been of Salamanca, it was the opinion of
+most people that he would have been mad all the same. This graduate,
+after some years of confinement, took it into his head that he was
+sane and in his full senses, and under this impression wrote to the
+Archbishop, entreating him earnestly, and in very correct language, to
+have him released from the misery in which he was living; for by God's
+mercy he had now recovered his lost reason, though his relations, in
+order to enjoy his property, kept him there, and, in spite of the
+truth, would make him out to be mad until his dying day. The
+Archbishop, moved by repeated sensible, well-written letters, directed
+one of his chaplains to make inquiry of the madhouse as to the truth
+of the licentiate's statements, and to have an interview with the
+madman himself, and, if it should appear that he was in his senses, to
+take him out and restore him to liberty. The chaplain did so, and
+the governor assured him that the man was still mad, and that though
+he often spoke like a highly intelligent person, he would in the end
+break out into nonsense that in quantity and quality counterbalanced
+all the sensible things he had said before, as might be easily
+tested by talking to him. The chaplain resolved to try the experiment,
+and obtaining access to the madman conversed with him for an hour or
+more, during the whole of which time he never uttered a word that
+was incoherent or absurd, but, on the contrary, spoke so rationally
+that the chaplain was compelled to believe him to be sane. Among other
+things, he said the governor was against him, not to lose the presents
+his relations made him for reporting him still mad but with lucid
+intervals; and that the worst foe he had in his misfortune was his
+large property; for in order to enjoy it his enemies disparaged and
+threw doubts upon the mercy our Lord had shown him in turning him from
+a brute beast into a man. In short, he spoke in such a way that he
+cast suspicion on the governor, and made his relations appear covetous
+and heartless, and himself so rational that the chaplain determined to
+take him away with him that the Archbishop might see him, and
+ascertain for himself the truth of the matter. Yielding to this
+conviction, the worthy chaplain begged the governor to have the
+clothes in which the licentiate had entered the house given to him.
+The governor again bade him beware of what he was doing, as the
+licentiate was beyond a doubt still mad; but all his cautions and
+warnings were unavailing to dissuade the chaplain from taking him
+away. The governor, seeing that it was the order of the Archbishop,
+obeyed, and they dressed the licentiate in his own clothes, which were
+new and decent. He, as soon as he saw himself clothed like one in
+his senses, and divested of the appearance of a madman, entreated
+the chaplain to permit him in charity to go and take leave of his
+comrades the madmen. The chaplain said he would go with him to see
+what madmen there were in the house; so they went upstairs, and with
+them some of those who were present. Approaching a cage in which there
+was a furious madman, though just at that moment calm and quiet, the
+licentiate said to him, 'Brother, think if you have any commands for
+me, for I am going home, as God has been pleased, in his infinite
+goodness and mercy, without any merit of mine, to restore me my
+reason. I am now cured and in my senses, for with God's power
+nothing is impossible. Have strong hope and trust in him, for as he
+has restored me to my original condition, so likewise he will
+restore you if you trust in him. I will take care to send you some
+good things to eat; and be sure you eat them; for I would have you
+know I am convinced, as one who has gone through it, that all this
+madness of ours comes of having the stomach empty and the brains
+full of wind. Take courage! take courage! for despondency in
+misfortune breaks down health and brings on death.'
+
+"To all these words of the licentiate another madman in a cage
+opposite that of the furious one was listening; and raising himself up
+from an old mat on which he lay stark naked, he asked in a loud
+voice who it was that was going away cured and in his senses. The
+licentiate answered, 'It is I, brother, who am going; I have now no
+need to remain here any longer, for which I return infinite thanks
+to Heaven that has had so great mercy upon me.'
+
+"'Mind what you are saying, licentiate; don't let the devil
+deceive you,' replied the madman. 'Keep quiet, stay where you are, and
+you will save yourself the trouble of coming back.'
+
+"'I know I am cured,' returned the licentiate, 'and that I shall not
+have to go stations again.'
+
+"'You cured!' said the madman; 'well, we shall see; God be with you;
+but I swear to you by Jupiter, whose majesty I represent on earth,
+that for this crime alone, which Seville is committing to-day in
+releasing you from this house, and treating you as if you were in your
+senses, I shall have to inflict such a punishment on it as will be
+remembered for ages and ages, amen. Dost thou not know, thou miserable
+little licentiate, that I can do it, being, as I say, Jupiter the
+Thunderer, who hold in my hands the fiery bolts with which I am able
+and am wont to threaten and lay waste the world? But in one way only
+will I punish this ignorant town, and that is by not raining upon
+it, nor on any part of its district or territory, for three whole
+years, to be reckoned from the day and moment when this threat is
+pronounced. Thou free, thou cured, thou in thy senses! and I mad, I
+disordered, I bound! I will as soon think of sending rain as of
+hanging myself.
+
+"Those present stood listening to the words and exclamations of
+the madman; but our licentiate, turning to the chaplain and seizing
+him by the hands, said to him, 'Be not uneasy, senor; attach no
+importance to what this madman has said; for if he is Jupiter and will
+not send rain, I, who am Neptune, the father and god of the waters,
+will rain as often as it pleases me and may be needful.'
+
+"The governor and the bystanders laughed, and at their laughter
+the chaplain was half ashamed, and he replied, 'For all that, Senor
+Neptune, it will not do to vex Senor Jupiter; remain where you are,
+and some other day, when there is a better opportunity and more
+time, we will come back for you.' So they stripped the licentiate, and
+he was left where he was; and that's the end of the story."
+
+"So that's the story, master barber," said Don Quixote, "which
+came in so pat to the purpose that you could not help telling it?
+Master shaver, master shaver! how blind is he who cannot see through a
+sieve. Is it possible that you do not know that comparisons of wit
+with wit, valour with valour, beauty with beauty, birth with birth,
+are always odious and unwelcome? I, master barber, am not Neptune, the
+god of the waters, nor do I try to make anyone take me for an astute
+man, for I am not one. My only endeavour is to convince the world of
+the mistake it makes in not reviving in itself the happy time when the
+order of knight-errantry was in the field. But our depraved age does
+not deserve to enjoy such a blessing as those ages enjoyed when
+knights-errant took upon their shoulders the defence of kingdoms,
+the protection of damsels, the succour of orphans and minors, the
+chastisement of the proud, and the recompense of the humble. With
+the knights of these days, for the most part, it is the damask,
+brocade, and rich stuffs they wear, that rustle as they go, not the
+chain mail of their armour; no knight now-a-days sleeps in the open
+field exposed to the inclemency of heaven, and in full panoply from
+head to foot; no one now takes a nap, as they call it, without drawing
+his feet out of the stirrups, and leaning upon his lance, as the
+knights-errant used to do; no one now, issuing from the wood,
+penetrates yonder mountains, and then treads the barren, lonely
+shore of the sea- mostly a tempestuous and stormy one- and finding
+on the beach a little bark without oars, sail, mast, or tackling of
+any kind, in the intrepidity of his heart flings himself into it and
+commits himself to the wrathful billows of the deep sea, that one
+moment lift him up to heaven and the next plunge him into the
+depths; and opposing his breast to the irresistible gale, finds
+himself, when he least expects it, three thousand leagues and more
+away from the place where he embarked; and leaping ashore in a
+remote and unknown land has adventures that deserve to be written, not
+on parchment, but on brass. But now sloth triumphs over energy,
+indolence over exertion, vice over virtue, arrogance over courage, and
+theory over practice in arms, which flourished and shone only in the
+golden ages and in knights-errant. For tell me, who was more
+virtuous and more valiant than the famous Amadis of Gaul? Who more
+discreet than Palmerin of England? Who more gracious and easy than
+Tirante el Blanco? Who more courtly than Lisuarte of Greece? Who
+more slashed or slashing than Don Belianis? Who more intrepid than
+Perion of Gaul? Who more ready to face danger than Felixmarte of
+Hircania? Who more sincere than Esplandian? Who more impetuous than
+Don Cirongilio of Thrace? Who more bold than Rodamonte? Who more
+prudent than King Sobrino? Who more daring than Reinaldos? Who more
+invincible than Roland? and who more gallant and courteous than
+Ruggiero, from whom the dukes of Ferrara of the present day are
+descended, according to Turpin in his 'Cosmography.' All these
+knights, and many more that I could name, senor curate, were
+knights-errant, the light and glory of chivalry. These, or such as
+these, I would have to carry out my plan, and in that case his Majesty
+would find himself well served and would save great expense, and the
+Turk would be left tearing his beard. And so I will stay where I am,
+as the chaplain does not take me away; and if Jupiter, as the barber
+has told us, will not send rain, here am I, and I will rain when I
+please. I say this that Master Basin may know that I understand him."
+
+"Indeed, Senor Don Quixote," said the barber, "I did not mean it
+in that way, and, so help me God, my intention was good, and your
+worship ought not to be vexed."
+
+"As to whether I ought to be vexed or not," returned Don Quixote, "I
+myself am the best judge."
+
+Hereupon the curate observed, "I have hardly said a word as yet; and
+I would gladly be relieved of a doubt, arising from what Don Quixote
+has said, that worries and works my conscience."
+
+"The senor curate has leave for more than that," returned Don
+Quixote, "so he may declare his doubt, for it is not pleasant to
+have a doubt on one's conscience."
+
+"Well then, with that permission," said the curate, "I say my
+doubt is that, all I can do, I cannot persuade myself that the whole
+pack of knights-errant you, Senor Don Quixote, have mentioned, were
+really and truly persons of flesh and blood, that ever lived in the
+world; on the contrary, I suspect it to be all fiction, fable, and
+falsehood, and dreams told by men awakened from sleep, or rather still
+half asleep."
+
+"That is another mistake," replied Don Quixote, "into which many
+have fallen who do not believe that there ever were such knights in
+the world, and I have often, with divers people and on divers
+occasions, tried to expose this almost universal error to the light of
+truth. Sometimes I have not been successful in my purpose, sometimes I
+have, supporting it upon the shoulders of the truth; which truth is so
+clear that I can almost say I have with my own eyes seen Amadis of
+Gaul, who was a man of lofty stature, fair complexion, with a handsome
+though black beard, of a countenance between gentle and stern in
+expression, sparing of words, slow to anger, and quick to put it
+away from him; and as I have depicted Amadis, so I could, I think,
+portray and describe all the knights-errant that are in all the
+histories in the world; for by the perception I have that they were
+what their histories describe, and by the deeds they did and the
+dispositions they displayed, it is possible, with the aid of sound
+philosophy, to deduce their features, complexion, and stature."
+
+"How big, in your worship's opinion, may the giant Morgante have
+been, Senor Don Quixote?" asked the barber.
+
+"With regard to giants," replied Don Quixote, "opinions differ as to
+whether there ever were any or not in the world; but the Holy
+Scripture, which cannot err by a jot from the truth, shows us that
+there were, when it gives us the history of that big Philistine,
+Goliath, who was seven cubits and a half in height, which is a huge
+size. Likewise, in the island of Sicily, there have been found
+leg-bones and arm-bones so large that their size makes it plain that
+their owners were giants, and as tall as great towers; geometry puts
+this fact beyond a doubt. But, for all that, I cannot speak with
+certainty as to the size of Morgante, though I suspect he cannot
+have been very tall; and I am inclined to be of this opinion because I
+find in the history in which his deeds are particularly mentioned,
+that he frequently slept under a roof and as he found houses to
+contain him, it is clear that his bulk could not have been anything
+excessive."
+
+"That is true," said the curate, and yielding to the enjoyment of
+hearing such nonsense, he asked him what was his notion of the
+features of Reinaldos of Montalban, and Don Roland and the rest of the
+Twelve Peers of France, for they were all knights-errant.
+
+"As for Reinaldos," replied Don Quixote, "I venture to say that he
+was broad-faced, of ruddy complexion, with roguish and somewhat
+prominent eyes, excessively punctilious and touchy, and given to the
+society of thieves and scapegraces. With regard to Roland, or
+Rotolando, or Orlando (for the histories call him by all these names),
+I am of opinion, and hold, that he was of middle height,
+broad-shouldered, rather bow-legged, swarthy-complexioned,
+red-bearded, with a hairy body and a severe expression of countenance,
+a man of few words, but very polite and well-bred."
+
+"If Roland was not a more graceful person than your worship has
+described," said the curate, "it is no wonder that the fair Lady
+Angelica rejected him and left him for the gaiety, liveliness, and
+grace of that budding-bearded little Moor to whom she surrendered
+herself; and she showed her sense in falling in love with the gentle
+softness of Medoro rather than the roughness of Roland."
+
+"That Angelica, senor curate," returned Don Quixote, "was a giddy
+damsel, flighty and somewhat wanton, and she left the world as full of
+her vagaries as of the fame of her beauty. She treated with scorn a
+thousand gentlemen, men of valour and wisdom, and took up with a
+smooth-faced sprig of a page, without fortune or fame, except such
+reputation for gratitude as the affection he bore his friend got for
+him. The great poet who sang her beauty, the famous Ariosto, not
+caring to sing her adventures after her contemptible surrender
+(which probably were not over and above creditable), dropped her where
+he says:
+
+How she received the sceptre of Cathay,
+  Some bard of defter quill may sing some day;
+
+and this was no doubt a kind of prophecy, for poets are also called
+vates, that is to say diviners; and its truth was made plain; for
+since then a famous Andalusian poet has lamented and sung her tears,
+and another famous and rare poet, a Castilian, has sung her beauty."
+
+"Tell me, Senor Don Quixote," said the barber here, "among all those
+who praised her, has there been no poet to write a satire on this Lady
+Angelica?"
+
+"I can well believe," replied Don Quixote, "that if Sacripante or
+Roland had been poets they would have given the damsel a trimming; for
+it is naturally the way with poets who have been scorned and
+rejected by their ladies, whether fictitious or not, in short by those
+whom they select as the ladies of their thoughts, to avenge themselves
+in satires and libels- a vengeance, to be sure, unworthy of generous
+hearts; but up to the present I have not heard of any defamatory verse
+against the Lady Angelica, who turned the world upside down."
+
+"Strange," said the curate; but at this moment they heard the
+housekeeper and the niece, who had previously withdrawn from the
+conversation, exclaiming aloud in the courtyard, and at the noise they
+all ran out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE NOTABLE ALTERCATION WHICH SANCHO PANZA HAD
+WITH DON QUIXOTE'S NIECE, AND HOUSEKEEPER, TOGETHER WITH OTHER DROLL
+MATTERS
+
+The history relates that the outcry Don Quixote, the curate, and the
+barber heard came from the niece and the housekeeper exclaiming to
+Sancho, who was striving to force his way in to see Don Quixote
+while they held the door against him, "What does the vagabond want
+in this house? Be off to your own, brother, for it is you, and no
+one else, that delude my master, and lead him astray, and take him
+tramping about the country."
+
+To which Sancho replied, "Devil's own housekeeper! it is I who am
+deluded, and led astray, and taken tramping about the country, and not
+thy master! He has carried me all over the world, and you are mightily
+mistaken. He enticed me away from home by a trick, promising me an
+island, which I am still waiting for."
+
+"May evil islands choke thee, thou detestable Sancho," said the
+niece; "What are islands? Is it something to eat, glutton and
+gormandiser that thou art?"
+
+"It is not something to eat," replied Sancho, "but something to
+govern and rule, and better than four cities or four judgeships at
+court."
+
+"For all that," said the housekeeper, "you don't enter here, you bag
+of mischief and sack of knavery; go govern your house and dig your
+seed-patch, and give over looking for islands or shylands."
+
+The curate and the barber listened with great amusement to the words
+of the three; but Don Quixote, uneasy lest Sancho should blab and
+blurt out a whole heap of mischievous stupidities, and touch upon
+points that might not be altogether to his credit, called to him and
+made the other two hold their tongues and let him come in. Sancho
+entered, and the curate and the barber took their leave of Don
+Quixote, of whose recovery they despaired when they saw how wedded
+he was to his crazy ideas, and how saturated with the nonsense of
+his unlucky chivalry; and said the curate to the barber, "You will
+see, gossip, that when we are least thinking of it, our gentleman will
+be off once more for another flight."
+
+"I have no doubt of it," returned the barber; "but I do not wonder
+so much at the madness of the knight as at the simplicity of the
+squire, who has such a firm belief in all that about the island,
+that I suppose all the exposures that could be imagined would not
+get it out of his head."
+
+"God help them," said the curate; "and let us be on the look-out
+to see what comes of all these absurdities of the knight and squire,
+for it seems as if they had both been cast in the same mould, and
+the madness of the master without the simplicity of the man would
+not be worth a farthing."
+
+"That is true," said the barber, "and I should like very much to
+know what the pair are talking about at this moment."
+
+"I promise you," said the curate, "the niece or the housekeeper will
+tell us by-and-by, for they are not the ones to forget to listen."
+
+Meanwhile Don Quixote shut himself up in his room with Sancho, and
+when they were alone he said to him, "It grieves me greatly, Sancho,
+that thou shouldst have said, and sayest, that I took thee out of
+thy cottage, when thou knowest I did not remain in my house. We
+sallied forth together, we took the road together, we wandered
+abroad together; we have had the same fortune and the same luck; if
+they blanketed thee once, they belaboured me a hundred times, and that
+is the only advantage I have of thee."
+
+"That was only reasonable," replied Sancho, "for, by what your
+worship says, misfortunes belong more properly to knights-errant
+than to their squires."
+
+"Thou art mistaken, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "according to the
+maxim quando caput dolet, &c."
+
+"I don't understand any language but my own," said Sancho.
+
+"I mean to say," said Don Quixote, "that when the head suffers all
+the members suffer; and so, being thy lord and master, I am thy
+head, and thou a part of me as thou art my servant; and therefore
+any evil that affects or shall affect me should give thee pain, and
+what affects thee give pain to me."
+
+"It should be so," said Sancho; "but when I was blanketed as a
+member, my head was on the other side of the wall, looking on while
+I was flying through the air, and did not feel any pain whatever;
+and if the members are obliged to feel the suffering of the head, it
+should be obliged to feel their sufferings."
+
+"Dost thou mean to say now, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that I did
+not feel when they were blanketing thee? If thou dost, thou must not
+say so or think so, for I felt more pain then in spirit than thou
+didst in body. But let us put that aside for the present, for we shall
+have opportunities enough for considering and settling the point; tell
+me, Sancho my friend, what do they say about me in the village here?
+What do the common people think of me? What do the hidalgos? What do
+the caballeros? What do they say of my valour; of my achievements;
+of my courtesy? How do they treat the task I have undertaken in
+reviving and restoring to the world the now forgotten order of
+chivalry? In short, Sancho, I would have thee tell me all that has
+come to thine ears on this subject; and thou art to tell me, without
+adding anything to the good or taking away anything from the bad;
+for it is the duty of loyal vassals to tell the truth to their lords
+just as it is and in its proper shape, not allowing flattery to add to
+it or any idle deference to lessen it. And I would have thee know,
+Sancho, that if the naked truth, undisguised by flattery, came to
+the ears of princes, times would be different, and other ages would be
+reckoned iron ages more than ours, which I hold to be the golden of
+these latter days. Profit by this advice, Sancho, and report to me
+clearly and faithfully the truth of what thou knowest touching what
+I have demanded of thee."
+
+"That I will do with all my heart, master," replied Sancho,
+"provided your worship will not be vexed at what I say, as you wish me
+to say it out in all its nakedness, without putting any more clothes
+on it than it came to my knowledge in."
+
+"I will not be vexed at all," returned Don Quixote; "thou mayest
+speak freely, Sancho, and without any beating about the bush."
+
+"Well then," said he, "first of all, I have to tell you that the
+common people consider your worship a mighty great madman, and me no
+less a fool. The hidalgos say that, not keeping within the bounds of
+your quality of gentleman, you have assumed the 'Don,' and made a
+knight of yourself at a jump, with four vine-stocks and a couple of
+acres of land, and never a shirt to your back. The caballeros say they
+do not want to have hidalgos setting up in opposition to them,
+particularly squire hidalgos who polish their own shoes and darn their
+black stockings with green silk."
+
+"That," said Don Quixote, "does not apply to me, for I always go
+well dressed and never patched; ragged I may be, but ragged more
+from the wear and tear of arms than of time."
+
+"As to your worship's valour, courtesy, accomplishments, and task,
+there is a variety of opinions. Some say, 'mad but droll;' others,
+'valiant but unlucky;' others, 'courteous but meddling,' and then they
+go into such a number of things that they don't leave a whole bone
+either in your worship or in myself."
+
+"Recollect, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that wherever virtue
+exists in an eminent degree it is persecuted. Few or none of the
+famous men that have lived escaped being calumniated by malice. Julius
+Caesar, the boldest, wisest, and bravest of captains, was charged with
+being ambitious, and not particularly cleanly in his dress, or pure in
+his morals. Of Alexander, whose deeds won him the name of Great,
+they say that he was somewhat of a drunkard. Of Hercules, him of the
+many labours, it is said that he was lewd and luxurious. Of Don
+Galaor, the brother of Amadis of Gaul, it was whispered that he was
+over quarrelsome, and of his brother that he was lachrymose. So
+that, O Sancho, amongst all these calumnies against good men, mine may
+be let pass, since they are no more than thou hast said."
+
+"That's just where it is, body of my father!"
+
+"Is there more, then?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"There's the tail to be skinned yet," said Sancho; "all so far is
+cakes and fancy bread; but if your worship wants to know all about the
+calumnies they bring against you, I will fetch you one this instant
+who can tell you the whole of them without missing an atom; for last
+night the son of Bartholomew Carrasco, who has been studying at
+Salamanca, came home after having been made a bachelor, and when I
+went to welcome him, he told me that your worship's history is already
+abroad in books, with the title of THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN DON QUIXOTE
+OF LA MANCHA; and he says they mention me in it by my own name of
+Sancho Panza, and the lady Dulcinea del Toboso too, and divers
+things that happened to us when we were alone; so that I crossed
+myself in my wonder how the historian who wrote them down could have
+known them."
+
+"I promise thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "the author of our
+history will be some sage enchanter; for to such nothing that they
+choose to write about is hidden."
+
+"What!" said Sancho, "a sage and an enchanter! Why, the bachelor
+Samson Carrasco (that is the name of him I spoke of) says the author
+of the history is called Cide Hamete Berengena."
+
+"That is a Moorish name," said Don Quixote.
+
+"May be so," replied Sancho; "for I have heard say that the Moors
+are mostly great lovers of berengenas."
+
+"Thou must have mistaken the surname of this 'Cide'- which means
+in Arabic 'Lord'- Sancho," observed Don Quixote.
+
+"Very likely," replied Sancho, "but if your worship wishes me to
+fetch the bachelor I will go for him in a twinkling."
+
+"Thou wilt do me a great pleasure, my friend," said Don Quixote,
+"for what thou hast told me has amazed me, and I shall not eat a
+morsel that will agree with me until I have heard all about it."
+
+"Then I am off for him," said Sancho; and leaving his master he went
+in quest of the bachelor, with whom he returned in a short time,
+and, all three together, they had a very droll colloquy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+OF THE LAUGHABLE CONVERSATION THAT PASSED BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE,
+SANCHO PANZA, AND THE BACHELOR SAMSON CARRASCO
+
+Don Quixote remained very deep in thought, waiting for the
+bachelor Carrasco, from whom he was to hear how he himself had been
+put into a book as Sancho said; and he could not persuade himself that
+any such history could be in existence, for the blood of the enemies
+he had slain was not yet dry on the blade of his sword, and now they
+wanted to make out that his mighty achievements were going about in
+print. For all that, he fancied some sage, either a friend or an
+enemy, might, by the aid of magic, have given them to the press; if
+a friend, in order to magnify and exalt them above the most famous
+ever achieved by any knight-errant; if an enemy, to bring them to
+naught and degrade them below the meanest ever recorded of any low
+squire, though as he said to himself, the achievements of squires
+never were recorded. If, however, it were the fact that such a history
+were in existence, it must necessarily, being the story of a
+knight-errant, be grandiloquent, lofty, imposing, grand and true. With
+this he comforted himself somewhat, though it made him uncomfortable
+to think that the author was a Moor, judging by the title of "Cide;"
+and that no truth was to be looked for from Moors, as they are all
+impostors, cheats, and schemers. He was afraid he might have dealt
+with his love affairs in some indecorous fashion, that might tend to
+the discredit and prejudice of the purity of his lady Dulcinea del
+Toboso; he would have had him set forth the fidelity and respect he
+had always observed towards her, spurning queens, empresses, and
+damsels of all sorts, and keeping in check the impetuosity of his
+natural impulses. Absorbed and wrapped up in these and divers other
+cogitations, he was found by Sancho and Carrasco, whom Don Quixote
+received with great courtesy.
+
+The bachelor, though he was called Samson, was of no great bodily
+size, but he was a very great wag; he was of a sallow complexion,
+but very sharp-witted, somewhere about four-and-twenty years of age,
+with a round face, a flat nose, and a large mouth, all indications
+of a mischievous disposition and a love of fun and jokes; and of
+this he gave a sample as soon as he saw Don Quixote, by falling on his
+knees before him and saying, "Let me kiss your mightiness's hand,
+Senor Don Quixote of La Mancha, for, by the habit of St. Peter that
+I wear, though I have no more than the first four orders, your worship
+is one of the most famous knights-errant that have ever been, or
+will be, all the world over. A blessing on Cide Hamete Benengeli,
+who has written the history of your great deeds, and a double blessing
+on that connoisseur who took the trouble of having it translated out
+of the Arabic into our Castilian vulgar tongue for the universal
+entertainment of the people!"
+
+Don Quixote made him rise, and said, "So, then, it is true that
+there is a history of me, and that it was a Moor and a sage who
+wrote it?"
+
+"So true is it, senor," said Samson, "that my belief is there are
+more than twelve thousand volumes of the said history in print this
+very day. Only ask Portugal, Barcelona, and Valencia, where they
+have been printed, and moreover there is a report that it is being
+printed at Antwerp, and I am persuaded there will not be a country
+or language in which there will not be a translation of it."
+
+"One of the things," here observed Don Quixote, "that ought to
+give most pleasure to a virtuous and eminent man is to find himself in
+his lifetime in print and in type, familiar in people's mouths with
+a good name; I say with a good name, for if it be the opposite, then
+there is no death to be compared to it."
+
+"If it goes by good name and fame," said the bachelor, "your worship
+alone bears away the palm from all the knights-errant; for the Moor in
+his own language, and the Christian in his, have taken care to set
+before us your gallantry, your high courage in encountering dangers,
+your fortitude in adversity, your patience under misfortunes as well
+as wounds, the purity and continence of the platonic loves of your
+worship and my lady Dona Dulcinea del Toboso-"
+
+"I never heard my lady Dulcinea called Dona," observed Sancho
+here; "nothing more than the lady Dulcinea del Toboso; so here already
+the history is wrong."
+
+"That is not an objection of any importance," replied Carrasco.
+
+"Certainly not," said Don Quixote; "but tell me, senor bachelor,
+what deeds of mine are they that are made most of in this history?"
+
+"On that point," replied the bachelor, "opinions differ, as tastes
+do; some swear by the adventure of the windmills that your worship
+took to be Briareuses and giants; others by that of the fulling mills;
+one cries up the description of the two armies that afterwards took
+the appearance of two droves of sheep; another that of the dead body
+on its way to be buried at Segovia; a third says the liberation of the
+galley slaves is the best of all, and a fourth that nothing comes up
+to the affair with the Benedictine giants, and the battle with the
+valiant Biscayan."
+
+"Tell me, senor bachelor," said Sancho at this point, "does the
+adventure with the Yanguesans come in, when our good Rocinante went
+hankering after dainties?"
+
+"The sage has left nothing in the ink-bottle," replied Samson; "he
+tells all and sets down everything, even to the capers that worthy
+Sancho cut in the blanket."
+
+"I cut no capers in the blanket," returned Sancho; "in the air I
+did, and more of them than I liked."
+
+"There is no human history in the world, I suppose," said Don
+Quixote, "that has not its ups and downs, but more than others such as
+deal with chivalry, for they can never be entirely made up of
+prosperous adventures."
+
+"For all that," replied the bachelor, "there are those who have read
+the history who say they would have been glad if the author had left
+out some of the countless cudgellings that were inflicted on Senor Don
+Quixote in various encounters."
+
+"That's where the truth of the history comes in," said Sancho.
+
+"At the same time they might fairly have passed them over in
+silence," observed Don Quixote; "for there is no need of recording
+events which do not change or affect the truth of a history, if they
+tend to bring the hero of it into contempt. AEneas was not in truth
+and earnest so pious as Virgil represents him, nor Ulysses so wise
+as Homer describes him."
+
+"That is true," said Samson; "but it is one thing to write as a
+poet, another to write as a historian; the poet may describe or sing
+things, not as they were, but as they ought to have been; but the
+historian has to write them down, not as they ought to have been,
+but as they were, without adding anything to the truth or taking
+anything from it."
+
+"Well then," said Sancho, "if this senor Moor goes in for telling
+the truth, no doubt among my master's drubbings mine are to be
+found; for they never took the measure of his worship's shoulders
+without doing the same for my whole body; but I have no right to
+wonder at that, for, as my master himself says, the members must share
+the pain of the head."
+
+"You are a sly dog, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "i' faith, you have
+no want of memory when you choose to remember."
+
+"If I were to try to forget the thwacks they gave me," said
+Sancho, "my weals would not let me, for they are still fresh on my
+ribs."
+
+"Hush, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and don't interrupt the bachelor,
+whom I entreat to go on and tell all that is said about me in this
+history."
+
+"And about me," said Sancho, "for they say, too, that I am one of
+the principal presonages in it."
+
+"Personages, not presonages, friend Sancho," said Samson.
+
+"What! Another word-catcher!" said Sancho; "if that's to be the
+way we shall not make an end in a lifetime."
+
+"May God shorten mine, Sancho," returned the bachelor, "if you are
+not the second person in the history, and there are even some who
+would rather hear you talk than the cleverest in the whole book;
+though there are some, too, who say you showed yourself over-credulous
+in believing there was any possibility in the government of that
+island offered you by Senor Don Quixote."
+
+"There is still sunshine on the wall," said Don Quixote; "and when
+Sancho is somewhat more advanced in life, with the experience that
+years bring, he will be fitter and better qualified for being a
+governor than he is at present."
+
+"By God, master," said Sancho, "the island that I cannot govern with
+the years I have, I'll not be able to govern with the years of
+Methuselah; the difficulty is that the said island keeps its
+distance somewhere, I know not where; and not that there is any want
+of head in me to govern it."
+
+"Leave it to God, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "for all will be and
+perhaps better than you think; no leaf on the tree stirs but by
+God's will."
+
+"That is true," said Samson; "and if it be God's will, there will
+not be any want of a thousand islands, much less one, for Sancho to
+govern."
+
+"I have seen governors in these parts," said Sancho, "that are not
+to be compared to my shoe-sole; and for all that they are called 'your
+lordship' and served on silver."
+
+"Those are not governors of islands," observed Samson, "but of other
+governments of an easier kind: those that govern islands must at least
+know grammar."
+
+"I could manage the gram well enough," said Sancho; "but for the mar
+I have neither leaning nor liking, for I don't know what it is; but
+leaving this matter of the government in God's hands, to send me
+wherever it may be most to his service, I may tell you, senor bachelor
+Samson Carrasco, it has pleased me beyond measure that the author of
+this history should have spoken of me in such a way that what is
+said of me gives no offence; for, on the faith of a true squire, if he
+had said anything about me that was at all unbecoming an old
+Christian, such as I am, the deaf would have heard of it."
+
+"That would be working miracles," said Samson.
+
+"Miracles or no miracles," said Sancho, "let everyone mind how he
+speaks or writes about people, and not set down at random the first
+thing that comes into his head."
+
+"One of the faults they find with this history," said the
+bachelor, "is that its author inserted in it a novel called 'The
+Ill-advised Curiosity;' not that it is bad or ill-told, but that it is
+out of place and has nothing to do with the history of his worship
+Senor Don Quixote."
+
+"I will bet the son of a dog has mixed the cabbages and the
+baskets," said Sancho.
+
+"Then, I say," said Don Quixote, "the author of my history was no
+sage, but some ignorant chatterer, who, in a haphazard and heedless
+way, set about writing it, let it turn out as it might, just as
+Orbaneja, the painter of Ubeda, used to do, who, when they asked him
+what he was painting, answered, 'What it may turn out.' Sometimes he
+would paint a cock in such a fashion, and so unlike, that he had to
+write alongside of it in Gothic letters, 'This is a cock; and so it
+will be with my history, which will require a commentary to make it
+intelligible."
+
+"No fear of that," returned Samson, "for it is so plain that there
+is nothing in it to puzzle over; the children turn its leaves, the
+young people read it, the grown men understand it, the old folk praise
+it; in a word, it is so thumbed, and read, and got by heart by
+people of all sorts, that the instant they see any lean hack, they
+say, 'There goes Rocinante.' And those that are most given to
+reading it are the pages, for there is not a lord's ante-chamber where
+there is not a 'Don Quixote' to be found; one takes it up if another
+lays it down; this one pounces upon it, and that begs for it. In
+short, the said history is the most delightful and least injurious
+entertainment that has been hitherto seen, for there is not to be
+found in the whole of it even the semblance of an immodest word, or
+a thought that is other than Catholic."
+
+"To write in any other way," said Don Quixote, "would not be to
+write truth, but falsehood, and historians who have recourse to
+falsehood ought to be burned, like those who coin false money; and I
+know not what could have led the author to have recourse to novels and
+irrelevant stories, when he had so much to write about in mine; no
+doubt he must have gone by the proverb 'with straw or with hay,
+&c.,' for by merely setting forth my thoughts, my sighs, my tears,
+my lofty purposes, my enterprises, he might have made a volume as
+large, or larger than all the works of El Tostado would make up. In
+fact, the conclusion I arrive at, senor bachelor, is, that to write
+histories, or books of any kind, there is need of great judgment and a
+ripe understanding. To give expression to humour, and write in a
+strain of graceful pleasantry, is the gift of great geniuses. The
+cleverest character in comedy is the clown, for he who would make
+people take him for a fool, must not be one. History is in a measure a
+sacred thing, for it should be true, and where the truth is, there God
+is; but notwithstanding this, there are some who write and fling books
+broadcast on the world as if they were fritters."
+
+"There is no book so bad but it has something good in it," said
+the bachelor.
+
+"No doubt of that," replied Don Quixote; "but it often happens
+that those who have acquired and attained a well-deserved reputation
+by their writings, lose it entirely, or damage it in some degree, when
+they give them to the press."
+
+"The reason of that," said Samson, "is, that as printed works are
+examined leisurely, their faults are easily seen; and the greater
+the fame of the writer, the more closely are they scrutinised. Men
+famous for their genius, great poets, illustrious historians, are
+always, or most commonly, envied by those who take a particular
+delight and pleasure in criticising the writings of others, without
+having produced any of their own."
+
+"That is no wonder," said Don Quixote; "for there are many divines
+who are no good for the pulpit, but excellent in detecting the defects
+or excesses of those who preach."
+
+"All that is true, Senor Don Quixote," said Carrasco; "but I wish
+such fault-finders were more lenient and less exacting, and did not
+pay so much attention to the spots on the bright sun of the work
+they grumble at; for if aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus, they
+should remember how long he remained awake to shed the light of his
+work with as little shade as possible; and perhaps it may be that what
+they find fault with may be moles, that sometimes heighten the
+beauty of the face that bears them; and so I say very great is the
+risk to which he who prints a book exposes himself, for of all
+impossibilities the greatest is to write one that will satisfy and
+please all readers."
+
+"That which treats of me must have pleased few," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Quite the contrary," said the bachelor; "for, as stultorum
+infinitum est numerus, innumerable are those who have relished the
+said history; but some have brought a charge against the author's
+memory, inasmuch as he forgot to say who the thief was who stole
+Sancho's Dapple; for it is not stated there, but only to be inferred
+from what is set down, that he was stolen, and a little farther on
+we see Sancho mounted on the same ass, without any reappearance of it.
+They say, too, that he forgot to state what Sancho did with those
+hundred crowns that he found in the valise in the Sierra Morena, as he
+never alludes to them again, and there are many who would be glad to
+know what he did with them, or what he spent them on, for it is one of
+the serious omissions of the work."
+
+"Senor Samson, I am not in a humour now for going into accounts or
+explanations," said Sancho; "for there's a sinking of the stomach come
+over me, and unless I doctor it with a couple of sups of the old stuff
+it will put me on the thorn of Santa Lucia. I have it at home, and
+my old woman is waiting for me; after dinner I'll come back, and
+will answer you and all the world every question you may choose to
+ask, as well about the loss of the ass as about the spending of the
+hundred crowns;" and without another word or waiting for a reply he
+made off home.
+
+Don Quixote begged and entreated the bachelor to stay and do penance
+with him. The bachelor accepted the invitation and remained, a
+couple of young pigeons were added to the ordinary fare, at dinner
+they talked chivalry, Carrasco fell in with his host's humour, the
+banquet came to an end, they took their afternoon sleep, Sancho
+returned, and their conversation was resumed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH SANCHO PANZA GIVES A SATISFACTORY REPLY TO THE DOUBTS AND
+QUESTIONS OF THE BACHELOR SAMSON CARRASCO, TOGETHER WITH OTHER MATTERS
+WORTH KNOWING AND TELLING
+
+Sancho came back to Don Quixote's house, and returning to the late
+subject of conversation, he said, "As to what Senor Samson said,
+that he would like to know by whom, or how, or when my ass was stolen,
+I say in reply that the same night we went into the Sierra Morena,
+flying from the Holy Brotherhood after that unlucky adventure of the
+galley slaves, and the other of the corpse that was going to
+Segovia, my master and I ensconced ourselves in a thicket, and
+there, my master leaning on his lance, and I seated on my Dapple,
+battered and weary with the late frays we fell asleep as if it had
+been on four feather mattresses; and I in particular slept so sound,
+that, whoever he was, he was able to come and prop me up on four
+stakes, which he put under the four corners of the pack-saddle in such
+a way that he left me mounted on it, and took away Dapple from under
+me without my feeling it."
+
+"That is an easy matter," said Don Quixote, "and it is no new
+occurrence, for the same thing happened to Sacripante at the siege
+of Albracca; the famous thief, Brunello, by the same contrivance, took
+his horse from between his legs."
+
+"Day came," continued Sancho, "and the moment I stirred the stakes
+gave way and I fell to the ground with a mighty come down; I looked
+about for the ass, but could not see him; the tears rushed to my
+eyes and I raised such a lamentation that, if the author of our
+history has not put it in, he may depend upon it he has left out a
+good thing. Some days after, I know not how many, travelling with
+her ladyship the Princess Micomicona, I saw my ass, and mounted upon
+him, in the dress of a gipsy, was that Gines de Pasamonte, the great
+rogue and rascal that my master and I freed from the chain."
+
+"That is not where the mistake is," replied Samson; "it is, that
+before the ass has turned up, the author speaks of Sancho as being
+mounted on it."
+
+"I don't know what to say to that," said Sancho, "unless that the
+historian made a mistake, or perhaps it might be a blunder of the
+printer's."
+
+"No doubt that's it," said Samson; "but what became of the hundred
+crowns? Did they vanish?"
+
+To which Sancho answered, "I spent them for my own good, and my
+wife's, and my children's, and it is they that have made my wife
+bear so patiently all my wanderings on highways and byways, in the
+service of my master, Don Quixote; for if after all this time I had
+come back to the house without a rap and without the ass, it would
+have been a poor look-out for me; and if anyone wants to know anything
+more about me, here I am, ready to answer the king himself in
+person; and it is no affair of anyone's whether I took or did not
+take, whether I spent or did not spend; for the whacks that were given
+me in these journeys were to be paid for in money, even if they were
+valued at no more than four maravedis apiece, another hundred crowns
+would not pay me for half of them. Let each look to himself and not
+try to make out white black, and black white; for each of us is as God
+made him, aye, and often worse."
+
+"I will take care," said Carrasco, "to impress upon the author of
+the history that, if he prints it again, he must not forget what
+worthy Sancho has said, for it will raise it a good span higher."
+
+"Is there anything else to correct in the history, senor
+bachelor?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"No doubt there is," replied he; "but not anything that will be of
+the same importance as those I have mentioned."
+
+"Does the author promise a second part at all?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"He does promise one," replied Samson; "but he says he has not found
+it, nor does he know who has got it; and we cannot say whether it will
+appear or not; and so, on that head, as some say that no second part
+has ever been good, and others that enough has been already written
+about Don Quixote, it is thought there will be no second part;
+though some, who are jovial rather than saturnine, say, 'Let us have
+more Quixotades, let Don Quixote charge and Sancho chatter, and no
+matter what it may turn out, we shall be satisfied with that.'"
+
+"And what does the author mean to do?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"What?" replied Samson; "why, as soon as he has found the history
+which he is now searching for with extraordinary diligence, he will at
+once give it to the press, moved more by the profit that may accrue to
+him from doing so than by any thought of praise."
+
+Whereat Sancho observed, "The author looks for money and profit,
+does he? It will he a wonder if he succeeds, for it will be only
+hurry, hurry, with him, like the tailor on Easter Eve; and works
+done in a hurry are never finished as perfectly as they ought to be.
+Let master Moor, or whatever he is, pay attention to what he is doing,
+and I and my master will give him as much grouting ready to his
+hand, in the way of adventures and accidents of all sorts, as would
+make up not only one second part, but a hundred. The good man fancies,
+no doubt, that we are fast asleep in the straw here, but let him
+hold up our feet to be shod and he will see which foot it is we go
+lame on. All I say is, that if my master would take my advice, we
+would be now afield, redressing outrages and righting wrongs, as is
+the use and custom of good knights-errant."
+
+Sancho had hardly uttered these words when the neighing of Rocinante
+fell upon their ears, which neighing Don Quixote accepted as a happy
+omen, and he resolved to make another sally in three or four days from
+that time. Announcing his intention to the bachelor, he asked his
+advice as to the quarter in which he ought to commence his expedition,
+and the bachelor replied that in his opinion he ought to go to the
+kingdom of Aragon, and the city of Saragossa, where there were to be
+certain solemn joustings at the festival of St. George, at which he
+might win renown above all the knights of Aragon, which would be
+winning it above all the knights of the world. He commended his very
+praiseworthy and gallant resolution, but admonished him to proceed
+with greater caution in encountering dangers, because his life did not
+belong to him, but to all those who had need of him to protect and aid
+them in their misfortunes.
+
+"There's where it is, what I abominate, Senor Samson," said Sancho
+here; "my master will attack a hundred armed men as a greedy boy would
+half a dozen melons. Body of the world, senor bachelor! there is a
+time to attack and a time to retreat, and it is not to be always
+'Santiago, and close Spain!' Moreover, I have heard it said (and I
+think by my master himself, if I remember rightly) that the mean of
+valour lies between the extremes of cowardice and rashness; and if
+that be so, I don't want him to fly without having good reason, or
+to attack when the odds make it better not. But, above all things, I
+warn my master that if he is to take me with him it must be on the
+condition that he is to do all the fighting, and that I am not to be
+called upon to do anything except what concerns keeping him clean
+and comfortable; in this I will dance attendance on him readily; but
+to expect me to draw sword, even against rascally churls of the
+hatchet and hood, is idle. I don't set up to be a fighting man,
+Senor Samson, but only the best and most loyal squire that ever served
+knight-errant; and if my master Don Quixote, in consideration of my
+many faithful services, is pleased to give me some island of the
+many his worship says one may stumble on in these parts, I will take
+it as a great favour; and if he does not give it to me, I was born
+like everyone else, and a man must not live in dependence on anyone
+except God; and what is more, my bread will taste as well, and perhaps
+even better, without a government than if I were a governor; and how
+do I know but that in these governments the devil may have prepared
+some trip for me, to make me lose my footing and fall and knock my
+grinders out? Sancho I was born and Sancho I mean to die. But for
+all that, if heaven were to make me a fair offer of an island or
+something else of the kind, without much trouble and without much
+risk, I am not such a fool as to refuse it; for they say, too, 'when
+they offer thee a heifer, run with a halter; and 'when good luck comes
+to thee, take it in.'"
+
+"Brother Sancho," said Carrasco, "you have spoken like a
+professor; but, for all that, put your trust in God and in Senor Don
+Quixote, for he will give you a kingdom, not to say an island."
+
+"It is all the same, be it more or be it less," replied Sancho;
+"though I can tell Senor Carrasco that my master would not throw the
+kingdom he might give me into a sack all in holes; for I have felt
+my own pulse and I find myself sound enough to rule kingdoms and
+govern islands; and I have before now told my master as much."
+
+"Take care, Sancho," said Samson; "honours change manners, and
+perhaps when you find yourself a governor you won't know the mother
+that bore you."
+
+"That may hold good of those that are born in the ditches," said
+Sancho, "not of those who have the fat of an old Christian four
+fingers deep on their souls, as I have. Nay, only look at my
+disposition, is that likely to show ingratitude to anyone?"
+
+"God grant it," said Don Quixote; "we shall see when the
+government comes; and I seem to see it already."
+
+He then begged the bachelor, if he were a poet, to do him the favour
+of composing some verses for him conveying the farewell he meant to
+take of his lady Dulcinea del Toboso, and to see that a letter of
+her name was placed at the beginning of each line, so that, at the end
+of the verses, "Dulcinea del Toboso" might be read by putting together
+the first letters. The bachelor replied that although he was not one
+of the famous poets of Spain, who were, they said, only three and a
+half, he would not fail to compose the required verses; though he
+saw a great difficulty in the task, as the letters which made up the
+name were seventeen; so, if he made four ballad stanzas of four
+lines each, there would be a letter over, and if he made them of five,
+what they called decimas or redondillas, there were three letters
+short; nevertheless he would try to drop a letter as well as he could,
+so that the name "Dulcinea del Toboso" might be got into four ballad
+stanzas.
+
+"It must be, by some means or other," said Don Quixote, "for
+unless the name stands there plain and manifest, no woman would
+believe the verses were made for her."
+
+They agreed upon this, and that the departure should take place in
+three days from that time. Don Quixote charged the bachelor to keep it
+a secret, especially from the curate and Master Nicholas, and from his
+niece and the housekeeper, lest they should prevent the execution of
+his praiseworthy and valiant purpose. Carrasco promised all, and
+then took his leave, charging Don Quixote to inform him of his good or
+evil fortunes whenever he had an opportunity; and thus they bade
+each other farewell, and Sancho went away to make the necessary
+preparations for their expedition.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+OF THE SHREWD AND DROLL CONVERSATION THAT PASSED BETWEEN SANCHO
+PANZA AND HIS WIFE TERESA PANZA, AND OTHER MATTERS WORTHY OF BEING
+DULY RECORDED
+
+The translator of this history, when he comes to write this fifth
+chapter, says that he considers it apocryphal, because in it Sancho
+Panza speaks in a style unlike that which might have been expected
+from his limited intelligence, and says things so subtle that he
+does not think it possible he could have conceived them; however,
+desirous of doing what his task imposed upon him, he was unwilling
+to leave it untranslated, and therefore he went on to say:
+
+Sancho came home in such glee and spirits that his wife noticed
+his happiness a bowshot off, so much so that it made her ask him,
+"What have you got, Sancho friend, that you are so glad?"
+
+To which he replied, "Wife, if it were God's will, I should be
+very glad not to be so well pleased as I show myself."
+
+"I don't understand you, husband," said she, "and I don't know
+what you mean by saying you would be glad, if it were God's will,
+not to be well pleased; for, fool as I am, I don't know how one can
+find pleasure in not having it."
+
+"Hark ye, Teresa," replied Sancho, "I am glad because I have made up
+my mind to go back to the service of my master Don Quixote, who
+means to go out a third time to seek for adventures; and I am going
+with him again, for my necessities will have it so, and also the
+hope that cheers me with the thought that I may find another hundred
+crowns like those we have spent; though it makes me sad to have to
+leave thee and the children; and if God would be pleased to let me
+have my daily bread, dry-shod and at home, without taking me out
+into the byways and cross-roads- and he could do it at small cost by
+merely willing it- it is clear my happiness would be more solid and
+lasting, for the happiness I have is mingled with sorrow at leaving
+thee; so that I was right in saying I would be glad, if it were
+God's will, not to be well pleased."
+
+"Look here, Sancho," said Teresa; "ever since you joined on to a
+knight-errant you talk in such a roundabout way that there is no
+understanding you."
+
+"It is enough that God understands me, wife," replied Sancho; "for
+he is the understander of all things; that will do; but mind,
+sister, you must look to Dapple carefully for the next three days,
+so that he may be fit to take arms; double his feed, and see to the
+pack-saddle and other harness, for it is not to a wedding we are
+bound, but to go round the world, and play at give and take with
+giants and dragons and monsters, and hear hissings and roarings and
+bellowings and howlings; and even all this would be lavender, if we
+had not to reckon with Yanguesans and enchanted Moors."
+
+"I know well enough, husband," said Teresa, "that squires-errant
+don't eat their bread for nothing, and so I will be always praying
+to our Lord to deliver you speedily from all that hard fortune."
+
+"I can tell you, wife," said Sancho, "if I did not expect to see
+myself governor of an island before long, I would drop down dead on
+the spot."
+
+"Nay, then, husband," said Teresa; "let the hen live, though it be
+with her pip, live, and let the devil take all the governments in
+the world; you came out of your mother's womb without a government,
+you have lived until now without a government, and when it is God's
+will you will go, or be carried, to your grave without a government.
+How many there are in the world who live without a government, and
+continue to live all the same, and are reckoned in the number of the
+people. The best sauce in the world is hunger, and as the poor are
+never without that, they always eat with a relish. But mind, Sancho,
+if by good luck you should find yourself with some government, don't
+forget me and your children. Remember that Sanchico is now full
+fifteen, and it is right he should go to school, if his uncle the
+abbot has a mind to have him trained for the Church. Consider, too,
+that your daughter Mari-Sancha will not die of grief if we marry
+her; for I have my suspicions that she is as eager to get a husband as
+you to get a government; and, after all, a daughter looks better ill
+married than well whored."
+
+"By my faith," replied Sancho, "if God brings me to get any sort
+of a government, I intend, wife, to make such a high match for
+Mari-Sancha that there will be no approaching her without calling
+her 'my lady."
+
+"Nay, Sancho," returned Teresa; "marry her to her equal, that is the
+safest plan; for if you put her out of wooden clogs into high-heeled
+shoes, out of her grey flannel petticoat into hoops and silk gowns,
+out of the plain 'Marica' and 'thou,' into 'Dona So-and-so' and 'my
+lady,' the girl won't know where she is, and at every turn she will
+fall into a thousand blunders that will show the thread of her
+coarse homespun stuff."
+
+"Tut, you fool," said Sancho; "it will be only to practise it for
+two or three years; and then dignity and decorum will fit her as
+easily as a glove; and if not, what matter? Let her he 'my lady,'
+and never mind what happens."
+
+"Keep to your own station, Sancho," replied Teresa; "don't try to
+raise yourself higher, and bear in mind the proverb that says, 'wipe
+the nose of your neigbbour's son, and take him into your house.' A
+fine thing it would be, indeed, to marry our Maria to some great count
+or grand gentleman, who, when the humour took him, would abuse her and
+call her clown-bred and clodhopper's daughter and spinning wench. I
+have not been bringing up my daughter for that all this time, I can
+tell you, husband. Do you bring home money, Sancho, and leave marrying
+her to my care; there is Lope Tocho, Juan Tocho's son, a stout, sturdy
+young fellow that we know, and I can see he does not look sour at
+the girl; and with him, one of our own sort, she will be well married,
+and we shall have her always under our eyes, and be all one family,
+parents and children, grandchildren and sons-in-law, and the peace and
+blessing of God will dwell among us; so don't you go marrying her in
+those courts and grand palaces where they won't know what to make of
+her, or she what to make of herself."
+
+"Why, you idiot and wife for Barabbas," said Sancho, "what do you
+mean by trying, without why or wherefore, to keep me from marrying
+my daughter to one who will give me grandchildren that will be
+called 'your lordship'? Look ye, Teresa, I have always heard my elders
+say that he who does not know how to take advantage of luck when it
+comes to him, has no right to complain if it gives him the go-by;
+and now that it is knocking at our door, it will not do to shut it
+out; let us go with the favouring breeze that blows upon us."
+
+It is this sort of talk, and what Sancho says lower down, that
+made the translator of the history say he considered this chapter
+apocryphal.
+
+"Don't you see, you animal," continued Sancho, "that it will be well
+for me to drop into some profitable government that will lift us out
+of the mire, and marry Mari-Sancha to whom I like; and you yourself
+will find yourself called 'Dona Teresa Panza,' and sitting in church
+on a fine carpet and cushions and draperies, in spite and in
+defiance of all the born ladies of the town? No, stay as you are,
+growing neither greater nor less, like a tapestry figure- Let us say
+no more about it, for Sanchica shall be a countess, say what you
+will."
+
+"Are you sure of all you say, husband?" replied Teresa. "Well, for
+all that, I am afraid this rank of countess for my daughter will be
+her ruin. You do as you like, make a duchess or a princess of her, but
+I can tell you it will not be with my will and consent. I was always a
+lover of equality, brother, and I can't bear to see people give
+themselves airs without any right. They called me Teresa at my
+baptism, a plain, simple name, without any additions or tags or
+fringes of Dons or Donas; Cascajo was my father's name, and as I am
+your wife, I am called Teresa Panza, though by right I ought to he
+called Teresa Cascajo; but 'kings go where laws like,' and I am
+content with this name without having the 'Don' put on top of it to
+make it so heavy that I cannot carry it; and I don't want to make
+people talk about me when they see me go dressed like a countess or
+governor's wife; for they will say at once, 'See what airs the slut
+gives herself! Only yesterday she was always spinning flax, and used
+to go to mass with the tail of her petticoat over her head instead
+of a mantle, and there she goes to-day in a hooped gown with her
+broaches and airs, as if we didn't know her!' If God keeps me in my
+seven senses, or five, or whatever number I have, I am not going to
+bring myself to such a pass; go you, brother, and be a government or
+an island man, and swagger as much as you like; for by the soul of
+my mother, neither my daughter nor I are going to stir a step from our
+village; a respectable woman should have a broken leg and keep at
+home; and to he busy at something is a virtuous damsel's holiday; be
+off to your adventures along with your Don Quixote, and leave us to
+our misadventures, for God will mend them for us according as we
+deserve it. I don't know, I'm sure, who fixed the 'Don' to him, what
+neither his father nor grandfather ever had."
+
+"I declare thou hast a devil of some sort in thy body!" said Sancho.
+"God help thee, what a lot of things thou hast strung together, one
+after the other, without head or tail! What have Cascajo, and the
+broaches and the proverbs and the airs, to do with what I say? Look
+here, fool and dolt (for so I may call you, when you don't
+understand my words, and run away from good fortune), if I had said
+that my daughter was to throw herself down from a tower, or go roaming
+the world, as the Infanta Dona Urraca wanted to do, you would be right
+in not giving way to my will; but if in an instant, in less than the
+twinkling of an eye, I put the 'Don' and 'my lady' on her back, and
+take her out of the stubble, and place her under a canopy, on a
+dais, and on a couch, with more velvet cushions than all the Almohades
+of Morocco ever had in their family, why won't you consent and fall in
+with my wishes?"
+
+"Do you know why, husband?" replied Teresa; "because of the
+proverb that says 'who covers thee, discovers thee.' At the poor man
+people only throw a hasty glance; on the rich man they fix their eyes;
+and if the said rich man was once on a time poor, it is then there
+is the sneering and the tattle and spite of backbiters; and in the
+streets here they swarm as thick as bees."
+
+"Look here, Teresa," said Sancho, "and listen to what I am now going
+to say to you; maybe you never heard it in all your life; and I do not
+give my own notions, for what I am about to say are the opinions of
+his reverence the preacher, who preached in this town last Lent, and
+who said, if I remember rightly, that all things present that our eyes
+behold, bring themselves before us, and remain and fix themselves on
+our memory much better and more forcibly than things past."
+
+These observations which Sancho makes here are the other ones on
+account of which the translator says he regards this chapter as
+apocryphal, inasmuch as they are beyond Sancho's capacity.
+
+"Whence it arises," he continued, "that when we see any person
+well dressed and making a figure with rich garments and retinue of
+servants, it seems to lead and impel us perforce to respect him,
+though memory may at the same moment recall to us some lowly condition
+in which we have seen him, but which, whether it may have been poverty
+or low birth, being now a thing of the past, has no existence; while
+the only thing that has any existence is what we see before us; and if
+this person whom fortune has raised from his original lowly state
+(these were the very words the padre used) to his present height of
+prosperity, be well bred, generous, courteous to all, without
+seeking to vie with those whose nobility is of ancient date, depend
+upon it, Teresa, no one will remember what he was, and everyone will
+respect what he is, except indeed the envious, from whom no fair
+fortune is safe."
+
+"I do not understand you, husband," replied Teresa; "do as you like,
+and don't break my head with any more speechifying and rethoric; and
+if you have revolved to do what you say-"
+
+"Resolved, you should say, woman," said Sancho, "not revolved."
+
+"Don't set yourself to wrangle with me, husband," said Teresa; "I
+speak as God pleases, and don't deal in out-of-the-way phrases; and
+I say if you are bent upon having a government, take your son Sancho
+with you, and teach him from this time on how to hold a government;
+for sons ought to inherit and learn the trades of their fathers."
+
+"As soon as I have the government," said Sancho, "I will send for
+him by post, and I will send thee money, of which I shall have no
+lack, for there is never any want of people to lend it to governors
+when they have not got it; and do thou dress him so as to hide what he
+is and make him look what he is to be."
+
+"You send the money," said Teresa, "and I'll dress him up for you as
+fine as you please."
+
+"Then we are agreed that our daughter is to be a countess," said
+Sancho.
+
+"The day that I see her a countess," replied Teresa, "it will be the
+same to me as if I was burying her; but once more I say do as you
+please, for we women are born to this burden of being obedient to
+our husbands, though they be dogs;" and with this she began to weep in
+earnest, as if she already saw Sanchica dead and buried.
+
+Sancho consoled her by saying that though he must make her a
+countess, he would put it off as long as possible. Here their
+conversation came to an end, and Sancho went back to see Don
+Quixote, and make arrangements for their departure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+OF WHAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE AND HIS NIECE AND
+HOUSEKEEPER; ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTERS IN THE WHOLE HISTORY
+
+While Sancho Panza and his wife, Teresa Cascajo, held the above
+irrelevant conversation, Don Quixote's niece and housekeeper were
+not idle, for by a thousand signs they began to perceive that their
+uncle and master meant to give them the slip the third time, and
+once more betake himself to his, for them, ill-errant chivalry. They
+strove by all the means in their power to divert him from such an
+unlucky scheme; but it was all preaching in the desert and hammering
+cold iron. Nevertheless, among many other representations made to him,
+the housekeeper said to him, "In truth, master, if you do not keep
+still and stay quiet at home, and give over roaming mountains and
+valleys like a troubled spirit, looking for what they say are called
+adventures, but what I call misfortunes, I shall have to make
+complaint to God and the king with loud supplication to send some
+remedy."
+
+To which Don Quixote replied, "What answer God will give to your
+complaints, housekeeper, I know not, nor what his Majesty will
+answer either; I only know that if I were king I should decline to
+answer the numberless silly petitions they present every day; for
+one of the greatest among the many troubles kings have is being
+obliged to listen to all and answer all, and therefore I should be
+sorry that any affairs of mine should worry him."
+
+Whereupon the housekeeper said, "Tell us, senor, at his Majesty's
+court are there no knights?"
+
+"There are," replied Don Quixote, "and plenty of them; and it is
+right there should be, to set off the dignity of the prince, and for
+the greater glory of the king's majesty."
+
+"Then might not your worship," said she, "be one of those that,
+without stirring a step, serve their king and lord in his court?"
+
+"Recollect, my friend," said Don Quixote, "all knights cannot be
+courtiers, nor can all courtiers be knights-errant, nor need they
+be. There must be all sorts in the world; and though we may be all
+knights, there is a great difference between one and another; for
+the courtiers, without quitting their chambers, or the threshold of
+the court, range the world over by looking at a map, without its
+costing them a farthing, and without suffering heat or cold, hunger or
+thirst; but we, the true knights-errant, measure the whole earth
+with our own feet, exposed to the sun, to the cold, to the air, to the
+inclemencies of heaven, by day and night, on foot and on horseback;
+nor do we only know enemies in pictures, but in their own real shapes;
+and at all risks and on all occasions we attack them, without any
+regard to childish points or rules of single combat, whether one has
+or has not a shorter lance or sword, whether one carries relics or any
+secret contrivance about him, whether or not the sun is to be
+divided and portioned out, and other niceties of the sort that are
+observed in set combats of man to man, that you know nothing about,
+but I do. And you must know besides, that the true knight-errant,
+though he may see ten giants, that not only touch the clouds with
+their heads but pierce them, and that go, each of them, on two tall
+towers by way of legs, and whose arms are like the masts of mighty
+ships, and each eye like a great mill-wheel, and glowing brighter than
+a glass furnace, must not on any account be dismayed by them. On the
+contrary, he must attack and fall upon them with a gallant bearing and
+a fearless heart, and, if possible, vanquish and destroy them, even
+though they have for armour the shells of a certain fish, that they
+say are harder than diamonds, and in place of swords wield trenchant
+blades of Damascus steel, or clubs studded with spikes also of
+steel, such as I have more than once seen. All this I say,
+housekeeper, that you may see the difference there is between the
+one sort of knight and the other; and it would be well if there were
+no prince who did not set a higher value on this second, or more
+properly speaking first, kind of knights-errant; for, as we read in
+their histories, there have been some among them who have been the
+salvation, not merely of one kingdom, but of many."
+
+"Ah, senor," here exclaimed the niece, "remember that all this you
+are saying about knights-errant is fable and fiction; and their
+histories, if indeed they were not burned, would deserve, each of
+them, to have a sambenito put on it, or some mark by which it might be
+known as infamous and a corrupter of good manners."
+
+"By the God that gives me life," said Don Quixote, "if thou wert not
+my full niece, being daughter of my own sister, I would inflict a
+chastisement upon thee for the blasphemy thou hast uttered that all
+the world should ring with. What! can it be that a young hussy that
+hardly knows how to handle a dozen lace-bobbins dares to wag her
+tongue and criticise the histories of knights-errant? What would Senor
+Amadis say if he heard of such a thing? He, however, no doubt would
+forgive thee, for he was the most humble-minded and courteous knight
+of his time, and moreover a great protector of damsels; but some there
+are that might have heard thee, and it would not have been well for
+thee in that case; for they are not all courteous or mannerly; some
+are ill-conditioned scoundrels; nor is it everyone that calls
+himself a gentleman, that is so in all respects; some are gold, others
+pinchbeck, and all look like gentlemen, but not all can stand the
+touchstone of truth. There are men of low rank who strain themselves
+to bursting to pass for gentlemen, and high gentlemen who, one would
+fancy, were dying to pass for men of low rank; the former raise
+themselves by their ambition or by their virtues, the latter debase
+themselves by their lack of spirit or by their vices; and one has need
+of experience and discernment to distinguish these two kinds of
+gentlemen, so much alike in name and so different in conduct."
+
+"God bless me!" said the niece, "that you should know so much,
+uncle- enough, if need be, to get up into a pulpit and go preach in
+the streets -and yet that you should fall into a delusion so great and
+a folly so manifest as to try to make yourself out vigorous when you
+are old, strong when you are sickly, able to put straight what is
+crooked when you yourself are bent by age, and, above all, a caballero
+when you are not one; for though gentlefolk may he so, poor men are
+nothing of the kind!"
+
+"There is a great deal of truth in what you say, niece," returned
+Don Quixote, "and I could tell you somewhat about birth that would
+astonish you; but, not to mix up things human and divine, I refrain.
+Look you, my dears, all the lineages in the world (attend to what I am
+saying) can be reduced to four sorts, which are these: those that
+had humble beginnings, and went on spreading and extending
+themselves until they attained surpassing greatness; those that had
+great beginnings and maintained them, and still maintain and uphold
+the greatness of their origin; those, again, that from a great
+beginning have ended in a point like a pyramid, having reduced and
+lessened their original greatness till it has come to nought, like the
+point of a pyramid, which, relatively to its base or foundation, is
+nothing; and then there are those- and it is they that are the most
+numerous- that have had neither an illustrious beginning nor a
+remarkable mid-course, and so will have an end without a name, like an
+ordinary plebeian line. Of the first, those that had an humble
+origin and rose to the greatness they still preserve, the Ottoman
+house may serve as an example, which from an humble and lowly
+shepherd, its founder, has reached the height at which we now see
+it. For examples of the second sort of lineage, that began with
+greatness and maintains it still without adding to it, there are the
+many princes who have inherited the dignity, and maintain themselves
+in their inheritance, without increasing or diminishing it, keeping
+peacefully within the limits of their states. Of those that began
+great and ended in a point, there are thousands of examples, for all
+the Pharaohs and Ptolemies of Egypt, the Caesars of Rome, and the
+whole herd (if I may such a word to them) of countless princes,
+monarchs, lords, Medes, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and barbarians,
+all these lineages and lordships have ended in a point and come to
+nothing, they themselves as well as their founders, for it would be
+impossible now to find one of their descendants, and, even should we
+find one, it would be in some lowly and humble condition. Of
+plebeian lineages I have nothing to say, save that they merely serve
+to swell the number of those that live, without any eminence to
+entitle them to any fame or praise beyond this. From all I have said I
+would have you gather, my poor innocents, that great is the
+confusion among lineages, and that only those are seen to be great and
+illustrious that show themselves so by the virtue, wealth, and
+generosity of their possessors. I have said virtue, wealth, and
+generosity, because a great man who is vicious will be a great example
+of vice, and a rich man who is not generous will be merely a miserly
+beggar; for the possessor of wealth is not made happy by possessing
+it, but by spending it, and not by spending as he pleases, but by
+knowing how to spend it well. The poor gentleman has no way of showing
+that he is a gentleman but by virtue, by being affable, well-bred,
+courteous, gentle-mannered, and kindly, not haughty, arrogant, or
+censorious, but above all by being charitable; for by two maravedis
+given with a cheerful heart to the poor, he will show himself as
+generous as he who distributes alms with bell-ringing, and no one that
+perceives him to be endowed with the virtues I have named, even though
+he know him not, will fail to recognise and set him down as one of
+good blood; and it would be strange were it not so; praise has ever
+been the reward of virtue, and those who are virtuous cannot fail to
+receive commendation. There are two roads, my daughters, by which
+men may reach wealth and honours; one is that of letters, the other
+that of arms. I have more of arms than of letters in my composition,
+and, judging by my inclination to arms, was born under the influence
+of the planet Mars. I am, therefore, in a measure constrained to
+follow that road, and by it I must travel in spite of all the world,
+and it will be labour in vain for you to urge me to resist what heaven
+wills, fate ordains, reason requires, and, above all, my own
+inclination favours; for knowing as I do the countless toils that
+are the accompaniments of knight-errantry, I know, too, the infinite
+blessings that are attained by it; I know that the path of virtue is
+very narrow, and the road of vice broad and spacious; I know their
+ends and goals are different, for the broad and easy road of vice ends
+in death, and the narrow and toilsome one of virtue in life, and not
+transitory life, but in that which has no end; I know, as our great
+Castilian poet says, that-
+
+It is by rugged paths like these they go
+That scale the heights of immortality,
+Unreached by those that falter here below."
+
+
+"Woe is me!" exclaimed the niece, "my lord is a poet, too! He
+knows everything, and he can do everything; I will bet, if he chose to
+turn mason, he could make a house as easily as a cage."
+
+"I can tell you, niece," replied Don Quixote, "if these chivalrous
+thoughts did not engage all my faculties, there would be nothing
+that I could not do, nor any sort of knickknack that would not come
+from my hands, particularly cages and tooth-picks."
+
+At this moment there came a knocking at the door, and when they
+asked who was there, Sancho Panza made answer that it was he. The
+instant the housekeeper knew who it was, she ran to hide herself so as
+not to see him; in such abhorrence did she hold him. The niece let him
+in, and his master Don Quixote came forward to receive him with open
+arms, and the pair shut themselves up in his room, where they had
+another conversation not inferior to the previous one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+OF WHAT PASSED BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE AND HIS SQUIRE, TOGETHER WITH
+OTHER VERY NOTABLE INCIDENTS
+
+The instant the housekeeper saw Sancho Panza shut himself in with
+her master, she guessed what they were about; and suspecting that
+the result of the consultation would be a resolve to undertake a third
+sally, she seized her mantle, and in deep anxiety and distress, ran to
+find the bachelor Samson Carrasco, as she thought that, being a
+well-spoken man, and a new friend of her master's, he might be able to
+persuade him to give up any such crazy notion. She found him pacing
+the patio of his house, and, perspiring and flurried, she fell at
+his feet the moment she saw him.
+
+Carrasco, seeing how distressed and overcome she was, said to her,
+"What is this, mistress housekeeper? What has happened to you? One
+would think you heart-broken."
+
+"Nothing, Senor Samson," said she, "only that my master is
+breaking out, plainly breaking out."
+
+"Whereabouts is he breaking out, senora?" asked Samson; "has any
+part of his body burst?"
+
+"He is only breaking out at the door of his madness," she replied;
+"I mean, dear senor bachelor, that he is going to break out again (and
+this will be the third time) to hunt all over the world for what he
+calls ventures, though I can't make out why he gives them that name.
+The first time he was brought back to us slung across the back of an
+ass, and belaboured all over; and the second time he came in an
+ox-cart, shut up in a cage, in which he persuaded himself he was
+enchanted, and the poor creature was in such a state that the mother
+that bore him would not have known him; lean, yellow, with his eyes
+sunk deep in the cells of his skull; so that to bring him round again,
+ever so little, cost me more than six hundred eggs, as God knows,
+and all the world, and my hens too, that won't let me tell a lie."
+
+"That I can well believe," replied the bachelor, "for they are so
+good and so fat, and so well-bred, that they would not say one thing
+for another, though they were to burst for it. In short then, mistress
+housekeeper, that is all, and there is nothing the matter, except what
+it is feared Don Quixote may do?"
+
+"No, senor," said she.
+
+"Well then," returned the bachelor, "don't be uneasy, but go home in
+peace; get me ready something hot for breakfast, and while you are
+on the way say the prayer of Santa Apollonia, that is if you know
+it; for I will come presently and you will see miracles."
+
+"Woe is me," cried the housekeeper, "is it the prayer of Santa
+Apollonia you would have me say? That would do if it was the toothache
+my master had; but it is in the brains, what he has got."
+
+"I know what I am saying, mistress housekeeper; go, and don't set
+yourself to argue with me, for you know I am a bachelor of
+Salamanca, and one can't be more of a bachelor than that," replied
+Carrasco; and with this the housekeeper retired, and the bachelor went
+to look for the curate, and arrange with him what will be told in
+its proper place.
+
+While Don Quixote and Sancho were shut up together, they had a
+discussion which the history records with great precision and
+scrupulous exactness. Sancho said to his master, "Senor, I have educed
+my wife to let me go with your worship wherever you choose to take
+me."
+
+"Induced, you should say, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "not educed."
+
+"Once or twice, as well as I remember," replied Sancho, "I have
+begged of your worship not to mend my words, if so be as you
+understand what I mean by them; and if you don't understand them to
+say 'Sancho,' or 'devil,' 'I don't understand thee; and if I don't
+make my meaning plain, then you may correct me, for I am so focile-"
+
+"I don't understand thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote at once; "for
+I know not what 'I am so focile' means."
+
+"'So focile' means I am so much that way," replied Sancho.
+
+"I understand thee still less now," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Well, if you can't understand me," said Sancho, "I don't know how
+to put it; I know no more, God help me."
+
+"Oh, now I have hit it," said Don Quixote; "thou wouldst say thou
+art so docile, tractable, and gentle that thou wilt take what I say to
+thee, and submit to what I teach thee."
+
+"I would bet," said Sancho, "that from the very first you understood
+me, and knew what I meant, but you wanted to put me out that you might
+hear me make another couple of dozen blunders."
+
+"May be so," replied Don Quixote; "but to come to the point, what
+does Teresa say?"
+
+"Teresa says," replied Sancho, "that I should make sure with your
+worship, and 'let papers speak and beards be still,' for 'he who binds
+does not wrangle,' since one 'take' is better than two 'I'll give
+thee's;' and I say a woman's advice is no great thing, and he who
+won't take it is a fool."
+
+"And so say I," said Don Quixote; "continue, Sancho my friend; go
+on; you talk pearls to-day."
+
+"The fact is," continued Sancho, "that, as your worship knows better
+than I do, we are all of us liable to death, and to-day we are, and
+to-morrow we are not, and the lamb goes as soon as the sheep, and
+nobody can promise himself more hours of life in this world than God
+may be pleased to give him; for death is deaf, and when it comes to
+knock at our life's door, it is always urgent, and neither prayers,
+nor struggles, nor sceptres, nor mitres, can keep it back, as common
+talk and report say, and as they tell us from the pulpits every day."
+
+"All that is very true," said Don Quixote; "but I cannot make out
+what thou art driving at."
+
+"What I am driving at," said Sancho, "is that your worship settle
+some fixed wages for me, to be paid monthly while I am in your
+service, and that the same he paid me out of your estate; for I
+don't care to stand on rewards which either come late, or ill, or
+never at all; God help me with my own. In short, I would like to
+know what I am to get, be it much or little; for the hen will lay on
+one egg, and many littles make a much, and so long as one gains
+something there is nothing lost. To he sure, if it should happen (what
+I neither believe nor expect) that your worship were to give me that
+island you have promised me, I am not so ungrateful nor so grasping
+but that I would be willing to have the revenue of such island
+valued and stopped out of my wages in due promotion."
+
+"Sancho, my friend," replied Don Quixote, "sometimes proportion
+may be as good as promotion."
+
+"I see," said Sancho; "I'll bet I ought to have said proportion, and
+not promotion; but it is no matter, as your worship has understood
+me."
+
+"And so well understood," returned Don Quixote, "that I have seen
+into the depths of thy thoughts, and know the mark thou art shooting
+at with the countless shafts of thy proverbs. Look here, Sancho, I
+would readily fix thy wages if I had ever found any instance in the
+histories of the knights-errant to show or indicate, by the
+slightest hint, what their squires used to get monthly or yearly;
+but I have read all or the best part of their histories, and I
+cannot remember reading of any knight-errant having assigned fixed
+wages to his squire; I only know that they all served on reward, and
+that when they least expected it, if good luck attended their masters,
+they found themselves recompensed with an island or something
+equivalent to it, or at the least they were left with a title and
+lordship. If with these hopes and additional inducements you,
+Sancho, please to return to my service, well and good; but to
+suppose that I am going to disturb or unhinge the ancient usage of
+knight-errantry, is all nonsense. And so, my Sancho, get you back to
+your house and explain my intentions to your Teresa, and if she
+likes and you like to be on reward with me, bene quidem; if not, we
+remain friends; for if the pigeon-house does not lack food, it will
+not lack pigeons; and bear in mind, my son, that a good hope is better
+than a bad holding, and a good grievance better than a bad
+compensation. I speak in this way, Sancho, to show you that I can
+shower down proverbs just as well as yourself; and in short, I mean to
+say, and I do say, that if you don't like to come on reward with me,
+and run the same chance that I run, God be with you and make a saint
+of you; for I shall find plenty of squires more obedient and
+painstaking, and not so thickheaded or talkative as you are."
+
+When Sancho heard his master's firm, resolute language, a cloud came
+over the sky with him and the wings of his heart drooped, for he had
+made sure that his master would not go without him for all the
+wealth of the world; and as he stood there dumbfoundered and moody,
+Samson Carrasco came in with the housekeeper and niece, who were
+anxious to hear by what arguments he was about to dissuade their
+master from going to seek adventures. The arch wag Samson came
+forward, and embracing him as he had done before, said with a loud
+voice, "O flower of knight-errantry! O shining light of arms! O honour
+and mirror of the Spanish nation! may God Almighty in his infinite
+power grant that any person or persons, who would impede or hinder thy
+third sally, may find no way out of the labyrinth of their schemes,
+nor ever accomplish what they most desire!" And then, turning to the
+housekeeper, he said, "Mistress housekeeper may just as well give over
+saying the prayer of Santa Apollonia, for I know it is the positive
+determination of the spheres that Senor Don Quixote shall proceed to
+put into execution his new and lofty designs; and I should lay a heavy
+burden on my conscience did I not urge and persuade this knight not to
+keep the might of his strong arm and the virtue of his valiant
+spirit any longer curbed and checked, for by his inactivity he is
+defrauding the world of the redress of wrongs, of the protection of
+orphans, of the honour of virgins, of the aid of widows, and of the
+support of wives, and other matters of this kind appertaining,
+belonging, proper and peculiar to the order of knight-errantry. On,
+then, my lord Don Quixote, beautiful and brave, let your worship and
+highness set out to-day rather than to-morrow; and if anything be
+needed for the execution of your purpose, here am I ready in person
+and purse to supply the want; and were it requisite to attend your
+magnificence as squire, I should esteem it the happiest good fortune."
+
+At this, Don Quixote, turning to Sancho, said, "Did I not tell thee,
+Sancho, there would be squires enough and to spare for me? See now who
+offers to become one; no less than the illustrious bachelor Samson
+Carrasco, the perpetual joy and delight of the courts of the
+Salamancan schools, sound in body, discreet, patient under heat or
+cold, hunger or thirst, with all the qualifications requisite to
+make a knight-errant's squire! But heaven forbid that, to gratify my
+own inclination, I should shake or shatter this pillar of letters
+and vessel of the sciences, and cut down this towering palm of the
+fair and liberal arts. Let this new Samson remain in his own
+country, and, bringing honour to it, bring honour at the same time
+on the grey heads of his venerable parents; for I will be content with
+any squire that comes to hand, as Sancho does not deign to accompany
+me."
+
+"I do deign," said Sancho, deeply moved and with tears in his
+eyes; "it shall not be said of me, master mine," he continued, "'the
+bread eaten and the company dispersed.' Nay, I come of no ungrateful
+stock, for all the world knows, but particularly my own town, who
+the Panzas from whom I am descended were; and, what is more, I know
+and have learned, by many good words and deeds, your worship's
+desire to show me favour; and if I have been bargaining more or less
+about my wages, it was only to please my wife, who, when she sets
+herself to press a point, no hammer drives the hoops of a cask as
+she drives one to do what she wants; but, after all, a man must be a
+man, and a woman a woman; and as I am a man anyhow, which I can't
+deny, I will be one in my own house too, let who will take it amiss;
+and so there's nothing more to do but for your worship to make your
+will with its codicil in such a way that it can't be provoked, and let
+us set out at once, to save Senor Samson's soul from suffering, as
+he says his conscience obliges him to persuade your worship to sally
+out upon the world a third time; so I offer again to serve your
+worship faithfully and loyally, as well and better than all the
+squires that served knights-errant in times past or present."
+
+The bachelor was filled with amazement when he heard Sancho's
+phraseology and style of talk, for though he had read the first part
+of his master's history he never thought that he could be so droll
+as he was there described; but now, hearing him talk of a "will and
+codicil that could not be provoked," instead of "will and codicil that
+could not be revoked," he believed all he had read of him, and set him
+down as one of the greatest simpletons of modern times; and he said to
+himself that two such lunatics as master and man the world had never
+seen. In fine, Don Quixote and Sancho embraced one another and made
+friends, and by the advice and with the approval of the great
+Carrasco, who was now their oracle, it was arranged that their
+departure should take place three days thence, by which time they
+could have all that was requisite for the journey ready, and procure a
+closed helmet, which Don Quixote said he must by all means take.
+Samson offered him one, as he knew a friend of his who had it would
+not refuse it to him, though it was more dingy with rust and mildew
+than bright and clean like burnished steel.
+
+The curses which both housekeeper and niece poured out on the
+bachelor were past counting; they tore their hair, they clawed their
+faces, and in the style of the hired mourners that were once in
+fashion, they raised a lamentation over the departure of their
+master and uncle, as if it had been his death. Samson's intention in
+persuading him to sally forth once more was to do what the history
+relates farther on; all by the advice of the curate and barber, with
+whom he had previously discussed the subject. Finally, then, during
+those three days, Don Quixote and Sancho provided themselves with what
+they considered necessary, and Sancho having pacified his wife, and
+Don Quixote his niece and housekeeper, at nightfall, unseen by
+anyone except the bachelor, who thought fit to accompany them half a
+league out of the village, they set out for El Toboso, Don Quixote
+on his good Rocinante and Sancho on his old Dapple, his alforjas
+furnished with certain matters in the way of victuals, and his purse
+with money that Don Quixote gave him to meet emergencies. Samson
+embraced him, and entreated him to let him hear of his good or evil
+fortunes, so that he might rejoice over the former or condole with him
+over the latter, as the laws of friendship required. Don Quixote
+promised him he would do so, and Samson returned to the village, and
+the other two took the road for the great city of El Toboso.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+WHEREIN IS RELATED WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE ON HIS WAY TO SEE HIS
+LADY DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO
+
+"Blessed be Allah the all-powerful!" says Hamete Benengeli on
+beginning this eighth chapter; "blessed be Allah!" he repeats three
+times; and he says he utters these thanksgivings at seeing that he has
+now got Don Quixote and Sancho fairly afield, and that the readers
+of his delightful history may reckon that the achievements and humours
+of Don Quixote and his squire are now about to begin; and he urges
+them to forget the former chivalries of the ingenious gentleman and to
+fix their eyes on those that are to come, which now begin on the
+road to El Toboso, as the others began on the plains of Montiel; nor
+is it much that he asks in consideration of all he promises, and so he
+goes on to say:
+
+Don Quixote and Sancho were left alone, and the moment Samson took
+his departure, Rocinante began to neigh, and Dapple to sigh, which, by
+both knight and squire, was accepted as a good sign and a very happy
+omen; though, if the truth is to be told, the sighs and brays of
+Dapple were louder than the neighings of the hack, from which Sancho
+inferred that his good fortune was to exceed and overtop that of his
+master, building, perhaps, upon some judicial astrology that he may
+have known, though the history says nothing about it; all that can
+be said is, that when he stumbled or fell, he was heard to say he
+wished he had not come out, for by stumbling or falling there was
+nothing to be got but a damaged shoe or a broken rib; and, fool as
+he was, he was not much astray in this.
+
+Said Don Quixote, "Sancho, my friend, night is drawing on upon us as
+we go, and more darkly than will allow us to reach El Toboso by
+daylight; for there I am resolved to go before I engage in another
+adventure, and there I shall obtain the blessing and generous
+permission of the peerless Dulcinea, with which permission I expect
+and feel assured that I shall conclude and bring to a happy
+termination every perilous adventure; for nothing in life makes
+knights-errant more valorous than finding themselves favoured by their
+ladies."
+
+"So I believe," replied Sancho; "but I think it will be difficult
+for your worship to speak with her or see her, at any rate where you
+will be able to receive her blessing; unless, indeed, she throws it
+over the wall of the yard where I saw her the time before, when I took
+her the letter that told of the follies and mad things your worship
+was doing in the heart of Sierra Morena."
+
+"Didst thou take that for a yard wall, Sancho," said Don Quixote,
+"where or at which thou sawest that never sufficiently extolled
+grace and beauty? It must have been the gallery, corridor, or
+portico of some rich and royal palace."
+
+"It might have been all that," returned Sancho, "but to me it looked
+like a wall, unless I am short of memory."
+
+"At all events, let us go there, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "for, so
+that I see her, it is the same to me whether it be over a wall, or
+at a window, or through the chink of a door, or the grate of a garden;
+for any beam of the sun of her beauty that reaches my eyes will give
+light to my reason and strength to my heart, so that I shall be
+unmatched and unequalled in wisdom and valour."
+
+"Well, to tell the truth, senor," said Sancho, "when I saw that
+sun of the lady Dulcinea del Toboso, it was not bright enough to throw
+out beams at all; it must have been, that as her grace was sifting
+that wheat I told you of, the thick dust she raised came before her
+face like a cloud and dimmed it."
+
+"What! dost thou still persist, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "in
+saying, thinking, believing, and maintaining that my lady Dulcinea was
+sifting wheat, that being an occupation and task entirely at
+variance with what is and should be the employment of persons of
+distinction, who are constituted and reserved for other avocations and
+pursuits that show their rank a bowshot off? Thou hast forgotten, O
+Sancho, those lines of our poet wherein he paints for us how, in their
+crystal abodes, those four nymphs employed themselves who rose from
+their loved Tagus and seated themselves in a verdant meadow to
+embroider those tissues which the ingenious poet there describes to
+us, how they were worked and woven with gold and silk and pearls;
+and something of this sort must have been the employment of my lady
+when thou sawest her, only that the spite which some wicked
+enchanter seems to have against everything of mine changes all those
+things that give me pleasure, and turns them into shapes unlike
+their own; and so I fear that in that history of my achievements which
+they say is now in print, if haply its author was some sage who is
+an enemy of mine, he will have put one thing for another, mingling a
+thousand lies with one truth, and amusing himself by relating
+transactions which have nothing to do with the sequence of a true
+history. O envy, root of all countless evils, and cankerworm of the
+virtues! All the vices, Sancho, bring some kind of pleasure with them;
+but envy brings nothing but irritation, bitterness, and rage."
+
+"So I say too," replied Sancho; "and I suspect in that legend or
+history of us that the bachelor Samson Carrasco told us he saw, my
+honour goes dragged in the dirt, knocked about, up and down,
+sweeping the streets, as they say. And yet, on the faith of an
+honest man, I never spoke ill of any enchanter, and I am not so well
+off that I am to be envied; to be sure, I am rather sly, and I have
+a certain spice of the rogue in me; but all is covered by the great
+cloak of my simplicity, always natural and never acted; and if I had
+no other merit save that I believe, as I always do, firmly and truly
+in God, and all the holy Roman Catholic Church holds and believes, and
+that I am a mortal enemy of the Jews, the historians ought to have
+mercy on me and treat me well in their writings. But let them say what
+they like; naked was I born, naked I find myself, I neither lose nor
+gain; nay, while I see myself put into a book and passed on from
+hand to hand over the world, I don't care a fig, let them say what
+they like of me."
+
+"That, Sancho," returned Don Quixote, "reminds me of what happened
+to a famous poet of our own day, who, having written a bitter satire
+against all the courtesan ladies, did not insert or name in it a
+certain lady of whom it was questionable whether she was one or not.
+She, seeing she was not in the list of the poet, asked him what he had
+seen in her that he did not include her in the number of the others,
+telling him he must add to his satire and put her in the new part,
+or else look out for the consequences. The poet did as she bade him,
+and left her without a shred of reputation, and she was satisfied by
+getting fame though it was infamy. In keeping with this is what they
+relate of that shepherd who set fire to the famous temple of Diana, by
+repute one of the seven wonders of the world, and burned it with the
+sole object of making his name live in after ages; and, though it
+was forbidden to name him, or mention his name by word of mouth or
+in writing, lest the object of his ambition should be attained,
+nevertheless it became known that he was called Erostratus. And
+something of the same sort is what happened in the case of the great
+emperor Charles V and a gentleman in Rome. The emperor was anxious
+to see that famous temple of the Rotunda, called in ancient times
+the temple 'of all the gods,' but now-a-days, by a better
+nomenclature, 'of all the saints,' which is the best preserved
+building of all those of pagan construction in Rome, and the one which
+best sustains the reputation of mighty works and magnificence of its
+founders. It is in the form of a half orange, of enormous
+dimensions, and well lighted, though no light penetrates it save
+that which is admitted by a window, or rather round skylight, at the
+top; and it was from this that the emperor examined the building. A
+Roman gentleman stood by his side and explained to him the skilful
+construction and ingenuity of the vast fabric and its wonderful
+architecture, and when they had left the skylight he said to the
+emperor, 'A thousand times, your Sacred Majesty, the impulse came upon
+me to seize your Majesty in my arms and fling myself down from
+yonder skylight, so as to leave behind me in the world a name that
+would last for ever.' 'I am thankful to you for not carrying such an
+evil thought into effect,' said the emperor, 'and I shall give you
+no opportunity in future of again putting your loyalty to the test;
+and I therefore forbid you ever to speak to me or to be where I am;
+and he followed up these words by bestowing a liberal bounty upon him.
+My meaning is, Sancho, that the desire of acquiring fame is a very
+powerful motive. What, thinkest thou, was it that flung Horatius in
+full armour down from the bridge into the depths of the Tiber? What
+burned the hand and arm of Mutius? What impelled Curtius to plunge
+into the deep burning gulf that opened in the midst of Rome? What,
+in opposition to all the omens that declared against him, made
+Julius Caesar cross the Rubicon? And to come to more modern
+examples, what scuttled the ships, and left stranded and cut off the
+gallant Spaniards under the command of the most courteous Cortes in
+the New World? All these and a variety of other great exploits are,
+were and will be, the work of fame that mortals desire as a reward and
+a portion of the immortality their famous deeds deserve; though we
+Catholic Christians and knights-errant look more to that future
+glory that is everlasting in the ethereal regions of heaven than to
+the vanity of the fame that is to be acquired in this present
+transitory life; a fame that, however long it may last, must after all
+end with the world itself, which has its own appointed end. So that, O
+Sancho, in what we do we must not overpass the bounds which the
+Christian religion we profess has assigned to us. We have to slay
+pride in giants, envy by generosity and nobleness of heart, anger by
+calmness of demeanour and equanimity, gluttony and sloth by the
+spareness of our diet and the length of our vigils, lust and
+lewdness by the loyalty we preserve to those whom we have made the
+mistresses of our thoughts, indolence by traversing the world in all
+directions seeking opportunities of making ourselves, besides
+Christians, famous knights. Such, Sancho, are the means by which we
+reach those extremes of praise that fair fame carries with it."
+
+"All that your worship has said so far," said Sancho, "I have
+understood quite well; but still I would be glad if your worship would
+dissolve a doubt for me, which has just this minute come into my
+mind."
+
+"Solve, thou meanest, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "say on, in God's
+name, and I will answer as well as I can."
+
+"Tell me, senor," Sancho went on to say, "those Julys or Augusts,
+and all those venturous knights that you say are now dead- where are
+they now?"
+
+"The heathens," replied Don Quixote, "are, no doubt, in hell; the
+Christians, if they were good Christians, are either in purgatory or
+in heaven."
+
+"Very good," said Sancho; "but now I want to know- the tombs where
+the bodies of those great lords are, have they silver lamps before
+them, or are the walls of their chapels ornamented with crutches,
+winding-sheets, tresses of hair, legs and eyes in wax? Or what are
+they ornamented with?"
+
+To which Don Quixote made answer: "The tombs of the heathens were
+generally sumptuous temples; the ashes of Julius Caesar's body were
+placed on the top of a stone pyramid of vast size, which they now call
+in Rome Saint Peter's needle. The emperor Hadrian had for a tomb a
+castle as large as a good-sized village, which they called the Moles
+Adriani, and is now the castle of St. Angelo in Rome. The queen
+Artemisia buried her husband Mausolus in a tomb which was reckoned one
+of the seven wonders of the world; but none of these tombs, or of
+the many others of the heathens, were ornamented with winding-sheets
+or any of those other offerings and tokens that show that they who are
+buried there are saints."
+
+"That's the point I'm coming to," said Sancho; "and now tell me,
+which is the greater work, to bring a dead man to life or to kill a
+giant?"
+
+"The answer is easy," replied Don Quixote; "it is a greater work
+to bring to life a dead man."
+
+"Now I have got you," said Sancho; "in that case the fame of them
+who bring the dead to life, who give sight to the blind, cure
+cripples, restore health to the sick, and before whose tombs there are
+lamps burning, and whose chapels are filled with devout folk on
+their knees adoring their relics be a better fame in this life and
+in the other than that which all the heathen emperors and
+knights-errant that have ever been in the world have left or may leave
+behind them?"
+
+"That I grant, too," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Then this fame, these favours, these privileges, or whatever you
+call it," said Sancho, "belong to the bodies and relics of the
+saints who, with the approbation and permission of our holy mother
+Church, have lamps, tapers, winding-sheets, crutches, pictures, eyes
+and legs, by means of which they increase devotion and add to their
+own Christian reputation. Kings carry the bodies or relics of saints
+on their shoulders, and kiss bits of their bones, and enrich and adorn
+their oratories and favourite altars with them."
+
+"What wouldst thou have me infer from all thou hast said, Sancho?"
+asked Don Quixote.
+
+"My meaning is," said Sancho, "let us set about becoming saints, and
+we shall obtain more quickly the fair fame we are striving after;
+for you know, senor, yesterday or the day before yesterday (for it
+is so lately one may say so) they canonised and beatified two little
+barefoot friars, and it is now reckoned the greatest good luck to kiss
+or touch the iron chains with which they girt and tortured their
+bodies, and they are held in greater veneration, so it is said, than
+the sword of Roland in the armoury of our lord the King, whom God
+preserve. So that, senor, it is better to be an humble little friar of
+no matter what order, than a valiant knight-errant; with God a
+couple of dozen of penance lashings are of more avail than two
+thousand lance-thrusts, be they given to giants, or monsters, or
+dragons."
+
+"All that is true," returned Don Quixote, "but we cannot all be
+friars, and many are the ways by which God takes his own to heaven;
+chivalry is a religion, there are sainted knights in glory."
+
+"Yes," said Sancho, "but I have heard say that there are more friars
+in heaven than knights-errant."
+
+"That," said Don Quixote, "is because those in religious orders
+are more numerous than knights."
+
+"The errants are many," said Sancho.
+
+"Many," replied Don Quixote, "but few they who deserve the name of
+knights."
+
+With these, and other discussions of the same sort, they passed that
+night and the following day, without anything worth mention
+happening to them, whereat Don Quixote was not a little dejected;
+but at length the next day, at daybreak, they descried the great
+city of El Toboso, at the sight of which Don Quixote's spirits rose
+and Sancho's fell, for he did not know Dulcinea's house, nor in all
+his life had he ever seen her, any more than his master; so that
+they were both uneasy, the one to see her, the other at not having
+seen her, and Sancho was at a loss to know what he was to do when
+his master sent him to El Toboso. In the end, Don Quixote made up
+his mind to enter the city at nightfall, and they waited until the
+time came among some oak trees that were near El Toboso; and when
+the moment they had agreed upon arrived, they made their entrance into
+the city, where something happened them that may fairly be called
+something.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WHEREIN IS RELATED WHAT WILL BE SEEN THERE
+
+'Twas at the very midnight hour- more or less- when Don Quixote
+and Sancho quitted the wood and entered El Toboso. The town was in
+deep silence, for all the inhabitants were asleep, and stretched on
+the broad of their backs, as the saying is. The night was darkish,
+though Sancho would have been glad had it been quite dark, so as to
+find in the darkness an excuse for his blundering. All over the
+place nothing was to be heard except the barking of dogs, which
+deafened the ears of Don Quixote and troubled the heart of Sancho. Now
+and then an ass brayed, pigs grunted, cats mewed, and the various
+noises they made seemed louder in the silence of the night; all
+which the enamoured knight took to be of evil omen; nevertheless he
+said to Sancho, "Sancho, my son, lead on to the palace of Dulcinea, it
+may be that we shall find her awake."
+
+"Body of the sun! what palace am I to lead to," said Sancho, "when
+what I saw her highness in was only a very little house?"
+
+"Most likely she had then withdrawn into some small apartment of her
+palace," said Don Quixote, "to amuse herself with damsels, as great
+ladies and princesses are accustomed to do."
+
+"Senor," said Sancho, "if your worship will have it in spite of me
+that the house of my lady Dulcinea is a palace, is this an hour, think
+you, to find the door open; and will it be right for us to go knocking
+till they hear us and open the door; making a disturbance and
+confusion all through the household? Are we going, do you fancy, to
+the house of our wenches, like gallants who come and knock and go in
+at any hour, however late it may be?"
+
+"Let us first of all find out the palace for certain," replied Don
+Quixote, "and then I will tell thee, Sancho, what we had best do;
+but look, Sancho, for either I see badly, or that dark mass that one
+sees from here should be Dulcinea's palace."
+
+"Then let your worship lead the way," said Sancho, "perhaps it may
+be so; though I see it with my eyes and touch it with my hands, I'll
+believe it as much as I believe it is daylight now."
+
+Don Quixote took the lead, and having gone a matter of two hundred
+paces he came upon the mass that produced the shade, and found it
+was a great tower, and then he perceived that the building in question
+was no palace, but the chief church of the town, and said he, "It's
+the church we have lit upon, Sancho."
+
+"So I see," said Sancho, "and God grant we may not light upon our
+graves; it is no good sign to find oneself wandering in a graveyard at
+this time of night; and that, after my telling your worship, if I
+don't mistake, that the house of this lady will be in an alley without
+an outlet."
+
+"The curse of God on thee for a blockhead!" said Don Quixote; "where
+hast thou ever heard of castles and royal palaces being built in
+alleys without an outlet?"
+
+"Senor," replied Sancho, "every country has a way of its own;
+perhaps here in El Toboso it is the way to build palaces and grand
+buildings in alleys; so I entreat your worship to let me search
+about among these streets or alleys before me, and perhaps, in some
+corner or other, I may stumble on this palace- and I wish I saw the
+dogs eating it for leading us such a dance."
+
+"Speak respectfully of what belongs to my lady, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote; "let us keep the feast in peace, and not throw the rope after
+the bucket."
+
+"I'll hold my tongue," said Sancho, "but how am I to take it
+patiently when your worship wants me, with only once seeing the
+house of our mistress, to know always, and find it in the middle of
+the night, when your worship can't find it, who must have seen it
+thousands of times?"
+
+"Thou wilt drive me to desperation, Sancho," said Don Quixote. "Look
+here, heretic, have I not told thee a thousand times that I have never
+once in my life seen the peerless Dulcinea or crossed the threshold of
+her palace, and that I am enamoured solely by hearsay and by the great
+reputation she bears for beauty and discretion?"
+
+"I hear it now," returned Sancho; "and I may tell you that if you
+have not seen her, no more have I."
+
+"That cannot be," said Don Quixote, "for, at any rate, thou
+saidst, on bringing back the answer to the letter I sent by thee, that
+thou sawest her sifting wheat."
+
+"Don't mind that, senor," said Sancho; "I must tell you that my
+seeing her and the answer I brought you back were by hearsay too,
+for I can no more tell who the lady Dulcinea is than I can hit the
+sky."
+
+"Sancho, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "there are times for jests and
+times when jests are out of place; if I tell thee that I have
+neither seen nor spoken to the lady of my heart, it is no reason why
+thou shouldst say thou hast not spoken to her or seen her, when the
+contrary is the case, as thou well knowest."
+
+While the two were engaged in this conversation, they perceived some
+one with a pair of mules approaching the spot where they stood, and
+from the noise the plough made, as it dragged along the ground, they
+guessed him to be some labourer who had got up before daybreak to go
+to his work, and so it proved to be. He came along singing the
+ballad that says-
+
+Ill did ye fare, ye men of France,
+  In Roncesvalles chase-
+
+
+"May I die, Sancho," said Don Quixote, when he heard him, "if any
+good will come to us tonight! Dost thou not hear what that clown is
+singing?"
+
+"I do," said Sancho, "but what has Roncesvalles chase to do with
+what we have in hand? He might just as well be singing the ballad of
+Calainos, for any good or ill that can come to us in our business."
+
+By this time the labourer had come up, and Don Quixote asked him,
+"Can you tell me, worthy friend, and God speed you, whereabouts here
+is the palace of the peerless princess Dona Dulcinea del Toboso?"
+
+"Senor," replied the lad, "I am a stranger, and I have been only a
+few days in the town, doing farm work for a rich farmer. In that house
+opposite there live the curate of the village and the sacristan, and
+both or either of them will be able to give your worship some
+account of this lady princess, for they have a list of all the
+people of El Toboso; though it is my belief there is not a princess
+living in the whole of it; many ladies there are, of quality, and in
+her own house each of them may be a princess."
+
+"Well, then, she I am inquiring for will be one of these, my
+friend," said Don Quixote.
+
+"May be so," replied the lad; "God be with you, for here comes the
+daylight;" and without waiting for any more of his questions, he
+whipped on his mules.
+
+Sancho, seeing his master downcast and somewhat dissatisfied, said
+to him, "Senor, daylight will be here before long, and it will not
+do for us to let the sun find us in the street; it will be better
+for us to quit the city, and for your worship to hide in some forest
+in the neighbourhood, and I will come back in the daytime, and I won't
+leave a nook or corner of the whole village that I won't search for
+the house, castle, or palace, of my lady, and it will be hard luck for
+me if I don't find it; and as soon as I have found it I will speak
+to her grace, and tell her where and how your worship is waiting for
+her to arrange some plan for you to see her without any damage to
+her honour and reputation."
+
+"Sancho," said Don Quixote, "thou hast delivered a thousand
+sentences condensed in the compass of a few words; I thank thee for
+the advice thou hast given me, and take it most gladly. Come, my
+son, let us go look for some place where I may hide, while thou dost
+return, as thou sayest, to seek, and speak with my lady, from whose
+discretion and courtesy I look for favours more than miraculous."
+
+ Sancho was in a fever to get his master out of the town, lest he
+should discover the falsehood of the reply he had brought to him in
+the Sierra Morena on behalf of Dulcinea; so he hastened their
+departure, which they took at once, and two miles out of the village
+they found a forest or thicket wherein Don Quixote ensconced
+himself, while Sancho returned to the city to speak to Dulcinea, in
+which embassy things befell him which demand fresh attention and a new
+chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+WHEREIN IS RELATED THE CRAFTY DEVICE SANCHO ADOPTED TO ENCHANT THE
+LADY DULCINEA, AND OTHER INCIDENTS AS LUDICROUS AS THEY ARE TRUE
+
+When the author of this great history comes to relate what is set
+down in this chapter he says he would have preferred to pass it over
+in silence, fearing it would not he believed, because here Don
+Quixote's madness reaches the confines of the greatest that can be
+conceived, and even goes a couple of bowshots beyond the greatest. But
+after all, though still under the same fear and apprehension, he has
+recorded it without adding to the story or leaving out a particle of
+the truth, and entirely disregarding the charges of falsehood that
+might be brought against him; and he was right, for the truth may
+run fine but will not break, and always rises above falsehood as oil
+above water; and so, going on with his story, he says that as soon
+as Don Quixote had ensconced himself in the forest, oak grove, or wood
+near El Toboso, he bade Sancho return to the city, and not come into
+his presence again without having first spoken on his behalf to his
+lady, and begged of her that it might be her good pleasure to permit
+herself to be seen by her enslaved knight, and deign to bestow her
+blessing upon him, so that he might thereby hope for a happy issue
+in all his encounters and difficult enterprises. Sancho undertook to
+execute the task according to the instructions, and to bring back an
+answer as good as the one he brought back before.
+
+"Go, my son," said Don Quixote, "and be not dazed when thou
+findest thyself exposed to the light of that sun of beauty thou art
+going to seek. Happy thou, above all the squires in the world! Bear in
+mind, and let it not escape thy memory, how she receives thee; if
+she changes colour while thou art giving her my message; if she is
+agitated and disturbed at hearing my name; if she cannot rest upon her
+cushion, shouldst thou haply find her seated in the sumptuous state
+chamber proper to her rank; and should she be standing, observe if she
+poises herself now on one foot, now on the other; if she repeats two
+or three times the reply she gives thee; if she passes from gentleness
+to austerity, from asperity to tenderness; if she raises her hand to
+smooth her hair though it be not disarranged. In short, my son,
+observe all her actions and motions, for if thou wilt report them to
+me as they were, I will gather what she hides in the recesses of her
+heart as regards my love; for I would have thee know, Sancho, if
+thou knowest it not, that with lovers the outward actions and
+motions they give way to when their loves are in question are the
+faithful messengers that carry the news of what is going on in the
+depths of their hearts. Go, my friend, may better fortune than mine
+attend thee, and bring thee a happier issue than that which I await in
+dread in this dreary solitude."
+
+"I will go and return quickly," said Sancho; "cheer up that little
+heart of yours, master mine, for at the present moment you seem to
+have got one no bigger than a hazel nut; remember what they say,
+that a stout heart breaks bad luck, and that where there are no
+fletches there are no pegs; and moreover they say, the hare jumps up
+where it's not looked for. I say this because, if we could not find my
+lady's palaces or castles to-night, now that it is daylight I count
+upon finding them when I least expect it, and once found, leave it
+to me to manage her."
+
+"Verily, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "thou dost always bring in thy
+proverbs happily, whatever we deal with; may God give me better luck
+in what I am anxious about."
+
+With this, Sancho wheeled about and gave Dapple the stick, and Don
+Quixote remained behind, seated on his horse, resting in his
+stirrups and leaning on the end of his lance, filled with sad and
+troubled forebodings; and there we will leave him, and accompany
+Sancho, who went off no less serious and troubled than he left his
+master; so much so, that as soon as he had got out of the thicket, and
+looking round saw that Don Quixote was not within sight, he dismounted
+from his ass, and seating himself at the foot of a tree began to
+commune with himself, saying, "Now, brother Sancho, let us know
+where your worship is going. Are you going to look for some ass that
+has been lost? Not at all. Then what are you going to look for? I am
+going to look for a princess, that's all; and in her for the sun of
+beauty and the whole heaven at once. And where do you expect to find
+all this, Sancho? Where? Why, in the great city of El Toboso. Well,
+and for whom are you going to look for her? For the famous knight
+Don Quixote of La Mancha, who rights wrongs, gives food to those who
+thirst and drink to the hungry. That's all very well, but do you
+know her house, Sancho? My master says it will be some royal palace or
+grand castle. And have you ever seen her by any chance? Neither I
+nor my master ever saw her. And does it strike you that it would be
+just and right if the El Toboso people, finding out that you were here
+with the intention of going to tamper with their princesses and
+trouble their ladies, were to come and cudgel your ribs, and not leave
+a whole bone in you? They would, indeed, have very good reason, if
+they did not see that I am under orders, and that 'you are a
+messenger, my friend, no blame belongs to you.' Don't you trust to
+that, Sancho, for the Manchegan folk are as hot-tempered as they are
+honest, and won't put up with liberties from anybody. By the Lord,
+if they get scent of you, it will be worse for you, I promise you.
+Be off, you scoundrel! Let the bolt fall. Why should I go looking
+for three feet on a cat, to please another man; and what is more, when
+looking for Dulcinea will be looking for Marica in Ravena, or the
+bachelor in Salamanca? The devil, the devil and nobody else, has mixed
+me up in this business!"
+
+Such was the soliloquy Sancho held with himself, and all the
+conclusion he could come to was to say to himself again, "Well,
+there's remedy for everything except death, under whose yoke we have
+all to pass, whether we like it or not, when life's finished. I have
+seen by a thousand signs that this master of mine is a madman fit to
+be tied, and for that matter, I too, am not behind him; for I'm a
+greater fool than he is when I follow him and serve him, if there's
+any truth in the proverb that says, 'Tell me what company thou
+keepest, and I'll tell thee what thou art,' or in that other, 'Not
+with whom thou art bred, but with whom thou art fed.' Well then, if he
+be mad, as he is, and with a madness that mostly takes one thing for
+another, and white for black, and black for white, as was seen when he
+said the windmills were giants, and the monks' mules dromedaries,
+flocks of sheep armies of enemies, and much more to the same tune,
+it will not be very hard to make him believe that some country girl,
+the first I come across here, is the lady Dulcinea; and if he does not
+believe it, I'll swear it; and if he should swear, I'll swear again;
+and if he persists I'll persist still more, so as, come what may, to
+have my quoit always over the peg. Maybe, by holding out in this
+way, I may put a stop to his sending me on messages of this kind
+another time; or maybe he will think, as I suspect he will, that one
+of those wicked enchanters, who he says have a spite against him,
+has changed her form for the sake of doing him an ill turn and
+injuring him."
+
+With this reflection Sancho made his mind easy, counting the
+business as good as settled, and stayed there till the afternoon so as
+to make Don Quixote think he had time enough to go to El Toboso and
+return; and things turned out so luckily for him that as he got up
+to mount Dapple, he spied, coming from El Toboso towards the spot
+where he stood, three peasant girls on three colts, or fillies- for
+the author does not make the point clear, though it is more likely
+they were she-asses, the usual mount with village girls; but as it
+is of no great consequence, we need not stop to prove it.
+
+To be brief, the instant Sancho saw the peasant girls, he returned
+full speed to seek his master, and found him sighing and uttering a
+thousand passionate lamentations. When Don Quixote saw him he
+exclaimed, "What news, Sancho, my friend? Am I to mark this day with a
+white stone or a black?"
+
+"Your worship," replied Sancho, "had better mark it with ruddle,
+like the inscriptions on the walls of class rooms, that those who
+see it may see it plain."
+
+"Then thou bringest good news," said Don Quixote.
+
+"So good," replied Sancho, "that your worship bas only to spur
+Rocinante and get out into the open field to see the lady Dulcinea del
+Toboso, who, with two others, damsels of hers, is coming to see your
+worship."
+
+"Holy God! what art thou saying, Sancho, my friend?" exclaimed Don
+Quixote. "Take care thou art not deceiving me, or seeking by false joy
+to cheer my real sadness."
+
+"What could I get by deceiving your worship," returned Sancho,
+"especially when it will so soon be shown whether I tell the truth
+or not? Come, senor, push on, and you will see the princess our
+mistress coming, robed and adorned- in fact, like what she is. Her
+damsels and she are all one glow of gold, all bunches of pearls, all
+diamonds, all rubies, all cloth of brocade of more than ten borders;
+with their hair loose on their shoulders like so many sunbeams playing
+with the wind; and moreover, they come mounted on three piebald
+cackneys, the finest sight ever you saw."
+
+"Hackneys, you mean, Sancho," said Don Quixote.
+
+"There is not much difference between cackneys and hackneys," said
+Sancho; "but no matter what they come on, there they are, the finest
+ladies one could wish for, especially my lady the princess Dulcinea,
+who staggers one's senses."
+
+"Let us go, Sancho, my son," said Don Quixote, "and in guerdon of
+this news, as unexpected as it is good, I bestow upon thee the best
+spoil I shall win in the first adventure I may have; or if that does
+not satisfy thee, I promise thee the foals I shall have this year from
+my three mares that thou knowest are in foal on our village common."
+
+"I'll take the foals," said Sancho; "for it is not quite certain
+that the spoils of the first adventure will be good ones."
+
+By this time they had cleared the wood, and saw the three village
+lasses close at hand. Don Quixote looked all along the road to El
+Toboso, and as he could see nobody except the three peasant girls,
+he was completely puzzled, and asked Sancho if it was outside the city
+he had left them.
+
+"How outside the city?" returned Sancho. "Are your worship's eyes in
+the back of your head, that you can't see that they are these who
+are coming here, shining like the very sun at noonday?"
+
+"I see nothing, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "but three country
+girls on three jackasses."
+
+"Now, may God deliver me from the devil!" said Sancho, "and can it
+be that your worship takes three hackneys- or whatever they're called-
+as white as the driven snow, for jackasses? By the Lord, I could
+tear my beard if that was the case!"
+
+"Well, I can only say, Sancho, my friend," said Don Quixote, "that
+it is as plain they are jackasses- or jennyasses- as that I am Don
+Quixote, and thou Sancho Panza: at any rate, they seem to me to be
+so."
+
+"Hush, senor," said Sancho, "don't talk that way, but open your
+eyes, and come and pay your respects to the lady of your thoughts, who
+is close upon us now;" and with these words he advanced to receive the
+three village lasses, and dismounting from Dapple, caught hold of
+one of the asses of the three country girls by the halter, and
+dropping on both knees on the ground, he said, "Queen and princess and
+duchess of beauty, may it please your haughtiness and greatness to
+receive into your favour and good-will your captive knight who
+stands there turned into marble stone, and quite stupefied and
+benumbed at finding himself in your magnificent presence. I am
+Sancho Panza, his squire, and he the vagabond knight Don Quixote of La
+Mancha, otherwise called 'The Knight of the Rueful Countenance.""
+
+Don Quixote had by this time placed himself on his knees beside
+Sancho, and, with eyes starting out of his head and a puzzled gaze,
+was regarding her whom Sancho called queen and lady; and as he could
+see nothing in her except a village lass, and not a very well-favoured
+one, for she was platter-faced and snub-nosed, he was perplexed and
+bewildered, and did not venture to open his lips. The country girls,
+at the same time, were astonished to see these two men, so different
+in appearance, on their knees, preventing their companion from going
+on. She, however, who had been stopped, breaking silence, said angrily
+and testily, "Get out of the way, bad luck to you, and let us pass,
+for we are in a hurry."
+
+To which Sancho returned, "Oh, princess and universal lady of El
+Toboso, is not your magnanimous heart softened by seeing the pillar
+and prop of knight-errantry on his knees before your sublimated
+presence?"
+
+On hearing this, one of the others exclaimed, "Woa then! why, I'm
+rubbing thee down, she-ass of my father-in-law! See how the
+lordlings come to make game of the village girls now, as if we here
+could not chaff as well as themselves. Go your own way, and let us
+go ours, and it will be better for you."
+
+"Get up, Sancho," said Don Quixote at this; "I see that fortune,
+'with evil done to me unsated still,' has taken possession of all
+the roads by which any comfort may reach 'this wretched soul' that I
+carry in my flesh. And thou, highest perfection of excellence that can
+be desired, utmost limit of grace in human shape, sole relief of
+this afflicted heart that adores thee, though the malign enchanter
+that persecutes me has brought clouds and cataracts on my eyes, and to
+them, and them only, transformed thy unparagoned beauty and changed
+thy features into those of a poor peasant girl, if so be he has not at
+the same time changed mine into those of some monster to render them
+loathsome in thy sight, refuse not to look upon me with tenderness and
+love; seeing in this submission that I make on my knees to thy
+transformed beauty the humility with which my soul adores thee."
+
+"Hey-day! My grandfather!" cried the girl, "much I care for your
+love-making! Get out of the way and let us pass, and we'll thank you."
+
+Sancho stood aside and let her go, very well pleased to have got
+so well out of the hobble he was in. The instant the village lass
+who had done duty for Dulcinea found herself free, prodding her
+"cackney" with a spike she had at the end of a stick, she set off at
+full speed across the field. The she-ass, however, feeling the point
+more acutely than usual, began cutting such capers, that it flung
+the lady Dulcinea to the ground; seeing which, Don Quixote ran to
+raise her up, and Sancho to fix and girth the pack-saddle, which
+also had slipped under the ass's belly. The pack-saddle being secured,
+as Don Quixote was about to lift up his enchanted mistress in his arms
+and put her upon her beast, the lady, getting up from the ground,
+saved him the trouble, for, going back a little, she took a short run,
+and putting both hands on the croup of the ass she dropped into the
+saddle more lightly than a falcon, and sat astride like a man, whereat
+Sancho said, "Rogue!" but our lady is lighter than a lanner, and might
+teach the cleverest Cordovan or Mexican how to mount; she cleared
+the back of the saddle in one jump, and without spurs she is making
+the hackney go like a zebra; and her damsels are no way behind her,
+for they all fly like the wind;" which was the truth, for as soon as
+they saw Dulcinea mounted, they pushed on after her, and sped away
+without looking back, for more than half a league.
+
+Don Quixote followed them with his eyes, and when they were no
+longer in sight, he turned to Sancho and said, "How now, Sancho?
+thou seest how I am hated by enchanters! And see to what a length
+the malice and spite they bear me go, when they seek to deprive me
+of the happiness it would give me to see my lady in her own proper
+form. The fact is I was born to be an example of misfortune, and the
+target and mark at which the arrows of adversity are aimed and
+directed. Observe too, Sancho, that these traitors were not content
+with changing and transforming my Dulcinea, but they transformed and
+changed her into a shape as mean and ill-favoured as that of the
+village girl yonder; and at the same time they robbed her of that
+which is such a peculiar property of ladies of distinction, that is to
+say, the sweet fragrance that comes of being always among perfumes and
+flowers. For I must tell thee, Sancho, that when I approached to put
+Dulcinea upon her hackney (as thou sayest it was, though to me it
+appeared a she-ass), she gave me a whiff of raw garlic that made my
+head reel, and poisoned my very heart."
+
+"O scum of the earth!" cried Sancho at this, "O miserable,
+spiteful enchanters! O that I could see you all strung by the gills,
+like sardines on a twig! Ye know a great deal, ye can do a great deal,
+and ye do a great deal more. It ought to have been enough for you,
+ye scoundrels, to have changed the pearls of my lady's eyes into oak
+galls, and her hair of purest gold into the bristles of a red ox's
+tail, and in short, all her features from fair to foul, without
+meddling with her smell; for by that we might somehow have found out
+what was hidden underneath that ugly rind; though, to tell the
+truth, I never perceived her ugliness, but only her beauty, which
+was raised to the highest pitch of perfection by a mole she had on her
+right lip, like a moustache, with seven or eight red hairs like
+threads of gold, and more than a palm long."
+
+"From the correspondence which exists between those of the face
+and those of the body," said Don Quixote, "Dulcinea must have
+another mole resembling that on the thick of the thigh on that side on
+which she has the one on her ace; but hairs of the length thou hast
+mentioned are very long for moles."
+
+"Well, all I can say is there they were as plain as could be,"
+replied Sancho.
+
+"I believe it, my friend," returned Don Quixote; "for nature
+bestowed nothing on Dulcinea that was not perfect and well-finished;
+and so, if she had a hundred moles like the one thou hast described,
+in her they would not be moles, but moons and shining stars. But
+tell me, Sancho, that which seemed to me to be a pack-saddle as thou
+wert fixing it, was it a flat-saddle or a side-saddle?"
+
+"It was neither," replied Sancho, "but a jineta saddle, with a field
+covering worth half a kingdom, so rich is it."
+
+"And that I could not see all this, Sancho!" said Don Quixote; "once
+more I say, and will say a thousand times, I am the most unfortunate
+of men."
+
+Sancho, the rogue, had enough to do to hide his laughter, at hearing
+the simplicity of the master he had so nicely befooled. At length,
+after a good deal more conversation had passed between them, they
+remounted their beasts, and followed the road to Saragossa, which they
+expected to reach in time to take part in a certain grand festival
+which is held every year in that illustrious city; but before they got
+there things happened to them, so many, so important, and so
+strange, that they deserve to be recorded and read, as will be seen
+farther on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+OF THE STRANGE ADVENTURE WHICH THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE HAD WITH
+THE CAR OR CART OF "THE CORTES OF DEATH"
+
+Dejected beyond measure did Don Quixote pursue his journey,
+turning over in his mind the cruel trick the enchanters had played him
+in changing his lady Dulcinea into the vile shape of the village lass,
+nor could he think of any way of restoring her to her original form;
+and these reflections so absorbed him, that without being aware of
+it he let go Rocinante's bridle, and he, perceiving the liberty that
+was granted him, stopped at every step to crop the fresh grass with
+which the plain abounded.
+
+Sancho recalled him from his reverie. "Melancholy, senor," said
+he, "was made, not for beasts, but for men; but if men give way to
+it overmuch they turn to beasts; control yourself, your worship; be
+yourself again; gather up Rocinante's reins; cheer up, rouse
+yourself and show that gallant spirit that knights-errant ought to
+have. What the devil is this? What weakness is this? Are we here or in
+France? The devil fly away with all the Dulcineas in the world; for
+the well-being of a single knight-errant is of more consequence than
+all the enchantments and transformations on earth."
+
+"Hush, Sancho," said Don Quixote in a weak and faint voice, "hush
+and utter no blasphemies against that enchanted lady; for I alone am
+to blame for her misfortune and hard fate; her calamity has come of
+the hatred the wicked bear me."
+
+"So say I," returned Sancho; "his heart rend in twain, I trow, who
+saw her once, to see her now."
+
+"Thou mayest well say that, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "as thou
+sawest her in the full perfection of her beauty; for the enchantment
+does not go so far as to pervert thy vision or hide her loveliness
+from thee; against me alone and against my eyes is the strength of its
+venom directed. Nevertheless, there is one thing which has occurred to
+me, and that is that thou didst ill describe her beauty to me, for, as
+well as I recollect, thou saidst that her eyes were pearls; but eyes
+that are like pearls are rather the eyes of a sea-bream than of a
+lady, and I am persuaded that Dulcinea's must be green emeralds,
+full and soft, with two rainbows for eyebrows; take away those
+pearls from her eyes and transfer them to her teeth; for beyond a
+doubt, Sancho, thou hast taken the one for the other, the eyes for the
+teeth."
+
+"Very likely," said Sancho; "for her beauty bewildered me as much as
+her ugliness did your worship; but let us leave it all to God, who
+alone knows what is to happen in this vale of tears, in this evil
+world of ours, where there is hardly a thing to be found without
+some mixture of wickedness, roguery, and rascality. But one thing,
+senor, troubles me more than all the rest, and that is thinking what
+is to be done when your worship conquers some giant, or some other
+knight, and orders him to go and present himself before the beauty
+of the lady Dulcinea. Where is this poor giant, or this poor wretch of
+a vanquished knight, to find her? I think I can see them wandering all
+over El Toboso, looking like noddies, and asking for my lady Dulcinea;
+and even if they meet her in the middle of the street they won't
+know her any more than they would my father."
+
+"Perhaps, Sancho," returned Don Quixote, "the enchantment does not
+go so far as to deprive conquered and presented giants and knights
+of the power of recognising Dulcinea; we will try by experiment with
+one or two of the first I vanquish and send to her, whether they see
+her or not, by commanding them to return and give me an account of
+what happened to them in this respect."
+
+"I declare, I think what your worship has proposed is excellent,"
+said Sancho; "and that by this plan we shall find out what we want
+to know; and if it be that it is only from your worship she is hidden,
+the misfortune will be more yours than hers; but so long as the lady
+Dulcinea is well and happy, we on our part will make the best of it,
+and get on as well as we can, seeking our adventures, and leaving Time
+to take his own course; for he is the best physician for these and
+greater ailments."
+
+Don Quixote was about to reply to Sancho Panza, but he was prevented
+by a cart crossing the road full of the most diverse and strange
+personages and figures that could be imagined. He who led the mules
+and acted as carter was a hideous demon; the cart was open to the sky,
+without a tilt or cane roof, and the first figure that presented
+itself to Don Quixote's eyes was that of Death itself with a human
+face; next to it was an angel with large painted wings, and at one
+side an emperor, with a crown, to all appearance of gold, on his head.
+At the feet of Death was the god called Cupid, without his bandage,
+but with his bow, quiver, and arrows; there was also a knight in
+full armour, except that he had no morion or helmet, but only a hat
+decked with plumes of divers colours; and along with these there
+were others with a variety of costumes and faces. All this,
+unexpectedly encountered, took Don Quixote somewhat aback, and
+struck terror into the heart of Sancho; but the next instant Don
+Quixote was glad of it, believing that some new perilous adventure was
+presenting itself to him, and under this impression, and with a spirit
+prepared to face any danger, he planted himself in front of the
+cart, and in a loud and menacing tone, exclaimed, "Carter, or
+coachman, or devil, or whatever thou art, tell me at once who thou
+art, whither thou art going, and who these folk are thou carriest in
+thy wagon, which looks more like Charon's boat than an ordinary cart."
+
+To which the devil, stopping the cart, answered quietly, "Senor,
+we are players of Angulo el Malo's company; we have been acting the
+play of 'The Cortes of Death' this morning, which is the octave of
+Corpus Christi, in a village behind that hill, and we have to act it
+this afternoon in that village which you can see from this; and as
+it is so near, and to save the trouble of undressing and dressing
+again, we go in the costumes in which we perform. That lad there
+appears as Death, that other as an angel, that woman, the manager's
+wife, plays the queen, this one the soldier, that the emperor, and I
+the devil; and I am one of the principal characters of the play, for
+in this company I take the leading parts. If you want to know anything
+more about us, ask me and I will answer with the utmost exactitude,
+for as I am a devil I am up to everything."
+
+"By the faith of a knight-errant," replied Don Quixote, "when I
+saw this cart I fancied some great adventure was presenting itself
+to me; but I declare one must touch with the hand what appears to
+the eye, if illusions are to be avoided. God speed you, good people;
+keep your festival, and remember, if you demand of me ought wherein
+I can render you a service, I will do it gladly and willingly, for
+from a child I was fond of the play, and in my youth a keen lover of
+the actor's art."
+
+While they were talking, fate so willed it that one of the company
+in a mummers' dress with a great number of bells, and armed with three
+blown ox-bladders at the end of a stick, joined them, and this
+merry-andrew approaching Don Quixote, began flourishing his stick
+and banging the ground with the bladders and cutting capers with great
+jingling of the bells, which untoward apparition so startled Rocinante
+that, in spite of Don Quixote's efforts to hold him in, taking the bit
+between his teeth he set off across the plain with greater speed
+than the bones of his anatomy ever gave any promise of. Sancho, who
+thought his master was in danger of being thrown, jumped off Dapple,
+and ran in all haste to help him; but by the time he reached him he
+was already on the ground, and beside him was Rocinante, who had
+come down with his master, the usual end and upshot of Rocinante's
+vivacity and high spirits. But the moment Sancho quitted his beast
+to go and help Don Quixote, the dancing devil with the bladders jumped
+up on Dapple, and beating him with them, more by the fright and the
+noise than by the pain of the blows, made him fly across the fields
+towards the village where they were going to hold their festival.
+Sancho witnessed Dapple's career and his master's fall, and did not
+know which of the two cases of need he should attend to first; but
+in the end, like a good squire and good servant, he let his love for
+his master prevail over his affection for his ass; though every time
+he saw the bladders rise in the air and come down on the hind quarters
+of his Dapple he felt the pains and terrors of death, and he would
+have rather had the blows fall on the apples of his own eyes than on
+the least hair of his ass's tail. In this trouble and perplexity he
+came to where Don Quixote lay in a far sorrier plight than he liked,
+and having helped him to mount Rocinante, he said to him, "Senor,
+the devil has carried off my Dapple."
+
+"What devil?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"The one with the bladders," said Sancho.
+
+"Then I will recover him," said Don Quixote, "even if he be shut
+up with him in the deepest and darkest dungeons of hell. Follow me,
+Sancho, for the cart goes slowly, and with the mules of it I will make
+good the loss of Dapple."
+
+"You need not take the trouble, senor," said Sancho; "keep cool, for
+as I now see, the devil has let Dapple go and he is coming back to his
+old quarters;" and so it turned out, for, having come down with
+Dapple, in imitation of Don Quixote and Rocinante, the devil made
+off on foot to the town, and the ass came back to his master.
+
+"For all that," said Don Quixote, "it will be well to visit the
+discourtesy of that devil upon some of those in the cart, even if it
+were the emperor himself."
+
+"Don't think of it, your worship," returned Sancho; "take my
+advice and never meddle with actors, for they are a favoured class;
+I myself have known an actor taken up for two murders, and yet come
+off scot-free; remember that, as they are merry folk who give
+pleasure, everyone favours and protects them, and helps and makes much
+of them, above all when they are those of the royal companies and
+under patent, all or most of whom in dress and appearance look like
+princes."
+
+"Still, for all that," said Don Quixote, "the player devil must
+not go off boasting, even if the whole human race favours him."
+
+So saying, he made for the cart, which was now very near the town,
+shouting out as he went, "Stay! halt! ye merry, jovial crew! I want to
+teach you how to treat asses and animals that serve the squires of
+knights-errant for steeds."
+
+So loud were the shouts of Don Quixote, that those in the cart heard
+and understood them, and, guessing by the words what the speaker's
+intention was, Death in an instant jumped out of the cart, and the
+emperor, the devil carter and the angel after him, nor did the queen
+or the god Cupid stay behind; and all armed themselves with stones and
+formed in line, prepared to receive Don Quixote on the points of their
+pebbles. Don Quixote, when he saw them drawn up in such a gallant
+array with uplifted arms ready for a mighty discharge of stones,
+checked Rocinante and began to consider in what way he could attack
+them with the least danger to himself. As he halted Sancho came up,
+and seeing him disposed to attack this well-ordered squadron, said
+to him, "It would be the height of madness to attempt such an
+enterprise; remember, senor, that against sops from the brook, and
+plenty of them, there is no defensive armour in the world, except to
+stow oneself away under a brass bell; and besides, one should remember
+that it is rashness, and not valour, for a single man to attack an
+army that has Death in it, and where emperors fight in person, with
+angels, good and bad, to help them; and if this reflection will not
+make you keep quiet, perhaps it will to know for certain that among
+all these, though they look like kings, princes, and emperors, there
+is not a single knight-errant."
+
+"Now indeed thou hast hit the point, Sancho," said Don Quixote,
+"which may and should turn me from the resolution I had already
+formed. I cannot and must not draw sword, as I have many a time before
+told thee, against anyone who is not a dubbed knight; it is for
+thee, Sancho, if thou wilt, to take vengeance for the wrong done to
+thy Dapple; and I will help thee from here by shouts and salutary
+counsels."
+
+"There is no occasion to take vengeance on anyone, senor," replied
+Sancho; "for it is not the part of good Christians to revenge
+wrongs; and besides, I will arrange it with my ass to leave his
+grievance to my good-will and pleasure, and that is to live in peace
+as long as heaven grants me life."
+
+"Well," said Don Quixote, "if that be thy determination, good
+Sancho, sensible Sancho, Christian Sancho, honest Sancho, let us leave
+these phantoms alone and turn to the pursuit of better and worthier
+adventures; for, from what I see of this country, we cannot fail to
+find plenty of marvellous ones in it."
+
+He at once wheeled about, Sancho ran to take possession of his
+Dapple, Death and his flying squadron returned to their cart and
+pursued their journey, and thus the dread adventure of the cart of
+Death ended happily, thanks to the advice Sancho gave his master;
+who had, the following day, a fresh adventure, of no less thrilling
+interest than the last, with an enamoured knight-errant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OF THE STRANGE ADVENTURE WHICH BEFELL THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE WITH
+THE BOLD KNIGHT OF THE MIRRORS
+
+The night succeeding the day of the encounter with Death, Don
+Quixote and his squire passed under some tall shady trees, and Don
+Quixote at Sancho's persuasion ate a little from the store carried
+by Dapple, and over their supper Sancho said to his master, "Senor,
+what a fool I should have looked if I had chosen for my reward the
+spoils of the first adventure your worship achieved, instead of the
+foals of the three mares. After all, 'a sparrow in the hand is
+better than a vulture on the wing.'"
+
+"At the same time, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "if thou hadst
+let me attack them as I wanted, at the very least the emperor's gold
+crown and Cupid's painted wings would have fallen to thee as spoils,
+for I should have taken them by force and given them into thy hands."
+
+"The sceptres and crowns of those play-actor emperors," said Sancho,
+"were never yet pure gold, but only brass foil or tin."
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote, "for it would not be right that
+the accessories of the drama should be real, instead of being mere
+fictions and semblances, like the drama itself; towards which, Sancho-
+and, as a necessary consequence, towards those who represent and
+produce it- I would that thou wert favourably disposed, for they are
+all instruments of great good to the State, placing before us at every
+step a mirror in which we may see vividly displayed what goes on in
+human life; nor is there any similitude that shows us more
+faithfully what we are and ought to be than the play and the
+players. Come, tell me, hast thou not seen a play acted in which
+kings, emperors, pontiffs, knights, ladies, and divers other
+personages were introduced? One plays the villain, another the
+knave, this one the merchant, that the soldier, one the sharp-witted
+fool, another the foolish lover; and when the play is over, and they
+have put off the dresses they wore in it, all the actors become
+equal."
+
+"Yes, I have seen that," said Sancho.
+
+"Well then," said Don Quixote, "the same thing happens in the comedy
+and life of this world, where some play emperors, others popes, and,
+in short, all the characters that can be brought into a play; but when
+it is over, that is to say when life ends, death strips them all of
+the garments that distinguish one from the other, and all are equal in
+the grave."
+
+"A fine comparison!" said Sancho; "though not so new but that I have
+heard it many and many a time, as well as that other one of the game
+of chess; how, so long as the game lasts, each piece has its own
+particular office, and when the game is finished they are all mixed,
+jumbled up and shaken together, and stowed away in the bag, which is
+much like ending life in the grave."
+
+"Thou art growing less doltish and more shrewd every day, Sancho,"
+said Don Quixote.
+
+"Ay," said Sancho; "it must be that some of your worship's
+shrewdness sticks to me; land that, of itself, is barren and dry, will
+come to yield good fruit if you dung it and till it; what I mean is
+that your worship's conversation has been the dung that has fallen
+on the barren soil of my dry wit, and the time I have been in your
+service and society has been the tillage; and with the help of this
+I hope to yield fruit in abundance that will not fall away or slide
+from those paths of good breeding that your worship has made in my
+parched understanding."
+
+Don Quixote laughed at Sancho's affected phraseology, and
+perceived that what he said about his improvement was true, for now
+and then he spoke in a way that surprised him; though always, or
+mostly, when Sancho tried to talk fine and attempted polite
+language, he wound up by toppling over from the summit of his
+simplicity into the abyss of his ignorance; and where he showed his
+culture and his memory to the greatest advantage was in dragging in
+proverbs, no matter whether they had any bearing or not upon the
+subject in hand, as may have been seen already and will be noticed
+in the course of this history.
+
+In conversation of this kind they passed a good part of the night,
+but Sancho felt a desire to let down the curtains of his eyes, as he
+used to say when he wanted to go to sleep; and stripping Dapple he
+left him at liberty to graze his fill. He did not remove Rocinante's
+saddle, as his master's express orders were, that so long as they were
+in the field or not sleeping under a roof Rocinante was not to be
+stripped- the ancient usage established and observed by knights-errant
+being to take off the bridle and hang it on the saddle-bow, but to
+remove the saddle from the horse- never! Sancho acted accordingly, and
+gave him the same liberty he had given Dapple, between whom and
+Rocinante there was a friendship so unequalled and so strong, that
+it is handed down by tradition from father to son, that the author
+of this veracious history devoted some special chapters to it,
+which, in order to preserve the propriety and decorum due to a history
+so heroic, he did not insert therein; although at times he forgets
+this resolution of his and describes how eagerly the two beasts
+would scratch one another when they were together and how, when they
+were tired or full, Rocinante would lay his neck across Dapple's,
+stretching half a yard or more on the other side, and the pair would
+stand thus, gazing thoughtfully on the ground, for three days, or at
+least so long as they were left alone, or hunger did not drive them to
+go and look for food. I may add that they say the author left it on
+record that he likened their friendship to that of Nisus and Euryalus,
+and Pylades and Orestes; and if that be so, it may be perceived, to
+the admiration of mankind, how firm the friendship must have been
+between these two peaceful animals, shaming men, who preserve
+friendships with one another so badly. This was why it was said-
+
+  For friend no longer is there friend;
+  The reeds turn lances now.
+
+And some one else has sung-
+
+  Friend to friend the bug, &c.
+
+And let no one fancy that the author was at all astray when he
+compared the friendship of these animals to that of men; for men
+have received many lessons from beasts, and learned many important
+things, as, for example, the clyster from the stork, vomit and
+gratitude from the dog, watchfulness from the crane, foresight from
+the ant, modesty from the elephant, and loyalty from the horse.
+
+Sancho at last fell asleep at the foot of a cork tree, while Don
+Quixote dozed at that of a sturdy oak; but a short time only had
+elapsed when a noise he heard behind him awoke him, and rising up
+startled, he listened and looked in the direction the noise came from,
+and perceived two men on horseback, one of whom, letting himself
+drop from the saddle, said to the other, "Dismount, my friend, and
+take the bridles off the horses, for, so far as I can see, this
+place will furnish grass for them, and the solitude and silence my
+love-sick thoughts need of." As he said this he stretched himself upon
+the ground, and as he flung himself down, the armour in which he was
+clad rattled, whereby Don Quixote perceived that he must be a
+knight-errant; and going over to Sancho, who was asleep, he shook
+him by the arm and with no small difficulty brought him back to his
+senses, and said in a low voice to him, "Brother Sancho, we have got
+an adventure."
+
+"God send us a good one," said Sancho; "and where may her ladyship
+the adventure be?"
+
+"Where, Sancho?" replied Don Quixote; "turn thine eyes and look, and
+thou wilt see stretched there a knight-errant, who, it strikes me,
+is not over and above happy, for I saw him fling himself off his horse
+and throw himself on the ground with a certain air of dejection, and
+his armour rattled as he fell."
+
+"Well," said Sancho, "how does your worship make out that to be an
+adventure?"
+
+"I do not mean to say," returned Don Quixote, "that it is a complete
+adventure, but that it is the beginning of one, for it is in this
+way adventures begin. But listen, for it seems he is tuning a lute
+or guitar, and from the way he is spitting and clearing his chest he
+must be getting ready to sing something."
+
+"Faith, you are right," said Sancho, "and no doubt he is some
+enamoured knight."
+
+"There is no knight-errant that is not," said Don Quixote; "but
+let us listen to him, for, if he sings, by that thread we shall
+extract the ball of his thoughts; because out of the abundance of
+the heart the mouth speaketh."
+
+Sancho was about to reply to his master, but the Knight of the
+Grove's voice, which was neither very bad nor very good, stopped
+him, and listening attentively the pair heard him sing this
+
+
+SONNET
+
+Your pleasure, prithee, lady mine, unfold;
+  Declare the terms that I am to obey;
+My will to yours submissively I mould,
+  And from your law my feet shall never stray.
+  Would you I die, to silent grief a prey?
+Then count me even now as dead and cold;
+  Would you I tell my woes in some new way?
+Then shall my tale by Love itself be told.
+The unison of opposites to prove,
+  Of the soft wax and diamond hard am I;
+But still, obedient to the laws of love,
+  Here, hard or soft, I offer you my breast,
+  Whate'er you grave or stamp thereon shall rest
+    Indelible for all eternity.
+
+With an "Ah me!" that seemed to be drawn from the inmost recesses of
+his heart, the Knight of the Grove brought his lay to an end, and
+shortly afterwards exclaimed in a melancholy and piteous voice, "O
+fairest and most ungrateful woman on earth! What! can it be, most
+serene Casildea de Vandalia, that thou wilt suffer this thy captive
+knight to waste away and perish in ceaseless wanderings and rude and
+arduous toils? It is not enough that I have compelled all the
+knights of Navarre, all the Leonese, all the Tartesians, all the
+Castilians, and finally all the knights of La Mancha, to confess
+thee the most beautiful in the world?"
+
+"Not so," said Don Quixote at this, "for I am of La Mancha, and I
+have never confessed anything of the sort, nor could I nor should I
+confess a thing so much to the prejudice of my lady's beauty; thou
+seest how this knight is raving, Sancho. But let us listen, perhaps he
+will tell us more about himself."
+
+"That he will," returned Sancho, "for he seems in a mood to bewail
+himself for a month at a stretch."
+
+But this was not the case, for the Knight of the Grove, hearing
+voices near him, instead of continuing his lamentation, stood up and
+exclaimed in a distinct but courteous tone, "Who goes there? What
+are you? Do you belong to the number of the happy or of the
+miserable?"
+
+"Of the miserable," answered Don Quixote.
+
+"Then come to me," said he of the Grove, "and rest assured that it
+is to woe itself and affliction itself you come."
+
+Don Quixote, finding himself answered in such a soft and courteous
+manner, went over to him, and so did Sancho.
+
+The doleful knight took Don Quixote by the arm, saying, "Sit down
+here, sir knight; for, that you are one, and of those that profess
+knight-errantry, it is to me a sufficient proof to have found you in
+this place, where solitude and night, the natural couch and proper
+retreat of knights-errant, keep you company." To which Don made
+answer, "A knight I am of the profession you mention, and though
+sorrows, misfortunes, and calamities have made my heart their abode,
+the compassion I feel for the misfortunes of others has not been
+thereby banished from it. From what you have just now sung I gather
+that yours spring from love, I mean from the love you bear that fair
+ingrate you named in your lament."
+
+In the meantime, they had seated themselves together on the hard
+ground peaceably and sociably, just as if, as soon as day broke,
+they were not going to break one another's heads.
+
+"Are you, sir knight, in love perchance?" asked he of the Grove of
+Don Quixote.
+
+"By mischance I am," replied Don Quixote; "though the ills arising
+from well-bestowed affections should be esteemed favours rather than
+misfortunes."
+
+"That is true," returned he of the Grove, "if scorn did not unsettle
+our reason and understanding, for if it be excessive it looks like
+revenge."
+
+"I was never scorned by my lady," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Certainly not," said Sancho, who stood close by, "for my lady is as
+a lamb, and softer than a roll of butter."
+
+"Is this your squire?" asked he of the Grove.
+
+"He is," said Don Quixote.
+
+"I never yet saw a squire," said he of the Grove, "who ventured to
+speak when his master was speaking; at least, there is mine, who is as
+big as his father, and it cannot be proved that he has ever opened his
+lips when I am speaking."
+
+"By my faith then," said Sancho, "I have spoken, and am fit to
+speak, in the presence of one as much, or even- but never mind- it
+only makes it worse to stir it."
+
+The squire of the Grove took Sancho by the arm, saying to him,
+"Let us two go where we can talk in squire style as much as we please,
+and leave these gentlemen our masters to fight it out over the story
+of their loves; and, depend upon it, daybreak will find them at it
+without having made an end of it."
+
+"So be it by all means," said Sancho; "and I will tell your
+worship who I am, that you may see whether I am to be reckoned among
+the number of the most talkative squires."
+
+With this the two squires withdrew to one side, and between them
+there passed a conversation as droll as that which passed between
+their masters was serious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+IN WHICH IS CONTINUED THE ADVENTURE OF THE KNIGHT OF THE GROVE,
+TOGETHER WITH THE SENSIBLE, ORIGINAL, AND TRANQUIL COLLOQUY THAT
+PASSED BETWEEN THE TWO SQUIRES
+
+The knights and the squires made two parties, these telling the
+story of their lives, the others the story of their loves; but the
+history relates first of all the conversation of the servants, and
+afterwards takes up that of the masters; and it says that, withdrawing
+a little from the others, he of the Grove said to Sancho, "A hard life
+it is we lead and live, senor, we that are squires to
+knights-errant; verily, we eat our bread in the sweat of our faces,
+which is one of the curses God laid on our first parents."
+
+"It may be said, too," added Sancho, "that we eat it in the chill of
+our bodies; for who gets more heat and cold than the miserable squires
+of knight-errantry? Even so it would not be so bad if we had something
+to eat, for woes are lighter if there's bread; but sometimes we go a
+day or two without breaking our fast, except with the wind that
+blows."
+
+"All that," said he of the Grove, "may be endured and put up with
+when we have hopes of reward; for, unless the knight-errant he
+serves is excessively unlucky, after a few turns the squire will at
+least find himself rewarded with a fine government of some island or
+some fair county."
+
+"I," said Sancho, "have already told my master that I shall be
+content with the government of some island, and he is so noble and
+generous that he has promised it to me ever so many times."
+
+"I," said he of the Grove, "shall be satisfied with a canonry for my
+services, and my master has already assigned me one."
+
+"Your master," said Sancho, "no doubt is a knight in the Church
+line, and can bestow rewards of that sort on his good squire; but mine
+is only a layman; though I remember some clever, but, to my mind,
+designing people, strove to persuade him to try and become an
+archbishop. He, however, would not be anything but an emperor; but I
+was trembling all the time lest he should take a fancy to go into
+the Church, not finding myself fit to hold office in it; for I may
+tell you, though I seem a man, I am no better than a beast for the
+Church."
+
+"Well, then, you are wrong there," said he of the Grove; "for
+those island governments are not all satisfactory; some are awkward,
+some are poor, some are dull, and, in short, the highest and
+choicest brings with it a heavy burden of cares and troubles which the
+unhappy wight to whose lot it has fallen bears upon his shoulders. Far
+better would it be for us who have adopted this accursed service to go
+back to our own houses, and there employ ourselves in pleasanter
+occupations -in hunting or fishing, for instance; for what squire in
+the world is there so poor as not to have a hack and a couple of
+greyhounds and a fishingrod to amuse himself with in his own village?"
+
+"I am not in want of any of those things," said Sancho; "to be
+sure I have no hack, but I have an ass that is worth my master's horse
+twice over; God send me a bad Easter, and that the next one I am to
+see, if I would swap, even if I got four bushels of barley to boot.
+You will laugh at the value I put on my Dapple- for dapple is the
+colour of my beast. As to greyhounds, I can't want for them, for there
+are enough and to spare in my town; and, moreover, there is more
+pleasure in sport when it is at other people's expense."
+
+"In truth and earnest, sir squire," said he of the Grove, "I have
+made up my mind and determined to have done with these drunken
+vagaries of these knights, and go back to my village, and bring up
+my children; for I have three, like three Oriental pearls."
+
+"I have two," said Sancho, "that might be presented before the
+Pope himself, especially a girl whom I am breeding up for a
+countess, please God, though in spite of her mother."
+
+"And how old is this lady that is being bred up for a countess?"
+asked he of the Grove.
+
+"Fifteen, a couple of years more or less," answered Sancho; "but she
+is as tall as a lance, and as fresh as an April morning, and as strong
+as a porter."
+
+"Those are gifts to fit her to be not only a countess but a nymph of
+the greenwood," said he of the Grove; "whoreson strumpet! what pith
+the rogue must have!"
+
+To which Sancho made answer, somewhat sulkily, "She's no strumpet,
+nor was her mother, nor will either of them be, please God, while I
+live; speak more civilly; for one bred up among knights-errant, who
+are courtesy itself, your words don't seem to me to be very becoming."
+
+"O how little you know about compliments, sir squire," returned he
+of the Grove. "What! don't you know that when a horseman delivers a
+good lance thrust at the bull in the plaza, or when anyone does
+anything very well, the people are wont to say, 'Ha, whoreson rip! how
+well he has done it!' and that what seems to be abuse in the
+expression is high praise? Disown sons and daughters, senor, who don't
+do what deserves that compliments of this sort should be paid to their
+parents."
+
+"I do disown them," replied Sancho, "and in this way, and by the
+same reasoning, you might call me and my children and my wife all
+the strumpets in the world, for all they do and say is of a kind
+that in the highest degree deserves the same praise; and to see them
+again I pray God to deliver me from mortal sin, or, what comes to
+the same thing, to deliver me from this perilous calling of squire
+into which I have fallen a second time, decayed and beguiled by a
+purse with a hundred ducats that I found one day in the heart of the
+Sierra Morena; and the devil is always putting a bag full of doubloons
+before my eyes, here, there, everywhere, until I fancy at every stop I
+am putting my hand on it, and hugging it, and carrying it home with
+me, and making investments, and getting interest, and living like a
+prince; and so long as I think of this I make light of all the
+hardships I endure with this simpleton of a master of mine, who, I
+well know, is more of a madman than a knight."
+
+"There's why they say that 'covetousness bursts the bag,'" said he
+of the Grove; "but if you come to talk of that sort, there is not a
+greater one in the world than my master, for he is one of those of
+whom they say, 'the cares of others kill the ass;' for, in order
+that another knight may recover the senses he has lost, he makes a
+madman of himself and goes looking for what, when found, may, for
+all I know, fly in his own face."
+ "And is he in love perchance?" asked Sancho.
+
+"He is," said of the Grove, "with one Casildea de Vandalia, the
+rawest and best roasted lady the whole world could produce; but that
+rawness is not the only foot he limps on, for he has greater schemes
+rumbling in his bowels, as will be seen before many hours are over."
+
+"There's no road so smooth but it has some hole or hindrance in it,"
+said Sancho; "in other houses they cook beans, but in mine it's by the
+potful; madness will have more followers and hangers-on than sound
+sense; but if there be any truth in the common saying, that to have
+companions in trouble gives some relief, I may take consolation from
+you, inasmuch as you serve a master as crazy as my own."
+
+"Crazy but valiant," replied he of the Grove, "and more roguish than
+crazy or valiant."
+
+"Mine is not that," said Sancho; "I mean he has nothing of the rogue
+in him; on the contrary, he has the soul of a pitcher; he has no
+thought of doing harm to anyone, only good to all, nor has he any
+malice whatever in him; a child might persuade him that it is night at
+noonday; and for this simplicity I love him as the core of my heart,
+and I can't bring myself to leave him, let him do ever such foolish
+things."
+
+"For all that, brother and senor," said he of the Grove, "if the
+blind lead the blind, both are in danger of falling into the pit. It
+is better for us to beat a quiet retreat and get back to our own
+quarters; for those who seek adventures don't always find good ones."
+
+Sancho kept spitting from time to time, and his spittle seemed
+somewhat ropy and dry, observing which the compassionate squire of the
+Grove said, "It seems to me that with all this talk of ours our
+tongues are sticking to the roofs of our mouths; but I have a pretty
+good loosener hanging from the saddle-bow of my horse," and getting up
+he came back the next minute with a large bota of wine and a pasty
+half a yard across; and this is no exaggeration, for it was made of
+a house rabbit so big that Sancho, as he handled it, took it to be
+made of a goat, not to say a kid, and looking at it he said, "And do
+you carry this with you, senor?"
+
+"Why, what are you thinking about?" said the other; "do you take
+me for some paltry squire? I carry a better larder on my horse's croup
+than a general takes with him when he goes on a march."
+
+Sancho ate without requiring to be pressed, and in the dark bolted
+mouthfuls like the knots on a tether, and said he, "You are a proper
+trusty squire, one of the right sort, sumptuous and grand, as this
+banquet shows, which, if it has not come here by magic art, at any
+rate has the look of it; not like me, unlucky beggar, that have
+nothing more in my alforjas than a scrap of cheese, so hard that one
+might brain a giant with it, and, to keep it company, a few dozen
+carobs and as many more filberts and walnuts; thanks to the
+austerity of my master, and the idea he has and the rule he follows,
+that knights-errant must not live or sustain themselves on anything
+except dried fruits and the herbs of the field."
+
+"By my faith, brother," said he of the Grove, "my stomach is not
+made for thistles, or wild pears, or roots of the woods; let our
+masters do as they like, with their chivalry notions and laws, and eat
+what those enjoin; I carry my prog-basket and this bota hanging to the
+saddle-bow, whatever they may say; and it is such an object of worship
+with me, and I love it so, that there is hardly a moment but I am
+kissing and embracing it over and over again;" and so saying he thrust
+it into Sancho's hands, who raising it aloft pointed to his mouth,
+gazed at the stars for a quarter of an hour; and when he had done
+drinking let his head fall on one side, and giving a deep sigh,
+exclaimed, "Ah, whoreson rogue, how catholic it is!"
+
+"There, you see," said he of the Grove, hearing Sancho's
+exclamation, "how you have called this wine whoreson by way of
+praise."
+
+"Well," said Sancho, "I own it, and I grant it is no dishonour to
+call anyone whoreson when it is to be understood as praise. But tell
+me, senor, by what you love best, is this Ciudad Real wine?"
+
+"O rare wine-taster!" said he of the Grove; "nowhere else indeed
+does it come from, and it has some years' age too."
+
+"Leave me alone for that," said Sancho; "never fear but I'll hit
+upon the place it came from somehow. What would you say, sir squire,
+to my having such a great natural instinct in judging wines that you
+have only to let me smell one and I can tell positively its country,
+its kind, its flavour and soundness, the changes it will undergo,
+and everything that appertains to a wine? But it is no wonder, for I
+have had in my family, on my father's side, the two best
+wine-tasters that have been known in La Mancha for many a long year,
+and to prove it I'll tell you now a thing that happened them. They
+gave the two of them some wine out of a cask, to try, asking their
+opinion as to the condition, quality, goodness or badness of the wine.
+One of them tried it with the tip of his tongue, the other did no more
+than bring it to his nose. The first said the wine had a flavour of
+iron, the second said it had a stronger flavour of cordovan. The owner
+said the cask was clean, and that nothing had been added to the wine
+from which it could have got a flavour of either iron or leather.
+Nevertheless, these two great wine-tasters held to what they had said.
+Time went by, the wine was sold, and when they came to clean out the
+cask, they found in it a small key hanging to a thong of cordovan; see
+now if one who comes of the same stock has not a right to give his
+opinion in such like cases."
+
+"Therefore, I say," said he of the Grove, "let us give up going in
+quest of adventures, and as we have loaves let us not go looking for
+cakes, but return to our cribs, for God will find us there if it be
+his will."
+
+"Until my master reaches Saragossa," said Sancho, "I'll remain in
+his service; after that we'll see."
+
+The end of it was that the two squires talked so much and drank so
+much that sleep had to tie their tongues and moderate their thirst,
+for to quench it was impossible; and so the pair of them fell asleep
+clinging to the now nearly empty bota and with half-chewed morsels
+in their mouths; and there we will leave them for the present, to
+relate what passed between the Knight of the Grove and him of the
+Rueful Countenance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE ADVENTURE OF THE KNIGHT OF THE GROVE
+
+Among the things that passed between Don Quixote and the Knight of
+the Wood, the history tells us he of the Grove said to Don Quixote,
+"In fine, sir knight, I would have you know that my destiny, or,
+more properly speaking, my choice led me to fall in love with the
+peerless Casildea de Vandalia. I call her peerless because she has
+no peer, whether it be in bodily stature or in the supremacy of rank
+and beauty. This same Casildea, then, that I speak of, requited my
+honourable passion and gentle aspirations by compelling me, as his
+stepmother did Hercules, to engage in many perils of various sorts, at
+the end of each promising me that, with the end of the next, the
+object of my hopes should be attained; but my labours have gone on
+increasing link by link until they are past counting, nor do I know
+what will be the last one that is to be the beginning of the
+accomplishment of my chaste desires. On one occasion she bade me go
+and challenge the famous giantess of Seville, La Giralda by name,
+who is as mighty and strong as if made of brass, and though never
+stirring from one spot, is the most restless and changeable woman in
+the world. I came, I saw, I conquered, and I made her stay quiet and
+behave herself, for nothing but north winds blew for more than a week.
+Another time I was ordered to lift those ancient stones, the mighty
+bulls of Guisando, an enterprise that might more fitly be entrusted to
+porters than to knights. Again, she bade me fling myself into the
+cavern of Cabra- an unparalleled and awful peril- and bring her a
+minute account of all that is concealed in those gloomy depths. I
+stopped the motion of the Giralda, I lifted the bulls of Guisando, I
+flung myself into the cavern and brought to light the secrets of its
+abyss; and my hopes are as dead as dead can be, and her scorn and
+her commands as lively as ever. To be brief, last of all she has
+commanded me to go through all the provinces of Spain and compel all
+the knights-errant wandering therein to confess that she surpasses all
+women alive to-day in beauty, and that I am the most valiant and the
+most deeply enamoured knight on earth; in support of which claim I
+have already travelled over the greater part of Spain, and have
+there vanquished several knights who have dared to contradict me;
+but what I most plume and pride myself upon is having vanquished in
+single combat that so famous knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, and made
+him confess that my Casildea is more beautiful than his Dulcinea;
+and in this one victory I hold myself to have conquered all the
+knights in the world; for this Don Quixote that I speak of has
+vanquished them all, and I having vanquished him, his glory, his fame,
+and his honour have passed and are transferred to my person; for
+
+  The more the vanquished hath of fair renown,
+  The greater glory gilds the victor's crown.
+
+Thus the innumerable achievements of the said Don Quixote are now
+set down to my account and have become mine."
+
+Don Quixote was amazed when he heard the Knight of the Grove, and
+was a thousand times on the point of telling him he lied, and had
+the lie direct already on the tip of his tongue; but he restrained
+himself as well as he could, in order to force him to confess the
+lie with his own lips; so he said to him quietly, "As to what you say,
+sir knight, about having vanquished most of the knights of Spain, or
+even of the whole world, I say nothing; but that you have vanquished
+Don Quixote of La Mancha I consider doubtful; it may have been some
+other that resembled him, although there are few like him."
+
+"How! not vanquished?" said he of the Grove; "by the heaven that
+is above us I fought Don Quixote and overcame him and made him
+yield; and he is a man of tall stature, gaunt features, long, lank
+limbs, with hair turning grey, an aquiline nose rather hooked, and
+large black drooping moustaches; he does battle under the name of 'The
+Countenance,' and he has for squire a peasant called Sancho Panza;
+he presses the loins and rules the reins of a famous steed called
+Rocinante; and lastly, he has for the mistress of his will a certain
+Dulcinea del Toboso, once upon a time called Aldonza Lorenzo, just
+as I call mine Casildea de Vandalia because her name is Casilda and
+she is of Andalusia. If all these tokens are not enough to vindicate
+the truth of what I say, here is my sword, that will compel
+incredulity itself to give credence to it."
+
+"Calm yourself, sir knight," said Don Quixote, "and give ear to what
+I am about to say to you. you.I would have you know that this Don
+Quixote you speak of is the greatest friend I have in the world; so
+much so that I may say I regard him in the same light as my own
+person; and from the precise and clear indications you have given I
+cannot but think that he must be the very one you have vanquished.
+On the other hand, I see with my eyes and feel with my hands that it
+is impossible it can have been the same; unless indeed it be that,
+as he has many enemies who are enchanters, and one in particular who
+is always persecuting him, some one of these may have taken his
+shape in order to allow himself to be vanquished, so as to defraud him
+of the fame that his exalted achievements as a knight have earned
+and acquired for him throughout the known world. And in confirmation
+of this, I must tell you, too, that it is but ten hours since these
+said enchanters his enemies transformed the shape and person of the
+fair Dulcinea del Toboso into a foul and mean village lass, and in the
+same way they must have transformed Don Quixote; and if all this
+does not suffice to convince you of the truth of what I say, here is
+Don Quixote himself, who will maintain it by arms, on foot or on
+horseback or in any way you please."
+
+And so saying he stood up and laid his hand on his sword, waiting to
+see what the Knight of the Grove would do, who in an equally calm
+voice said in reply, "Pledges don't distress a good payer; he who
+has succeeded in vanquishing you once when transformed, Sir Don
+Quixote, may fairly hope to subdue you in your own proper shape; but
+as it is not becoming for knights to perform their feats of arms in
+the dark, like highwaymen and bullies, let us wait till daylight, that
+the sun may behold our deeds; and the conditions of our combat shall
+be that the vanquished shall be at the victor's disposal, to do all
+that he may enjoin, provided the injunction be such as shall be
+becoming a knight."
+
+"I am more than satisfied with these conditions and terms,"
+replied Don Quixote; and so saying, they betook themselves to where
+their squires lay, and found them snoring, and in the same posture
+they were in when sleep fell upon them. They roused them up, and
+bade them get the horses ready, as at sunrise they were to engage in a
+bloody and arduous single combat; at which intelligence Sancho was
+aghast and thunderstruck, trembling for the safety of his master
+because of the mighty deeds he had heard the squire of the Grove
+ascribe to his; but without a word the two squires went in quest of
+their cattle; for by this time the three horses and the ass had
+smelt one another out, and were all together.
+
+On the way, he of the Grove said to Sancho, "You must know, brother,
+that it is the custom with the fighting men of Andalusia, when they
+are godfathers in any quarrel, not to stand idle with folded arms
+while their godsons fight; I say so to remind you that while our
+masters are fighting, we, too, have to fight, and knock one another to
+shivers."
+
+"That custom, sir squire," replied Sancho, "may hold good among
+those bullies and fighting men you talk of, but certainly not among
+the squires of knights-errant; at least, I have never heard my
+master speak of any custom of the sort, and he knows all the laws of
+knight-errantry by heart; but granting it true that there is an
+express law that squires are to fight while their masters are
+fighting, I don't mean to obey it, but to pay the penalty that may
+be laid on peacefully minded squires like myself; for I am sure it
+cannot be more than two pounds of wax, and I would rather pay that,
+for I know it will cost me less than the lint I shall be at the
+expense of to mend my head, which I look upon as broken and split
+already; there's another thing that makes it impossible for me to
+fight, that I have no sword, for I never carried one in my life."
+
+"I know a good remedy for that," said he of the Grove; "I have
+here two linen bags of the same size; you shall take one, and I the
+other, and we will fight at bag blows with equal arms."
+
+"If that's the way, so be it with all my heart," said Sancho, "for
+that sort of battle will serve to knock the dust out of us instead
+of hurting us."
+
+"That will not do," said the other, "for we must put into the
+bags, to keep the wind from blowing them away, half a dozen nice
+smooth pebbles, all of the same weight; and in this way we shall be
+able to baste one another without doing ourselves any harm or
+mischief."
+
+"Body of my father!" said Sancho, "see what marten and sable, and
+pads of carded cotton he is putting into the bags, that our heads
+may not be broken and our bones beaten to jelly! But even if they
+are filled with toss silk, I can tell you, senor, I am not going to
+fight; let our masters fight, that's their lookout, and let us drink
+and live; for time will take care to ease us of our lives, without our
+going to look for fillips so that they may be finished off before
+their proper time comes and they drop from ripeness."
+
+"Still," returned he of the Grove, "we must fight, if it be only for
+half an hour."
+
+"By no means," said Sancho; "I am not going to be so discourteous or
+so ungrateful as to have any quarrel, be it ever so small, with one
+I have eaten and drunk with; besides, who the devil could bring
+himself to fight in cold blood, without anger or provocation?"
+
+"I can remedy that entirely," said he of the Grove, "and in this
+way: before we begin the battle, I will come up to your worship fair
+and softly, and give you three or four buffets, with which I shall
+stretch you at my feet and rouse your anger, though it were sleeping
+sounder than a dormouse."
+
+"To match that plan," said Sancho, "I have another that is not a
+whit behind it; I will take a cudgel, and before your worship comes
+near enough to waken my anger I will send yours so sound to sleep with
+whacks, that it won't waken unless it be in the other world, where
+it is known that I am not a man to let my face be handled by anyone;
+let each look out for the arrow- though the surer way would be to
+let everyone's anger sleep, for nobody knows the heart of anyone,
+and a man may come for wool and go back shorn; God gave his blessing
+to peace and his curse to quarrels; if a hunted cat, surrounded and
+hard pressed, turns into a lion, God knows what I, who am a man, may
+turn into; and so from this time forth I warn you, sir squire, that
+all the harm and mischief that may come of our quarrel will be put
+down to your account."
+
+"Very good," said he of the Grove; "God will send the dawn and we
+shall be all right."
+
+And now gay-plumaged birds of all sorts began to warble in the
+trees, and with their varied and gladsome notes seemed to welcome
+and salute the fresh morn that was beginning to show the beauty of her
+countenance at the gates and balconies of the east, shaking from her
+locks a profusion of liquid pearls; in which dulcet moisture bathed,
+the plants, too, seemed to shed and shower down a pearly spray, the
+willows distilled sweet manna, the fountains laughed, the brooks
+babbled, the woods rejoiced, and the meadows arrayed themselves in all
+their glory at her coming. But hardly had the light of day made it
+possible to see and distinguish things, when the first object that
+presented itself to the eyes of Sancho Panza was the squire of the
+Grove's nose, which was so big that it almost overshadowed his whole
+body. It is, in fact, stated, that it was of enormous size, hooked
+in the middle, covered with warts, and of a mulberry colour like an
+egg-plant; it hung down two fingers' length below his mouth, and the
+size, the colour, the warts, and the bend of it, made his face so
+hideous, that Sancho, as he looked at him, began to tremble hand and
+foot like a child in convulsions, and he vowed in his heart to let
+himself be given two hundred buffets, sooner than be provoked to fight
+that monster. Don Quixote examined his adversary, and found that he
+already had his helmet on and visor lowered, so that he could not
+see his face; he observed, however, that he was a sturdily built
+man, but not very tall in stature. Over his armour he wore a surcoat
+or cassock of what seemed to be the finest cloth of gold, all
+bespangled with glittering mirrors like little moons, which gave him
+an extremely gallant and splendid appearance; above his helmet
+fluttered a great quantity of plumes, green, yellow, and white, and
+his lance, which was leaning against a tree, was very long and
+stout, and had a steel point more than a palm in length.
+
+Don Quixote observed all, and took note of all, and from what he saw
+and observed he concluded that the said knight must be a man of
+great strength, but he did not for all that give way to fear, like
+Sancho Panza; on the contrary, with a composed and dauntless air, he
+said to the Knight of the Mirrors, "If, sir knight, your great
+eagerness to fight has not banished your courtesy, by it I would
+entreat you to raise your visor a little, in order that I may see if
+the comeliness of your countenance corresponds with that of your
+equipment."
+
+"Whether you come victorious or vanquished out of this emprise,
+sir knight," replied he of the Mirrors, "you will have more than
+enough time and leisure to see me; and if now I do not comply with
+your request, it is because it seems to me I should do a serious wrong
+to the fair Casildea de Vandalia in wasting time while I stopped to
+raise my visor before compelling you to confess what you are already
+aware I maintain."
+
+"Well then," said Don Quixote, "while we are mounting you can at
+least tell me if I am that Don Quixote whom you said you vanquished."
+
+"To that we answer you," said he of the Mirrors, "that you are as
+like the very knight I vanquished as one egg is like another, but as
+you say enchanters persecute you, I will not venture to say positively
+whether you are the said person or not."
+
+"That," said Don Quixote, "is enough to convince me that you are
+under a deception; however, entirely to relieve you of it, let our
+horses be brought, and in less time than it would take you to raise
+your visor, if God, my lady, and my arm stand me in good stead, I
+shall see your face, and you shall see that I am not the vanquished
+Don Quixote you take me to be."
+
+With this, cutting short the colloquy, they mounted, and Don Quixote
+wheeled Rocinante round in order to take a proper distance to charge
+back upon his adversary, and he of the Mirrors did the same; but Don
+Quixote had not moved away twenty paces when he heard himself called
+by the other, and, each returning half-way, he of the Mirrors said
+to him, "Remember, sir knight, that the terms of our combat are,
+that the vanquished, as I said before, shall be at the victor's
+disposal."
+
+"I am aware of it already," said Don Quixote; "provided what is
+commanded and imposed upon the vanquished be things that do not
+transgress the limits of chivalry."
+
+"That is understood," replied he of the Mirrors.
+
+At this moment the extraordinary nose of the squire presented itself
+to Don Quixote's view, and he was no less amazed than Sancho at the
+sight; insomuch that he set him down as a monster of some kind, or a
+human being of some new species or unearthly breed. Sancho, seeing his
+master retiring to run his course, did not like to be left alone
+with the nosy man, fearing that with one flap of that nose on his
+own the battle would be all over for him and he would be left
+stretched on the ground, either by the blow or with fright; so he
+ran after his master, holding on to Rocinante's stirrup-leather, and
+when it seemed to him time to turn about, he said, "I implore of
+your worship, senor, before you turn to charge, to help me up into
+this cork tree, from which I will be able to witness the gallant
+encounter your worship is going to have with this knight, more to my
+taste and better than from the ground."
+
+"It seems to me rather, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that thou
+wouldst mount a scaffold in order to see the bulls without danger."
+
+"To tell the truth," returned Sancho, "the monstrous nose of that
+squire has filled me with fear and terror, and I dare not stay near
+him."
+
+"It is," said Don Quixote, "such a one that were I not what I am
+it would terrify me too; so, come, I will help thee up where thou
+wilt."
+
+While Don Quixote waited for Sancho to mount into the cork tree he
+of the Mirrors took as much ground as he considered requisite, and,
+supposing Don Quixote to have done the same, without waiting for any
+sound of trumpet or other signal to direct them, he wheeled his horse,
+which was not more agile or better-looking than Rocinante, and at
+his top speed, which was an easy trot, he proceeded to charge his
+enemy; seeing him, however, engaged in putting Sancho up, he drew
+rein, and halted in mid career, for which his horse was very grateful,
+as he was already unable to go. Don Quixote, fancying that his foe was
+coming down upon him flying, drove his spurs vigorously into
+Rocinante's lean flanks and made him scud along in such style that the
+history tells us that on this occasion only was he known to make
+something like running, for on all others it was a simple trot with
+him; and with this unparalleled fury he bore down where he of the
+Mirrors stood digging his spurs into his horse up to buttons,
+without being able to make him stir a finger's length from the spot
+where he had come to a standstill in his course. At this lucky
+moment and crisis, Don Quixote came upon his adversary, in trouble
+with his horse, and embarrassed with his lance, which he either
+could not manage, or had no time to lay in rest. Don Quixote, however,
+paid no attention to these difficulties, and in perfect safety to
+himself and without any risk encountered him of the Mirrors with
+such force that he brought him to the ground in spite of himself
+over the haunches of his horse, and with so heavy a fall that he lay
+to all appearance dead, not stirring hand or foot. The instant
+Sancho saw him fall he slid down from the cork tree, and made all
+haste to where his master was, who, dismounting from Rocinante, went
+and stood over him of the Mirrors, and unlacing his helmet to see if
+he was dead, and to give him air if he should happen to be alive, he
+saw- who can say what he saw, without filling all who hear it with
+astonishment, wonder, and awe? He saw, the history says, the very
+countenance, the very face, the very look, the very physiognomy, the
+very effigy, the very image of the bachelor Samson Carrasco! As soon
+as he saw it he called out in a loud voice, "Make haste here,
+Sancho, and behold what thou art to see but not to believe; quick,
+my son, and learn what magic can do, and wizards and enchanters are
+capable of."
+
+Sancho came up, and when he saw the countenance of the bachelor
+Carrasco, he fell to crossing himself a thousand times, and blessing
+himself as many more. All this time the prostrate knight showed no
+signs of life, and Sancho said to Don Quixote, "It is my opinion,
+senor, that in any case your worship should take and thrust your sword
+into the mouth of this one here that looks like the bachelor Samson
+Carrasco; perhaps in him you will kill one of your enemies, the
+enchanters."
+
+"Thy advice is not bad," said Don Quixote, "for of enemies the fewer
+the better;" and he was drawing his sword to carry into effect
+Sancho's counsel and suggestion, when the squire of the Mirrors came
+up, now without the nose which had made him so hideous, and cried
+out in a loud voice, "Mind what you are about, Senor Don Quixote; that
+is your friend, the bachelor Samson Carrasco, you have at your feet,
+and I am his squire."
+
+"And the nose?" said Sancho, seeing him without the hideous
+feature he had before; to which he replied, "I have it here in my
+pocket," and putting his hand into his right pocket, he pulled out a
+masquerade nose of varnished pasteboard of the make already described;
+and Sancho, examining him more and more closely, exclaimed aloud in
+a voice of amazement, "Holy Mary be good to me! Isn't it Tom Cecial,
+my neighbour and gossip?"
+
+"Why, to be sure I am!" returned the now unnosed squire; "Tom Cecial
+I am, gossip and friend Sancho Panza; and I'll tell you presently
+the means and tricks and falsehoods by which I have been brought here;
+but in the meantime, beg and entreat of your master not to touch,
+maltreat, wound, or slay the Knight of the Mirrors whom he has at
+his feet; because, beyond all dispute, it is the rash and
+ill-advised bachelor Samson Carrasco, our fellow townsman."
+
+At this moment he of the Mirrors came to himself, and Don Quixote
+perceiving it, held the naked point of his sword over his face, and
+said to him, "You are a dead man, knight, unless you confess that
+the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso excels your Casildea de Vandalia in
+beauty; and in addition to this you must promise, if you should
+survive this encounter and fall, to go to the city of El Toboso and
+present yourself before her on my behalf, that she deal with you
+according to her good pleasure; and if she leaves you free to do
+yours, you are in like manner to return and seek me out (for the trail
+of my mighty deeds will serve you as a guide to lead you to where I
+may be), and tell me what may have passed between you and her-
+conditions which, in accordance with what we stipulated before our
+combat, do not transgress the just limits of knight-errantry."
+
+"I confess," said the fallen knight, "that the dirty tattered shoe
+of the lady Dulcinea del Toboso is better than the ill-combed though
+clean beard of Casildea; and I promise to go and to return from her
+presence to yours, and to give you a full and particular account of
+all you demand of me."
+
+"You must also confess and believe," added Don Quixote, "that the
+knight you vanquished was not and could not be Don Quixote of La
+Mancha, but some one else in his likeness, just as I confess and
+believe that you, though you seem to be the bachelor Samson
+Carrasco, are not so, but some other resembling him, whom my enemies
+have here put before me in his shape, in order that I may restrain and
+moderate the vehemence of my wrath, and make a gentle use of the glory
+of my victory."
+
+"I confess, hold, and think everything to be as you believe, hold,
+and think it," the crippled knight; "let me rise, I entreat you; if,
+indeed, the shock of my fall will allow me, for it has left me in a
+sorry plight enough."
+
+Don Quixote helped him to rise, with the assistance of his squire
+Tom Cecial; from whom Sancho never took his eyes, and to whom he put
+questions, the replies to which furnished clear proof that he was
+really and truly the Tom Cecial he said; but the impression made on
+Sancho's mind by what his master said about the enchanters having
+changed the face of the Knight of the Mirrors into that of the
+bachelor Samson Carrasco, would not permit him to believe what he
+saw with his eyes. In fine, both master and man remained under the
+delusion; and, down in the mouth, and out of luck, he of the Mirrors
+and his squire parted from Don Quixote and Sancho, he meaning to go
+look for some village where he could plaster and strap his ribs. Don
+Quixote and Sancho resumed their journey to Saragossa, and on it the
+history leaves them in order that it may tell who the Knight of the
+Mirrors and his long-nosed squire were.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+WHEREIN IT IS TOLD AND KNOWN WHO THE KNIGHT OF THE MIRRORS AND HIS
+SQUIRE WERE
+
+Don Quixote went off satisfied, elated, and vain-glorious in the
+highest degree at having won a victory over such a valiant knight as
+he fancied him of the Mirrors to be, and one from whose knightly
+word he expected to learn whether the enchantment of his lady still
+continued; inasmuch as the said vanquished knight was bound, under the
+penalty of ceasing to be one, to return and render him an account of
+what took place between him and her. But Don Quixote was of one
+mind, he of the Mirrors of another, for he just then had no thought of
+anything but finding some village where he could plaster himself, as
+has been said already. The history goes on to say, then, that when the
+bachelor Samson Carrasco recommended Don Quixote to resume his
+knight-errantry which he had laid aside, it was in consequence of
+having been previously in conclave with the curate and the barber on
+the means to be adopted to induce Don Quixote to stay at home in peace
+and quiet without worrying himself with his ill-starred adventures; at
+which consultation it was decided by the unanimous vote of all, and on
+the special advice of Carrasco, that Don Quixote should be allowed
+to go, as it seemed impossible to restrain him, and that Samson should
+sally forth to meet him as a knight-errant, and do battle with him,
+for there would be no difficulty about a cause, and vanquish him, that
+being looked upon as an easy matter; and that it should be agreed
+and settled that the vanquished was to be at the mercy of the
+victor. Then, Don Quixote being vanquished, the bachelor knight was to
+command him to return to his village and his house, and not quit it
+for two years, or until he received further orders from him; all which
+it was clear Don Quixote would unhesitatingly obey, rather than
+contravene or fail to observe the laws of chivalry; and during the
+period of his seclusion he might perhaps forget his folly, or there
+might be an opportunity of discovering some ready remedy for his
+madness. Carrasco undertook the task, and Tom Cecial, a gossip and
+neighbour of Sancho Panza's, a lively, feather-headed fellow,
+offered himself as his squire. Carrasco armed himself in the fashion
+described, and Tom Cecial, that he might not be known by his gossip
+when they met, fitted on over his own natural nose the false
+masquerade one that has been mentioned; and so they followed the
+same route Don Quixote took, and almost came up with him in time to be
+present at the adventure of the cart of Death and finally
+encountered them in the grove, where all that the sagacious reader has
+been reading about took place; and had it not been for the
+extraordinary fancies of Don Quixote, and his conviction that the
+bachelor was not the bachelor, senor bachelor would have been
+incapacitated for ever from taking his degree of licentiate, all
+through not finding nests where he thought to find birds.
+
+Tom Cecial, seeing how ill they had succeeded, and what a sorry
+end their expedition had come to, said to the bachelor, "Sure
+enough, Senor Samson Carrasco, we are served right; it is easy
+enough to plan and set about an enterprise, but it is often a
+difficult matter to come well out of it. Don Quixote a madman, and
+we sane; he goes off laughing, safe, and sound, and you are left
+sore and sorry! I'd like to know now which is the madder, he who is so
+because he cannot help it, or he who is so of his own choice?"
+
+To which Samson replied, "The difference between the two sorts of
+madmen is, that he who is so will he nil he, will be one always, while
+he who is so of his own accord can leave off being one whenever he
+likes."
+
+"In that case," said Tom Cecial, "I was a madman of my own accord
+when I volunteered to become your squire, and, of my own accord,
+I'll leave off being one and go home."
+
+"That's your affair," returned Samson, "but to suppose that I am
+going home until I have given Don Quixote a thrashing is absurd; and
+it is not any wish that he may recover his senses that will make me
+hunt him out now, but a wish for the sore pain I am in with my ribs
+won't let me entertain more charitable thoughts."
+
+Thus discoursing, the pair proceeded until they reached a town where
+it was their good luck to find a bone-setter, with whose help the
+unfortunate Samson was cured. Tom Cecial left him and went home, while
+he stayed behind meditating vengeance; and the history will return
+to him again at the proper time, so as not to omit making merry with
+Don Quixote now.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+OF WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE WITH A DISCREET GENTLEMAN OF LA MANCHA
+
+Don Quixote pursued his journey in the high spirits, satisfaction,
+and self-complacency already described, fancying himself the most
+valorous knight-errant of the age in the world because of his late
+victory. All the adventures that could befall him from that time forth
+he regarded as already done and brought to a happy issue; he made
+light of enchantments and enchanters; he thought no more of the
+countless drubbings that had been administered to him in the course of
+his knight-errantry, nor of the volley of stones that had levelled
+half his teeth, nor of the ingratitude of the galley slaves, nor of
+the audacity of the Yanguesans and the shower of stakes that fell upon
+him; in short, he said to himself that could he discover any means,
+mode, or way of disenchanting his lady Dulcinea, he would not envy the
+highest fortune that the most fortunate knight-errant of yore ever
+reached or could reach.
+
+He was going along entirely absorbed in these fancies, when Sancho
+said to him, "Isn't it odd, senor, that I have still before my eyes
+that monstrous enormous nose of my gossip, Tom Cecial?"
+
+"And dost thou, then, believe, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that
+the Knight of the Mirrors was the bachelor Carrasco, and his squire
+Tom Cecial thy gossip?"
+
+"I don't know what to say to that," replied Sancho; "all I know is
+that the tokens he gave me about my own house, wife and children,
+nobody else but himself could have given me; and the face, once the
+nose was off, was the very face of Tom Cecial, as I have seen it
+many a time in my town and next door to my own house; and the sound of
+the voice was just the same."
+
+"Let us reason the matter, Sancho," said Don Quixote. "Come now,
+by what process of thinking can it be supposed that the bachelor
+Samson Carrasco would come as a knight-errant, in arms offensive and
+defensive, to fight with me? Have I ever been by any chance his enemy?
+Have I ever given him any occasion to owe me a grudge? Am I his rival,
+or does he profess arms, that he should envy the fame I have
+acquired in them?"
+
+"Well, but what are we to say, senor," returned Sancho, "about
+that knight, whoever he is, being so like the bachelor Carrasco, and
+his squire so like my gossip, Tom Cecial? And if that be
+enchantment, as your worship says, was there no other pair in the
+world for them to take the likeness of?"
+
+"It is all," said Don Quixote, "a scheme and plot of the malignant
+magicians that persecute me, who, foreseeing that I was to be
+victorious in the conflict, arranged that the vanquished knight should
+display the countenance of my friend the bachelor, in order that the
+friendship I bear him should interpose to stay the edge of my sword
+and might of my arm, and temper the just wrath of my heart; so that he
+who sought to take my life by fraud and falsehood should save his own.
+And to prove it, thou knowest already, Sancho, by experience which
+cannot lie or deceive, how easy it is for enchanters to change one
+countenance into another, turning fair into foul, and foul into
+fair; for it is not two days since thou sawest with thine own eyes the
+beauty and elegance of the peerless Dulcinea in all its perfection and
+natural harmony, while I saw her in the repulsive and mean form of a
+coarse country wench, with cataracts in her eyes and a foul smell in
+her mouth; and when the perverse enchanter ventured to effect so
+wicked a transformation, it is no wonder if he effected that of Samson
+Carrasco and thy gossip in order to snatch the glory of victory out of
+my grasp. For all that, however, I console myself, because, after all,
+in whatever shape he may have been, I have victorious over my enemy."
+
+"God knows what's the truth of it all," said Sancho; and knowing
+as he did that the transformation of Dulcinea had been a device and
+imposition of his own, his master's illusions were not satisfactory to
+him; but he did not like to reply lest he should say something that
+might disclose his trickery.
+
+As they were engaged in this conversation they were overtaken by a
+man who was following the same road behind them, mounted on a very
+handsome flea-bitten mare, and dressed in a gaban of fine green cloth,
+with tawny velvet facings, and a montera of the same velvet. The
+trappings of the mare were of the field and jineta fashion, and of
+mulberry colour and green. He carried a Moorish cutlass hanging from a
+broad green and gold baldric; the buskins were of the same make as the
+baldric; the spurs were not gilt, but lacquered green, and so brightly
+polished that, matching as they did the rest of his apparel, they
+looked better than if they had been of pure gold.
+
+When the traveller came up with them he saluted them courteously,
+and spurring his mare was passing them without stopping, but Don
+Quixote called out to him, "Gallant sir, if so be your worship is
+going our road, and has no occasion for speed, it would be a
+pleasure to me if we were to join company."
+
+"In truth," replied he on the mare, "I would not pass you so hastily
+but for fear that horse might turn restive in the company of my mare."
+
+"You may safely hold in your mare, senor," said Sancho in reply to
+this, "for our horse is the most virtuous and well-behaved horse in
+the world; he never does anything wrong on such occasions, and the
+only time he misbehaved, my master and I suffered for it sevenfold;
+I say again your worship may pull up if you like; for if she was
+offered to him between two plates the horse would not hanker after
+her."
+
+The traveller drew rein, amazed at the trim and features of Don
+Quixote, who rode without his helmet, which Sancho carried like a
+valise in front of Dapple's pack-saddle; and if the man in green
+examined Don Quixote closely, still more closely did Don Quixote
+examine the man in green, who struck him as being a man of
+intelligence. In appearance he was about fifty years of age, with
+but few grey hairs, an aquiline cast of features, and an expression
+between grave and gay; and his dress and accoutrements showed him to
+be a man of good condition. What he in green thought of Don Quixote of
+La Mancha was that a man of that sort and shape he had never yet seen;
+he marvelled at the length of his hair, his lofty stature, the
+lankness and sallowness of his countenance, his armour, his bearing
+and his gravity- a figure and picture such as had not been seen in
+those regions for many a long day.
+
+Don Quixote saw very plainly the attention with which the
+traveller was regarding him, and read his curiosity in his
+astonishment; and courteous as he was and ready to please everybody,
+before the other could ask him any question he anticipated him by
+saying, "The appearance I present to your worship being so strange and
+so out of the common, I should not be surprised if it filled you
+with wonder; but you will cease to wonder when I tell you, as I do,
+that I am one of those knights who, as people say, go seeking
+adventures. I have left my home, I have mortgaged my estate, I have
+given up my comforts, and committed myself to the arms of Fortune,
+to bear me whithersoever she may please. My desire was to bring to
+life again knight-errantry, now dead, and for some time past,
+stumbling here, falling there, now coming down headlong, now raising
+myself up again, I have carried out a great portion of my design,
+succouring widows, protecting maidens, and giving aid to wives,
+orphans, and minors, the proper and natural duty of knights-errant;
+and, therefore, because of my many valiant and Christian achievements,
+I have been already found worthy to make my way in print to
+well-nigh all, or most, of the nations of the earth. Thirty thousand
+volumes of my history have been printed, and it is on the high-road to
+be printed thirty thousand thousands of times, if heaven does not
+put a stop to it. In short, to sum up all in a few words, or in a
+single one, I may tell you I am Don Quixote of La Mancha, otherwise
+called 'The Knight of the Rueful Countenance;' for though
+self-praise is degrading, I must perforce sound my own sometimes, that
+is to say, when there is no one at hand to do it for me. So that,
+gentle sir, neither this horse, nor this lance, nor this shield, nor
+this squire, nor all these arms put together, nor the sallowness of my
+countenance, nor my gaunt leanness, will henceforth astonish you,
+now that you know who I am and what profession I follow."
+
+With these words Don Quixote held his peace, and, from the time he
+took to answer, the man in green seemed to be at a loss for a reply;
+after a long pause, however, he said to him, "You were right when
+you saw curiosity in my amazement, sir knight; but you have not
+succeeded in removing the astonishment I feel at seeing you; for
+although you say, senor, that knowing who you are ought to remove
+it, it has not done so; on the contrary, now that I know, I am left
+more amazed and astonished than before. What! is it possible that
+there are knights-errant in the world in these days, and histories
+of real chivalry printed? I cannot realise the fact that there can
+be anyone on earth now-a-days who aids widows, or protects maidens, or
+defends wives, or succours orphans; nor should I believe it had I
+not seen it in your worship with my own eyes. Blessed be heaven! for
+by means of this history of your noble and genuine chivalrous deeds,
+which you say has been printed, the countless stories of fictitious
+knights-errant with which the world is filled, so much to the injury
+of morality and the prejudice and discredit of good histories, will
+have been driven into oblivion."
+
+"There is a good deal to be said on that point," said Don Quixote,
+"as to whether the histories of the knights-errant are fiction or
+not."
+
+"Why, is there anyone who doubts that those histories are false?"
+said the man in green.
+
+"I doubt it," said Don Quixote, "but never mind that just now; if
+our journey lasts long enough, I trust in God I shall show your
+worship that you do wrong in going with the stream of those who regard
+it as a matter of certainty that they are not true."
+
+From this last observation of Don Quixote's, the traveller began
+to have a suspicion that he was some crazy being, and was waiting
+him to confirm it by something further; but before they could turn
+to any new subject Don Quixote begged him to tell him who he was,
+since he himself had rendered account of his station and life. To
+this, he in the green gaban replied "I, Sir Knight of the Rueful
+Countenance, am a gentleman by birth, native of the village where,
+please God, we are going to dine today; I am more than fairly well
+off, and my name is Don Diego de Miranda. I pass my life with my wife,
+children, and friends; my pursuits are hunting and fishing, but I keep
+neither hawks nor greyhounds, nothing but a tame partridge or a bold
+ferret or two; I have six dozen or so of books, some in our mother
+tongue, some Latin, some of them history, others devotional; those
+of chivalry have not as yet crossed the threshold of my door; I am
+more given to turning over the profane than the devotional, so long as
+they are books of honest entertainment that charm by their style and
+attract and interest by the invention they display, though of these
+there are very few in Spain. Sometimes I dine with my neighbours and
+friends, and often invite them; my entertainments are neat and well
+served without stint of anything. I have no taste for tattle, nor do I
+allow tattling in my presence; I pry not into my neighbours' lives,
+nor have I lynx-eyes for what others do. I hear mass every day; I
+share my substance with the poor, making no display of good works,
+lest I let hypocrisy and vainglory, those enemies that subtly take
+possession of the most watchful heart, find an entrance into mine. I
+strive to make peace between those whom I know to be at variance; I am
+the devoted servant of Our Lady, and my trust is ever in the
+infinite mercy of God our Lord."
+
+Sancho listened with the greatest attention to the account of the
+gentleman's life and occupation; and thinking it a good and a holy
+life, and that he who led it ought to work miracles, he threw
+himself off Dapple, and running in haste seized his right stirrup
+and kissed his foot again and again with a devout heart and almost
+with tears.
+
+Seeing this the gentleman asked him, "What are you about, brother?
+What are these kisses for?"
+
+"Let me kiss," said Sancho, "for I think your worship is the first
+saint in the saddle I ever saw all the days of my life."
+
+"I am no saint," replied the gentleman, "but a great sinner; but you
+are, brother, for you must be a good fellow, as your simplicity
+shows."
+
+Sancho went back and regained his pack-saddle, having extracted a
+laugh from his master's profound melancholy, and excited fresh
+amazement in Don Diego. Don Quixote then asked him how many children
+he had, and observed that one of the things wherein the ancient
+philosophers, who were without the true knowledge of God, placed the
+summum bonum was in the gifts of nature, in those of fortune, in
+having many friends, and many and good children.
+
+"I, Senor Don Quixote," answered the gentleman, "have one son,
+without whom, perhaps, I should count myself happier than I am, not
+because he is a bad son, but because he is not so good as I could
+wish. He is eighteen years of age; he has been for six at Salamanca
+studying Latin and Greek, and when I wished him to turn to the study
+of other sciences I found him so wrapped up in that of poetry (if that
+can be called a science) that there is no getting him to take kindly
+to the law, which I wished him to study, or to theology, the queen
+of them all. I would like him to be an honour to his family, as we
+live in days when our kings liberally reward learning that is virtuous
+and worthy; for learning without virtue is a pearl on a dunghill. He
+spends the whole day in settling whether Homer expressed himself
+correctly or not in such and such a line of the Iliad, whether Martial
+was indecent or not in such and such an epigram, whether such and such
+lines of Virgil are to be understood in this way or in that; in short,
+all his talk is of the works of these poets, and those of Horace,
+Perseus, Juvenal, and Tibullus; for of the moderns in our own language
+he makes no great account; but with all his seeming indifference to
+Spanish poetry, just now his thoughts are absorbed in making a gloss
+on four lines that have been sent him from Salamanca, which I
+suspect are for some poetical tournament."
+
+To all this Don Quixote said in reply, "Children, senor, are
+portions of their parents' bowels, and therefore, be they good or bad,
+are to be loved as we love the souls that give us life; it is for
+the parents to guide them from infancy in the ways of virtue,
+propriety, and worthy Christian conduct, so that when grown up they
+may be the staff of their parents' old age, and the glory of their
+posterity; and to force them to study this or that science I do not
+think wise, though it may be no harm to persuade them; and when
+there is no need to study for the sake of pane lucrando, and it is the
+student's good fortune that heaven has given him parents who provide
+him with it, it would be my advice to them to let him pursue
+whatever science they may see him most inclined to; and though that of
+poetry is less useful than pleasurable, it is not one of those that
+bring discredit upon the possessor. Poetry, gentle sir, is, as I
+take it, like a tender young maiden of supreme beauty, to array,
+bedeck, and adorn whom is the task of several other maidens, who are
+all the rest of the sciences; and she must avail herself of the help
+of all, and all derive their lustre from her. But this maiden will not
+bear to be handled, nor dragged through the streets, nor exposed
+either at the corners of the market-places, or in the closets of
+palaces. She is the product of an Alchemy of such virtue that he who
+is able to practise it, will turn her into pure gold of inestimable
+worth. He that possesses her must keep her within bounds, not
+permitting her to break out in ribald satires or soulless sonnets. She
+must on no account be offered for sale, unless, indeed, it be in
+heroic poems, moving tragedies, or sprightly and ingenious comedies.
+She must not be touched by the buffoons, nor by the ignorant vulgar,
+incapable of comprehending or appreciating her hidden treasures. And
+do not suppose, senor, that I apply the term vulgar here merely to
+plebeians and the lower orders; for everyone who is ignorant, be he
+lord or prince, may and should be included among the vulgar. He, then,
+who shall embrace and cultivate poetry under the conditions I have
+named, shall become famous, and his name honoured throughout all the
+civilised nations of the earth. And with regard to what you say,
+senor, of your son having no great opinion of Spanish poetry, I am
+inclined to think that he is not quite right there, and for this
+reason: the great poet Homer did not write in Latin, because he was
+a Greek, nor did Virgil write in Greek, because he was a Latin; in
+short, all the ancient poets wrote in the language they imbibed with
+their mother's milk, and never went in quest of foreign ones to
+express their sublime conceptions; and that being so, the usage should
+in justice extend to all nations, and the German poet should not be
+undervalued because he writes in his own language, nor the
+Castilian, nor even the Biscayan, for writing in his. But your son,
+senor, I suspect, is not prejudiced against Spanish poetry, but
+against those poets who are mere Spanish verse writers, without any
+knowledge of other languages or sciences to adorn and give life and
+vigour to their natural inspiration; and yet even in this he may be
+wrong; for, according to a true belief, a poet is born one; that is to
+say, the poet by nature comes forth a poet from his mother's womb; and
+following the bent that heaven has bestowed upon him, without the
+aid of study or art, he produces things that show how truly he spoke
+who said, 'Est Deus in nobis,' &c. At the same time, I say that the
+poet by nature who calls in art to his aid will be a far better
+poet, and will surpass him who tries to be one relying upon his
+knowledge of art alone. The reason is, that art does not surpass
+nature, but only brings it to perfection; and thus, nature combined
+with art, and art with nature, will produce a perfect poet. To bring
+my argument to a close, I would say then, gentle sir, let your son
+go on as his star leads him, for being so studious as he seems to
+be, and having already successfully surmounted the first step of the
+sciences, which is that of the languages, with their help he will by
+his own exertions reach the summit of polite literature, which so well
+becomes an independent gentleman, and adorns, honours, and
+distinguishes him, as much as the mitre does the bishop, or the gown
+the learned counsellor. If your son write satires reflecting on the
+honour of others, chide and correct him, and tear them up; but if he
+compose discourses in which he rebukes vice in general, in the style
+of Horace, and with elegance like his, commend him; for it is
+legitimate for a poet to write against envy and lash the envious in
+his verse, and the other vices too, provided he does not single out
+individuals; there are, however, poets who, for the sake of saying
+something spiteful, would run the risk of being banished to the
+coast of Pontus. If the poet be pure in his morals, he will be pure in
+his verses too; the pen is the tongue of the mind, and as the thought
+engendered there, so will be the things that it writes down. And when
+kings and princes observe this marvellous science of poetry in wise,
+virtuous, and thoughtful subjects, they honour, value, exalt them, and
+even crown them with the leaves of that tree which the thunderbolt
+strikes not, as if to show that they whose brows are honoured and
+adorned with such a crown are not to be assailed by anyone."
+
+He of the green gaban was filled with astonishment at Don Quixote's
+argument, so much so that he began to abandon the notion he had taken
+up about his being crazy. But in the middle of the discourse, it being
+not very much to his taste, Sancho had turned aside out of the road to
+beg a little milk from some shepherds, who were milking their ewes
+hard by; and just as the gentleman, highly pleased, was about to renew
+the conversation, Don Quixote, raising his head, perceived a cart
+covered with royal flags coming along the road they were travelling;
+and persuaded that this must be some new adventure, he called aloud to
+Sancho to come and bring him his helmet. Sancho, hearing himself
+called, quitted the shepherds, and, prodding Dapple vigorously, came
+up to his master, to whom there fell a terrific and desperate
+adventure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+WHEREIN IS SHOWN THE FURTHEST AND HIGHEST POINT WHICH THE UNEXAMPLED
+COURAGE OF DON QUIXOTE REACHED OR COULD REACH; TOGETHER WITH THE
+HAPPILY ACHIEVED ADVENTURE OF THE LIONS
+
+The history tells that when Don Quixote called out to Sancho to
+bring him his helmet, Sancho was buying some curds the shepherds
+agreed to sell him, and flurried by the great haste his master was
+in did not know what to do with them or what to carry them in; so, not
+to lose them, for he had already paid for them, he thought it best
+to throw them into his master's helmet, and acting on this bright idea
+he went to see what his master wanted with him. He, as he
+approached, exclaimed to him:
+
+"Give me that helmet, my friend, for either I know little of
+adventures, or what I observe yonder is one that will, and does,
+call upon me to arm myself."
+
+He of the green gaban, on hearing this, looked in all directions,
+but could perceive nothing, except a cart coming towards them with two
+or three small flags, which led him to conclude it must be carrying
+treasure of the King's, and he said so to Don Quixote. He, however,
+would not believe him, being always persuaded and convinced that all
+that happened to him must be adventures and still more adventures;
+so he replied to the gentleman, "He who is prepared has his battle
+half fought; nothing is lost by my preparing myself, for I know by
+experience that I have enemies, visible and invisible, and I know
+not when, or where, or at what moment, or in what shapes they will
+attack me;" and turning to Sancho he called for his helmet; and
+Sancho, as he had no time to take out the curds, had to give it just
+as it was. Don Quixote took it, and without perceiving what was in
+it thrust it down in hot haste upon his head; but as the curds were
+pressed and squeezed the whey began to run all over his face and
+beard, whereat he was so startled that he cried out to Sancho:
+
+"Sancho, what's this? I think my head is softening, or my brains are
+melting, or I am sweating from head to foot! If I am sweating it is
+not indeed from fear. I am convinced beyond a doubt that the adventure
+which is about to befall me is a terrible one. Give me something to
+wipe myself with, if thou hast it, for this profuse sweat is
+blinding me."
+
+Sancho held his tongue, and gave him a cloth, and gave thanks to God
+at the same time that his master had not found out what was the
+matter. Don Quixote then wiped himself, and took off his helmet to see
+what it was that made his head feel so cool, and seeing all that white
+mash inside his helmet he put it to his nose, and as soon as he had
+smelt it he exclaimed:
+
+"By the life of my lady Dulcinea del Toboso, but it is curds thou
+hast put here, thou treacherous, impudent, ill-mannered squire!"
+
+To which, with great composure and pretended innocence, Sancho
+replied, "If they are curds let me have them, your worship, and I'll
+eat them; but let the devil eat them, for it must have been he who put
+them there. I dare to dirty your helmet! You have guessed the offender
+finely! Faith, sir, by the light God gives me, it seems I must have
+enchanters too, that persecute me as a creature and limb of your
+worship, and they must have put that nastiness there in order to
+provoke your patience to anger, and make you baste my ribs as you
+are wont to do. Well, this time, indeed, they have missed their aim,
+for I trust to my master's good sense to see that I have got no
+curds or milk, or anything of the sort; and that if I had it is in
+my stomach I would put it and not in the helmet."
+
+"May he so," said Don Quixote. All this the gentleman was observing,
+and with astonishment, more especially when, after having wiped
+himself clean, his head, face, beard, and helmet, Don Quixote put it
+on, and settling himself firmly in his stirrups, easing his sword in
+the scabbard, and grasping his lance, he cried, "Now, come who will,
+here am I, ready to try conclusions with Satan himself in person!"
+
+By this time the cart with the flags had come up, unattended by
+anyone except the carter on a mule, and a man sitting in front. Don
+Quixote planted himself before it and said, "Whither are you going,
+brothers? What cart is this? What have you got in it? What flags are
+those?"
+
+To this the carter replied, "The cart is mine; what is in it is a
+pair of wild caged lions, which the governor of Oran is sending to
+court as a present to his Majesty; and the flags are our lord the
+King's, to show that what is here is his property."
+
+"And are the lions large?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"So large," replied the man who sat at the door of the cart, "that
+larger, or as large, have never crossed from Africa to Spain; I am the
+keeper, and I have brought over others, but never any like these. They
+are male and female; the male is in that first cage and the female
+in the one behind, and they are hungry now, for they have eaten
+nothing to-day, so let your worship stand aside, for we must make
+haste to the place where we are to feed them."
+
+Hereupon, smiling slightly, Don Quixote exclaimed, "Lion-whelps to
+me! to me whelps of lions, and at such a time! Then, by God! those
+gentlemen who send them here shall see if I am a man to be
+frightened by lions. Get down, my good fellow, and as you are the
+keeper open the cages, and turn me out those beasts, and in the
+midst of this plain I will let them know who Don Quixote of La
+Mancha is, in spite and in the teeth of the enchanters who send them
+to me."
+
+"So, so," said the gentleman to himself at this; "our worthy
+knight has shown of what sort he is; the curds, no doubt, have
+softened his skull and brought his brains to a head."
+
+At this instant Sancho came up to him, saying, "Senor, for God's
+sake do something to keep my master, Don Quixote, from tackling
+these lions; for if he does they'll tear us all to pieces here."
+
+"Is your master then so mad," asked the gentleman, "that you believe
+and are afraid he will engage such fierce animals?"
+
+"He is not mad," said Sancho, "but he is venturesome."
+
+"I will prevent it," said the gentleman; and going over to Don
+Quixote, who was insisting upon the keeper's opening the cages, he
+said to him, "Sir knight, knights-errant should attempt adventures
+which encourage the hope of a successful issue, not those which
+entirely withhold it; for valour that trenches upon temerity savours
+rather of madness than of courage; moreover, these lions do not come
+to oppose you, nor do they dream of such a thing; they are going as
+presents to his Majesty, and it will not be right to stop them or
+delay their journey."
+
+"Gentle sir," replied Don Quixote, "you go and mind your tame
+partridge and your bold ferret, and leave everyone to manage his own
+business; this is mine, and I know whether these gentlemen the lions
+come to me or not;" and then turning to the keeper he exclaimed, "By
+all that's good, sir scoundrel, if you don't open the cages this
+very instant, I'll pin you to the cart with this lance."
+
+The carter, seeing the determination of this apparition in armour,
+said to him, "Please your worship, for charity's sake, senor, let me
+unyoke the mules and place myself in safety along with them before the
+lions are turned out; for if they kill them on me I am ruined for
+life, for all I possess is this cart and mules."
+
+"O man of little faith," replied Don Quixote, "get down and
+unyoke; you will soon see that you are exerting yourself for
+nothing, and that you might have spared yourself the trouble."
+
+The carter got down and with all speed unyoked the mules, and the
+keeper called out at the top of his voice, "I call all here to witness
+that against my will and under compulsion I open the cages and let the
+lions loose, and that I warn this gentleman that he will be
+accountable for all the harm and mischief which these beasts may do,
+and for my salary and dues as well. You, gentlemen, place yourselves
+in safety before I open, for I know they will do me no harm."
+
+Once more the gentleman strove to persuade Don Quixote not to do
+such a mad thing, as it was tempting God to engage in such a piece
+of folly. To this, Don Quixote replied that he knew what he was about.
+The gentleman in return entreated him to reflect, for he knew he was
+under a delusion.
+
+"Well, senor," answered Don Quixote, "if you do not like to be a
+spectator of this tragedy, as in your opinion it will be, spur your
+flea-bitten mare, and place yourself in safety."
+
+Hearing this, Sancho with tears in his eyes entreated him to give up
+an enterprise compared with which the one of the windmills, and the
+awful one of the fulling mills, and, in fact, all the feats he had
+attempted in the whole course of his life, were cakes and fancy bread.
+"Look ye, senor," said Sancho, "there's no enchantment here, nor
+anything of the sort, for between the bars and chinks of the cage I
+have seen the paw of a real lion, and judging by that I reckon the
+lion such a paw could belong to must be bigger than a mountain."
+
+"Fear at any rate," replied Don Quixote, "will make him look
+bigger to thee than half the world. Retire, Sancho, and leave me;
+and if I die here thou knowest our old compact; thou wilt repair to
+Dulcinea- I say no more." To these he added some further words that
+banished all hope of his giving up his insane project. He of the green
+gaban would have offered resistance, but he found himself
+ill-matched as to arms, and did not think it prudent to come to
+blows with a madman, for such Don Quixote now showed himself to be
+in every respect; and the latter, renewing his commands to the
+keeper and repeating his threats, gave warning to the gentleman to
+spur his mare, Sancho his Dapple, and the carter his mules, all
+striving to get away from the cart as far as they could before the
+lions broke loose. Sancho was weeping over his master's death, for
+this time he firmly believed it was in store for him from the claws of
+the lions; and he cursed his fate and called it an unlucky hour when
+he thought of taking service with him again; but with all his tears
+and lamentations he did not forget to thrash Dapple so as to put a
+good space between himself and the cart. The keeper, seeing that the
+fugitives were now some distance off, once more entreated and warned
+him as before; but he replied that he heard him, and that he need
+not trouble himself with any further warnings or entreaties, as they
+would be fruitless, and bade him make haste.
+
+During the delay that occurred while the keeper was opening the
+first cage, Don Quixote was considering whether it would not be well
+to do battle on foot, instead of on horseback, and finally resolved to
+fight on foot, fearing that Rocinante might take fright at the sight
+of the lions; he therefore sprang off his horse, flung his lance
+aside, braced his buckler on his arm, and drawing his sword,
+advanced slowly with marvellous intrepidity and resolute courage, to
+plant himself in front of the cart, commending himself with all his
+heart to God and to his lady Dulcinea.
+
+It is to be observed, that on coming to this passage, the author
+of this veracious history breaks out into exclamations. "O doughty Don
+Quixote! high-mettled past extolling! Mirror, wherein all the heroes
+of the world may see themselves! Second modern Don Manuel de Leon,
+once the glory and honour of Spanish knighthood! In what words shall I
+describe this dread exploit, by what language shall I make it credible
+to ages to come, what eulogies are there unmeet for thee, though
+they be hyperboles piled on hyperboles! On foot, alone, undaunted,
+high-souled, with but a simple sword, and that no trenchant blade of
+the Perrillo brand, a shield, but no bright polished steel one,
+there stoodst thou, biding and awaiting the two fiercest lions that
+Africa's forests ever bred! Thy own deeds be thy praise, valiant
+Manchegan, and here I leave them as they stand, wanting the words
+wherewith to glorify them!"
+
+Here the author's outburst came to an end, and he proceeded to
+take up the thread of his story, saying that the keeper, seeing that
+Don Quixote had taken up his position, and that it was impossible
+for him to avoid letting out the male without incurring the enmity
+of the fiery and daring knight, flung open the doors of the first
+cage, containing, as has been said, the lion, which was now seen to be
+of enormous size, and grim and hideous mien. The first thing he did
+was to turn round in the cage in which he lay, and protrude his claws,
+and stretch himself thoroughly; he next opened his mouth, and yawned
+very leisurely, and with near two palms' length of tongue that he
+had thrust forth, he licked the dust out of his eyes and washed his
+face; having done this, he put his head out of the cage and looked all
+round with eyes like glowing coals, a spectacle and demeanour to
+strike terror into temerity itself. Don Quixote merely observed him
+steadily, longing for him to leap from the cart and come to close
+quarters with him, when he hoped to hew him in pieces.
+
+So far did his unparalleled madness go; but the noble lion, more
+courteous than arrogant, not troubling himself about silly bravado,
+after having looked all round, as has been said, turned about and
+presented his hind-quarters to Don Quixote, and very coolly and
+tranquilly lay down again in the cage. Seeing this, Don Quixote
+ordered the keeper to take a stick to him and provoke him to make
+him come out.
+
+"That I won't," said the keeper; "for if I anger him, the first
+he'll tear in pieces will be myself. Be satisfied, sir knight, with
+what you have done, which leaves nothing more to be said on the
+score of courage, and do not seek to tempt fortune a second time.
+The lion has the door open; he is free to come out or not to come out;
+but as he has not come out so far, he will not come out to-day. Your
+worship's great courage has been fully manifested already; no brave
+champion, so it strikes me, is bound to do more than challenge his
+enemy and wait for him on the field; if his adversary does not come,
+on him lies the disgrace, and he who waits for him carries off the
+crown of victory."
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote; "close the door, my friend, and
+let me have, in the best form thou canst, what thou hast seen me do,
+by way of certificate; to wit, that thou didst open for the lion, that
+I waited for him, that he did not come out, that I still waited for
+him, and that still he did not come out, and lay down again. I am
+not bound to do more; enchantments avaunt, and God uphold the right,
+the truth, and true chivalry! Close the door as I bade thee, while I
+make signals to the fugitives that have left us, that they may learn
+this exploit from thy lips."
+
+The keeper obeyed, and Don Quixote, fixing on the point of his lance
+the cloth he had wiped his face with after the deluge of curds,
+proceeded to recall the others, who still continued to fly, looking
+back at every step, all in a body, the gentleman bringing up the rear.
+Sancho, however, happening to observe the signal of the white cloth,
+exclaimed, "May I die, if my master has not overcome the wild
+beasts, for he is calling to us."
+
+They all stopped, and perceived that it was Don Quixote who was
+making signals, and shaking off their fears to some extent, they
+approached slowly until they were near enough to hear distinctly Don
+Quixote's voice calling to them. They returned at length to the
+cart, and as they came up, Don Quixote said to the carter, "Put your
+mules to once more, brother, and continue your journey; and do thou,
+Sancho, give him two gold crowns for himself and the keeper, to
+compensate for the delay they have incurred through me."
+
+"That will I give with all my heart," said Sancho; "but what has
+become of the lions? Are they dead or alive?"
+
+The keeper, then, in full detail, and bit by bit, described the
+end of the contest, exalting to the best of his power and ability
+the valour of Don Quixote, at the sight of whom the lion quailed,
+and would not and dared not come out of the cage, although he had held
+the door open ever so long; and showing how, in consequence of his
+having represented to the knight that it was tempting God to provoke
+the lion in order to force him out, which he wished to have done, he
+very reluctantly, and altogether against his will, had allowed the
+door to be closed.
+
+"What dost thou think of this, Sancho?" said Don Quixote. "Are there
+any enchantments that can prevail against true valour? The
+enchanters may be able to rob me of good fortune, but of fortitude and
+courage they cannot."
+
+Sancho paid the crowns, the carter put to, the keeper kissed Don
+Quixote's hands for the bounty bestowed upon him, and promised to give
+an account of the valiant exploit to the King himself, as soon as he
+saw him at court.
+
+"Then," said Don Quixote, "if his Majesty should happen to ask who
+performed it, you must say THE KNIGHT OF THE LIONS; for it is my
+desire that into this the name I have hitherto borne of Knight of
+the Rueful Countenance be from this time forward changed, altered,
+transformed, and turned; and in this I follow the ancient usage of
+knights-errant, who changed their names when they pleased, or when
+it suited their purpose."
+
+The cart went its way, and Don Quixote, Sancho, and he of the
+green gaban went theirs. All this time, Don Diego de Miranda had not
+spoken a word, being entirely taken up with observing and noting all
+that Don Quixote did and said, and the opinion he formed was that he
+was a man of brains gone mad, and a madman on the verge of
+rationality. The first part of his history had not yet reached him,
+for, had he read it, the amazement with which his words and deeds
+filled him would have vanished, as he would then have understood the
+nature of his madness; but knowing nothing of it, he took him to be
+rational one moment, and crazy the next, for what he said was
+sensible, elegant, and well expressed, and what he did, absurd,
+rash, and foolish; and said he to himself, "What could be madder
+than putting on a helmet full of curds, and then persuading oneself
+that enchanters are softening one's skull; or what could be greater
+rashness and folly than wanting to fight lions tooth and nail?"
+
+Don Quixote roused him from these reflections and this soliloquy
+by saying, "No doubt, Senor Don Diego de Miranda, you set me down in
+your mind as a fool and a madman, and it would be no wonder if you
+did, for my deeds do not argue anything else. But for all that, I
+would have you take notice that I am neither so mad nor so foolish
+as I must have seemed to you. A gallant knight shows to advantage
+bringing his lance to bear adroitly upon a fierce bull under the
+eyes of his sovereign, in the midst of a spacious plaza; a knight
+shows to advantage arrayed in glittering armour, pacing the lists
+before the ladies in some joyous tournament, and all those knights
+show to advantage that entertain, divert, and, if we may say so,
+honour the courts of their princes by warlike exercises, or what
+resemble them; but to greater advantage than all these does a
+knight-errant show when he traverses deserts, solitudes,
+cross-roads, forests, and mountains, in quest of perilous
+adventures, bent on bringing them to a happy and successful issue, all
+to win a glorious and lasting renown. To greater advantage, I
+maintain, does the knight-errant show bringing aid to some widow in
+some lonely waste, than the court knight dallying with some city
+damsel. All knights have their own special parts to play; let the
+courtier devote himself to the ladies, let him add lustre to his
+sovereign's court by his liveries, let him entertain poor gentlemen
+with the sumptuous fare of his table, let him arrange joustings,
+marshal tournaments, and prove himself noble, generous, and
+magnificent, and above all a good Christian, and so doing he will
+fulfil the duties that are especially his; but let the knight-errant
+explore the corners of the earth and penetrate the most intricate
+labyrinths, at each step let him attempt impossibilities, on
+desolate heaths let him endure the burning rays of the midsummer
+sun, and the bitter inclemency of the winter winds and frosts; let
+no lions daunt him, no monsters terrify him, no dragons make him
+quail; for to seek these, to attack those, and to vanquish all, are in
+truth his main duties. I, then, as it has fallen to my lot to be a
+member of knight-errantry, cannot avoid attempting all that to me
+seems to come within the sphere of my duties; thus it was my bounden
+duty to attack those lions that I just now attacked, although I knew
+it to be the height of rashness; for I know well what valour is,
+that it is a virtue that occupies a place between two vicious
+extremes, cowardice and temerity; but it will be a lesser evil for him
+who is valiant to rise till he reaches the point of rashness, than
+to sink until he reaches the point of cowardice; for, as it is
+easier for the prodigal than for the miser to become generous, so it
+is easier for a rash man to prove truly valiant than for a coward to
+rise to true valour; and believe me, Senor Don Diego, in attempting
+adventures it is better to lose by a card too many than by a card
+too few; for to hear it said, 'such a knight is rash and daring,'
+sounds better than 'such a knight is timid and cowardly.'"
+
+"I protest, Senor Don Quixote," said Don Diego, "everything you have
+said and done is proved correct by the test of reason itself; and I
+believe, if the laws and ordinances of knight-errantry should be lost,
+they might be found in your worship's breast as in their own proper
+depository and muniment-house; but let us make haste, and reach my
+village, where you shall take rest after your late exertions; for if
+they have not been of the body they have been of the spirit, and these
+sometimes tend to produce bodily fatigue."
+
+"I take the invitation as a great favour and honour, Senor Don
+Diego," replied Don Quixote; and pressing forward at a better pace
+than before, at about two in the afternoon they reached the village
+and house of Don Diego, or, as Don Quixote called him, "The Knight
+of the Green Gaban."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+OF WHAT HAPPENED DON QUIXOTE IN THE CASTLE OR HOUSE OF THE KNIGHT OF
+THE GREEN GABAN, TOGETHER WITH OTHER MATTERS OUT OF THE COMMON
+
+Don Quixote found Don Diego de Miranda's house built in village
+style, with his arms in rough stone over the street door; in the patio
+was the store-room, and at the entrance the cellar, with plenty of
+wine-jars standing round, which, coming from El Toboso, brought back
+to his memory his enchanted and transformed Dulcinea; and with a sigh,
+and not thinking of what he was saying, or in whose presence he was,
+he exclaimed-
+
+  "O ye sweet treasures, to my sorrow found!
+  Once sweet and welcome when 'twas heaven's good-will.
+
+O ye Tobosan jars, how ye bring back to my memory the sweet object
+of my bitter regrets!"
+
+The student poet, Don Diego's son, who had come out with his
+mother to receive him, heard this exclamation, and both mother and son
+were filled with amazement at the extraordinary figure he presented;
+he, however, dismounting from Rocinante, advanced with great
+politeness to ask permission to kiss the lady's hand, while Don
+Diego said, "Senora, pray receive with your wonted kindness Senor
+Don Quixote of La Mancha, whom you see before you, a knight-errant,
+and the bravest and wisest in the world."
+
+The lady, whose name was Dona Christina, received him with every
+sign of good-will and great courtesy, and Don Quixote placed himself
+at her service with an abundance of well-chosen and polished
+phrases. Almost the same civilities were exchanged between him and the
+student, who listening to Don Quixote, took him to be a sensible,
+clear-headed person.
+
+Here the author describes minutely everything belonging to Don
+Diego's mansion, putting before us in his picture the whole contents
+of a rich gentleman-farmer's house; but the translator of the
+history thought it best to pass over these and other details of the
+same sort in silence, as they are not in harmony with the main purpose
+of the story, the strong point of which is truth rather than dull
+digressions.
+
+They led Don Quixote into a room, and Sancho removed his armour,
+leaving him in loose Walloon breeches and chamois-leather doublet, all
+stained with the rust of his armour; his collar was a falling one of
+scholastic cut, without starch or lace, his buskins buff-coloured, and
+his shoes polished. He wore his good sword, which hung in a baldric of
+sea-wolf's skin, for he had suffered for many years, they say, from an
+ailment of the kidneys; and over all he threw a long cloak of good
+grey cloth. But first of all, with five or six buckets of water (for
+as regard the number of buckets there is some dispute), he washed
+his head and face, and still the water remained whey-coloured,
+thanks to Sancho's greediness and purchase of those unlucky curds that
+turned his master so white. Thus arrayed, and with an easy, sprightly,
+and gallant air, Don Quixote passed out into another room, where the
+student was waiting to entertain him while the table was being laid;
+for on the arrival of so distinguished a guest, Dona Christina was
+anxious to show that she knew how and was able to give a becoming
+reception to those who came to her house.
+
+While Don Quixote was taking off his armour, Don Lorenzo (for so Don
+Diego's son was called) took the opportunity to say to his father,
+"What are we to make of this gentleman you have brought home to us,
+sir? For his name, his appearance, and your describing him as a
+knight-errant have completely puzzled my mother and me."
+
+"I don't know what to say, my son," replied. Don Diego; "all I can
+tell thee is that I have seen him act the acts of the greatest
+madman in the world, and heard him make observations so sensible
+that they efface and undo all he does; do thou talk to him and feel
+the pulse of his wits, and as thou art shrewd, form the most
+reasonable conclusion thou canst as to his wisdom or folly; though, to
+tell the truth, I am more inclined to take him to be mad than sane."
+
+With this Don Lorenzo went away to entertain Don Quixote as has been
+said, and in the course of the conversation that passed between them
+Don Quixote said to Don Lorenzo, "Your father, Senor Don Diego de
+Miranda, has told me of the rare abilities and subtle intellect you
+possess, and, above all, that you are a great poet."
+
+"A poet, it may be," replied Don Lorenzo, "but a great one, by no
+means. It is true that I am somewhat given to poetry and to reading
+good poets, but not so much so as to justify the title of 'great'
+which my father gives me."
+
+"I do not dislike that modesty," said Don Quixote; "for there is
+no poet who is not conceited and does not think he is the best poet in
+the world."
+
+"There is no rule without an exception," said Don Lorenzo; "there
+may be some who are poets and yet do not think they are."
+
+"Very few," said Don Quixote; "but tell me, what verses are those
+which you have now in hand, and which your father tells me keep you
+somewhat restless and absorbed? If it be some gloss, I know
+something about glosses, and I should like to hear them; and if they
+are for a poetical tournament, contrive to carry off the second prize;
+for the first always goes by favour or personal standing, the second
+by simple justice; and so the third comes to be the second, and the
+first, reckoning in this way, will be third, in the same way as
+licentiate degrees are conferred at the universities; but, for all
+that, the title of first is a great distinction."
+
+"So far," said Don Lorenzo to himself, "I should not take you to
+be a madman; but let us go on." So he said to him, "Your worship has
+apparently attended the schools; what sciences have you studied?"
+
+"That of knight-errantry," said Don Quixote, "which is as good as
+that of poetry, and even a finger or two above it."
+
+"I do not know what science that is," said Don Lorenzo, "and until
+now I have never heard of it."
+
+"It is a science," said Don Quixote, "that comprehends in itself all
+or most of the sciences in the world, for he who professes it must
+be a jurist, and must know the rules of justice, distributive and
+equitable, so as to give to each one what belongs to him and is due to
+him. He must be a theologian, so as to be able to give a clear and
+distinctive reason for the Christian faith he professes, wherever it
+may be asked of him. He must be a physician, and above all a
+herbalist, so as in wastes and solitudes to know the herbs that have
+the property of healing wounds, for a knight-errant must not go
+looking for some one to cure him at every step. He must be an
+astronomer, so as to know by the stars how many hours of the night
+have passed, and what clime and quarter of the world he is in. He must
+know mathematics, for at every turn some occasion for them will
+present itself to him; and, putting it aside that he must be adorned
+with all the virtues, cardinal and theological, to come down to
+minor particulars, he must, I say, be able to swim as well as Nicholas
+or Nicolao the Fish could, as the story goes; he must know how to shoe
+a horse, and repair his saddle and bridle; and, to return to higher
+matters, he must be faithful to God and to his lady; he must be pure
+in thought, decorous in words, generous in works, valiant in deeds,
+patient in suffering, compassionate towards the needy, and, lastly, an
+upholder of the truth though its defence should cost him his life.
+Of all these qualities, great and small, is a true knight-errant
+made up; judge then, Senor Don Lorenzo, whether it be a contemptible
+science which the knight who studies and professes it has to learn,
+and whether it may not compare with the very loftiest that are
+taught in the schools."
+
+"If that be so," replied Don Lorenzo, "this science, I protest,
+surpasses all."
+
+"How, if that be so?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"What I mean to say," said Don Lorenzo, "is, that I doubt whether
+there are now, or ever were, any knights-errant, and adorned with such
+virtues."
+
+"Many a time," replied Don Quixote, "have I said what I now say once
+more, that the majority of the world are of opinion that there never
+were any knights-errant in it; and as it is my opinion that, unless
+heaven by some miracle brings home to them the truth that there were
+and are, all the pains one takes will be in vain (as experience has
+often proved to me), I will not now stop to disabuse you of the
+error you share with the multitude. All I shall do is to pray to
+heaven to deliver you from it, and show you how beneficial and
+necessary knights-errant were in days of yore, and how useful they
+would be in these days were they but in vogue; but now, for the sins
+of the people, sloth and indolence, gluttony and luxury are
+triumphant."
+
+"Our guest has broken out on our hands," said Don Lorenzo to himself
+at this point; "but, for all that, he is a glorious madman, and I
+should be a dull blockhead to doubt it."
+
+Here, being summoned to dinner, they brought their colloquy to a
+close. Don Diego asked his son what he had been able to make out as to
+the wits of their guest. To which he replied, "All the doctors and
+clever scribes in the world will not make sense of the scrawl of his
+madness; he is a madman full of streaks, full of lucid intervals."
+
+They went in to dinner, and the repast was such as Don Diego said on
+the road he was in the habit of giving to his guests, neat, plentiful,
+and tasty; but what pleased Don Quixote most was the marvellous
+silence that reigned throughout the house, for it was like a
+Carthusian monastery.
+
+When the cloth had been removed, grace said and their hands
+washed, Don Quixote earnestly pressed Don Lorenzo to repeat to him his
+verses for the poetical tournament, to which he replied, "Not to be
+like those poets who, when they are asked to recite their verses,
+refuse, and when they are not asked for them vomit them up, I will
+repeat my gloss, for which I do not expect any prize, having
+composed it merely as an exercise of ingenuity."
+
+"A discerning friend of mine," said Don Quixote, "was of opinion
+that no one ought to waste labour in glossing verses; and the reason
+he gave was that the gloss can never come up to the text, and that
+often or most frequently it wanders away from the meaning and
+purpose aimed at in the glossed lines; and besides, that the laws of
+the gloss were too strict, as they did not allow interrogations, nor
+'said he,' nor 'I say,' nor turning verbs into nouns, or altering
+the construction, not to speak of other restrictions and limitations
+that fetter gloss-writers, as you no doubt know."
+
+"Verily, Senor Don Quixote," said Don Lorenzo, "I wish I could catch
+your worship tripping at a stretch, but I cannot, for you slip through
+my fingers like an eel."
+
+"I don't understand what you say, or mean by slipping," said Don
+Quixote.
+
+"I will explain myself another time," said Don Lorenzo; "for the
+present pray attend to the glossed verses and the gloss, which run
+thus:
+
+Could 'was' become an 'is' for me,
+  Then would I ask no more than this;
+  Or could, for me, the time that is
+Become the time that is to be! -
+
+
+GLOSS
+
+Dame Fortune once upon a day
+  To me was bountiful and kind;
+  But all things change; she changed her mind,
+And what she gave she took away.
+O Fortune, long I've sued to thee;
+  The gifts thou gavest me restore,
+  For, trust me, I would ask no more,
+Could 'was' become an 'is' for me.
+
+No other prize I seek to gain,
+  No triumph, glory, or success,
+  Only the long-lost happiness,
+The memory whereof is pain.
+One taste, methinks, of bygone bliss
+  The heart-consuming fire might stay;
+  And, so it come without delay,
+Then would I ask no more than this.
+
+I ask what cannot be, alas!
+  That time should ever be, and then
+  Come back to us, and be again,
+No power on earth can bring to pass;
+For fleet of foot is he, I wis,
+  And idly, therefore, do we pray
+  That what for aye hath left us may
+Become for us the time that is.
+
+Perplexed, uncertain, to remain
+  'Twixt hope and fear, is death, not life;
+  'Twere better, sure, to end the strife,
+And dying, seek release from pain.
+And yet, thought were the best for me.
+  Anon the thought aside I fling,
+  And to the present fondly cling,
+And dread the time that is to be."
+
+
+When Don Lorenzo had finished reciting his gloss, Don Quixote
+stood up, and in a loud voice, almost a shout, exclaimed as he grasped
+Don Lorenzo's right hand in his, "By the highest heavens, noble youth,
+but you are the best poet on earth, and deserve to be crowned with
+laurel, not by Cyprus or by Gaeta- as a certain poet, God forgive him,
+said- but by the Academies of Athens, if they still flourished, and by
+those that flourish now, Paris, Bologna, Salamanca. Heaven grant
+that the judges who rob you of the first prize- that Phoebus may
+pierce them with his arrows, and the Muses never cross the
+thresholds of their doors. Repeat me some of your long-measure verses,
+senor, if you will be so good, for I want thoroughly to feel the pulse
+of your rare genius."
+
+Is there any need to say that Don Lorenzo enjoyed hearing himself
+praised by Don Quixote, albeit he looked upon him as a madman? power
+of flattery, how far-reaching art thou, and how wide are the bounds of
+thy pleasant jurisdiction! Don Lorenzo gave a proof of it, for he
+complied with Don Quixote's request and entreaty, and repeated to
+him this sonnet on the fable or story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
+
+
+SONNET
+
+The lovely maid, she pierces now the wall;
+  Heart-pierced by her young Pyramus doth lie;
+  And Love spreads wing from Cyprus isle to fly,
+A chink to view so wondrous great and small.
+There silence speaketh, for no voice at all
+  Can pass so strait a strait; but love will ply
+  Where to all other power 'twere vain to try;
+For love will find a way whate'er befall.
+Impatient of delay, with reckless pace
+  The rash maid wins the fatal spot where she
+Sinks not in lover's arms but death's embrace.
+  So runs the strange tale, how the lovers twain
+One sword, one sepulchre, one memory,
+  Slays, and entombs, and brings to life again.
+
+
+"Blessed be God," said Don Quixote when he had heard Don Lorenzo's
+sonnet, "that among the hosts there are of irritable poets I have
+found one consummate one, which, senor, the art of this sonnet
+proves to me that you are!"
+
+For four days was Don Quixote most sumptuously entertained in Don
+Diego's house, at the end of which time he asked his permission to
+depart, telling him he thanked him for the kindness and hospitality he
+had received in his house, but that, as it did not become
+knights-errant to give themselves up for long to idleness and
+luxury, he was anxious to fulfill the duties of his calling in seeking
+adventures, of which he was informed there was an abundance in that
+neighbourhood, where he hoped to employ his time until the day came
+round for the jousts at Saragossa, for that was his proper
+destination; and that, first of all, he meant to enter the cave of
+Montesinos, of which so many marvellous things were reported all
+through the country, and at the same time to investigate and explore
+the origin and true source of the seven lakes commonly called the
+lakes of Ruidera.
+
+Don Diego and his son commended his laudable resolution, and bade
+him furnish himself with all he wanted from their house and
+belongings, as they would most gladly be of service to him; which,
+indeed, his personal worth and his honourable profession made
+incumbent upon them.
+
+The day of his departure came at length, as welcome to Don Quixote
+as it was sad and sorrowful to Sancho Panza, who was very well
+satisfied with the abundance of Don Diego's house, and objected to
+return to the starvation of the woods and wilds and the
+short-commons of his ill-stocked alforjas; these, however, he filled
+and packed with what he considered needful. On taking leave, Don
+Quixote said to Don Lorenzo, "I know not whether I have told you
+already, but if I have I tell you once more, that if you wish to spare
+yourself fatigue and toil in reaching the inaccessible summit of the
+temple of fame, you have nothing to do but to turn aside out of the
+somewhat narrow path of poetry and take the still narrower one of
+knight-errantry, wide enough, however, to make you an emperor in the
+twinkling of an eye."
+
+In this speech Don Quixote wound up the evidence of his madness, but
+still better in what he added when he said, "God knows, I would gladly
+take Don Lorenzo with me to teach him how to spare the humble, and
+trample the proud under foot, virtues that are part and parcel of
+the profession I belong to; but since his tender age does not allow of
+it, nor his praiseworthy pursuits permit it, I will simply content
+myself with impressing it upon your worship that you will become
+famous as a poet if you are guided by the opinion of others rather
+than by your own; because no fathers or mothers ever think their own
+children ill-favoured, and this sort of deception prevails still
+more strongly in the case of the children of the brain."
+
+Both father and son were amazed afresh at the strange medley Don
+Quixote talked, at one moment sense, at another nonsense, and at the
+pertinacity and persistence he displayed in going through thick and
+thin in quest of his unlucky adventures, which he made the end and aim
+of his desires. There was a renewal of offers of service and
+civilities, and then, with the gracious permission of the lady of
+the castle, they took their departure, Don Quixote on Rocinante, and
+Sancho on Dapple.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN WHICH IS RELATED THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENAMOURED SHEPHERD,
+TOGETHER WITH OTHER TRULY DROLL INCIDENTS
+
+Don Quixote had gone but a short distance beyond Don Diego's
+village, when he fell in with a couple of either priests or
+students, and a couple of peasants, mounted on four beasts of the
+ass kind. One of the students carried, wrapped up in a piece of
+green buckram by way of a portmanteau, what seemed to be a little
+linen and a couple of pairs of-ribbed stockings; the other carried
+nothing but a pair of new fencing-foils with buttons. The peasants
+carried divers articles that showed they were on their way from some
+large town where they had bought them, and were taking them home to
+their village; and both students and peasants were struck with the
+same amazement that everybody felt who saw Don Quixote for the first
+time, and were dying to know who this man, so different from
+ordinary men, could be. Don Quixote saluted them, and after
+ascertaining that their road was the same as his, made them an offer
+of his company, and begged them to slacken their pace, as their
+young asses travelled faster than his horse; and then, to gratify
+them, he told them in a few words who he was and the calling and
+profession he followed, which was that of a knight-errant seeking
+adventures in all parts of the world. He informed them that his own
+name was Don Quixote of La Mancha, and that he was called, by way of
+surname, the Knight of the Lions.
+
+All this was Greek or gibberish to the peasants, but not so to the
+students, who very soon perceived the crack in Don Quixote's pate; for
+all that, however, they regarded him with admiration and respect,
+and one of them said to him, "If you, sir knight, have no fixed
+road, as it is the way with those who seek adventures not to have any,
+let your worship come with us; you will see one of the finest and
+richest weddings that up to this day have ever been celebrated in La
+Mancha, or for many a league round."
+
+Don Quixote asked him if it was some prince's, that he spoke of it
+in this way. "Not at all," said the student; "it is the wedding of a
+farmer and a farmer's daughter, he the richest in all this country,
+and she the fairest mortal ever set eyes on. The display with which it
+is to be attended will be something rare and out of the common, for it
+will be celebrated in a meadow adjoining the town of the bride, who is
+called, par excellence, Quiteria the fair, as the bridegroom is called
+Camacho the rich. She is eighteen, and he twenty-two, and they are
+fairly matched, though some knowing ones, who have all the pedigrees
+in the world by heart, will have it that the family of the fair
+Quiteria is better than Camacho's; but no one minds that now-a-days,
+for wealth can solder a great many flaws. At any rate, Camacho is
+free-handed, and it is his fancy to screen the whole meadow with
+boughs and cover it in overhead, so that the sun will have hard work
+if he tries to get in to reach the grass that covers the soil. He
+has provided dancers too, not only sword but also bell-dancers, for in
+his own town there are those who ring the changes and jingle the bells
+to perfection; of shoe-dancers I say nothing, for of them he has
+engaged a host. But none of these things, nor of the many others I
+have omitted to mention, will do more to make this a memorable wedding
+than the part which I suspect the despairing Basilio will play in
+it. This Basilio is a youth of the same village as Quiteria, and he
+lived in the house next door to that of her parents, of which
+circumstance Love took advantage to reproduce to the word the
+long-forgotten loves of Pyramus and Thisbe; for Basilio loved Quiteria
+from his earliest years, and she responded to his passion with
+countless modest proofs of affection, so that the loves of the two
+children, Basilio and Quiteria, were the talk and the amusement of the
+town. As they grew up, the father of Quiteria made up his mind to
+refuse Basilio his wonted freedom of access to the house, and to
+relieve himself of constant doubts and suspicions, he arranged a match
+for his daughter with the rich Camacho, as he did not approve of
+marrying her to Basilio, who had not so large a share of the gifts
+of fortune as of nature; for if the truth be told ungrudgingly, he
+is the most agile youth we know, a mighty thrower of the bar, a
+first-rate wrestler, and a great ball-player; he runs like a deer, and
+leaps better than a goat, bowls over the nine-pins as if by magic,
+sings like a lark, plays the guitar so as to make it speak, and, above
+all, handles a sword as well as the best."
+
+"For that excellence alone," said Don Quixote at this, "the youth
+deserves to marry, not merely the fair Quiteria, but Queen Guinevere
+herself, were she alive now, in spite of Launcelot and all who would
+try to prevent it."
+
+"Say that to my wife," said Sancho, who had until now listened in
+silence, "for she won't hear of anything but each one marrying his
+equal, holding with the proverb 'each ewe to her like.' What I would
+like is that this good Basilio (for I am beginning to take a fancy
+to him already) should marry this lady Quiteria; and a blessing and
+good luck- I meant to say the opposite- on people who would prevent
+those who love one another from marrying."
+
+"If all those who love one another were to marry," said Don Quixote,
+"it would deprive parents of the right to choose, and marry their
+children to the proper person and at the proper time; and if it was
+left to daughters to choose husbands as they pleased, one would be for
+choosing her father's servant, and another, some one she has seen
+passing in the street and fancies gallant and dashing, though he may
+be a drunken bully; for love and fancy easily blind the eyes of the
+judgment, so much wanted in choosing one's way of life; and the
+matrimonial choice is very liable to error, and it needs great caution
+and the special favour of heaven to make it a good one. He who has
+to make a long journey, will, if he is wise, look out for some
+trusty and pleasant companion to accompany him before he sets out.
+Why, then, should not he do the same who has to make the whole journey
+of life down to the final halting-place of death, more especially when
+the companion has to be his companion in bed, at board, and
+everywhere, as the wife is to her husband? The companionship of
+one's wife is no article of merchandise, that, after it has been
+bought, may be returned, or bartered, or changed; for it is an
+inseparable accident that lasts as long as life lasts; it is a noose
+that, once you put it round your neck, turns into a Gordian knot,
+which, if the scythe of Death does not cut it, there is no untying.
+I could say a great deal more on this subject, were I not prevented by
+the anxiety I feel to know if the senor licentiate has anything more
+to tell about the story of Basilio."
+
+To this the student, bachelor, or, as Don Quixote called him,
+licentiate, replied, "I have nothing whatever to say further, but that
+from the moment Basilio learned that the fair Quiteria was to be
+married to Camacho the rich, he has never been seen to smile, or heard
+to utter rational word, and he always goes about moody and dejected,
+talking to himself in a way that shows plainly he is out of his
+senses. He eats little and sleeps little, and all he eats is fruit,
+and when he sleeps, if he sleeps at all, it is in the field on the
+hard earth like a brute beast. Sometimes he gazes at the sky, at other
+times he fixes his eyes on the earth in such an abstracted way that he
+might be taken for a clothed statue, with its drapery stirred by the
+wind. In short, he shows such signs of a heart crushed by suffering,
+that all we who know him believe that when to-morrow the fair Quiteria
+says 'yes,' it will be his sentence of death."
+
+"God will guide it better," said Sancho, "for God who gives the
+wound gives the salve; nobody knows what will happen; there are a good
+many hours between this and to-morrow, and any one of them, or any
+moment, the house may fall; I have seen the rain coming down and the
+sun shining all at one time; many a one goes to bed in good health who
+can't stir the next day. And tell me, is there anyone who can boast of
+having driven a nail into the wheel of fortune? No, faith; and between
+a woman's 'yes' and 'no' I wouldn't venture to put the point of a pin,
+for there would not be room for it; if you tell me Quiteria loves
+Basilio heart and soul, then I'll give him a bag of good luck; for
+love, I have heard say, looks through spectacles that make copper seem
+gold, poverty wealth, and blear eyes pearls."
+
+"What art thou driving at, Sancho? curses on thee!" said Don
+Quixote; "for when thou takest to stringing proverbs and sayings
+together, no one can understand thee but Judas himself, and I wish
+he had thee. Tell me, thou animal, what dost thou know about nails
+or wheels, or anything else?"
+
+"Oh, if you don't understand me," replied Sancho, "it is no wonder
+my words are taken for nonsense; but no matter; I understand myself,
+and I know I have not said anything very foolish in what I have
+said; only your worship, senor, is always gravelling at everything I
+say, nay, everything I do."
+
+"Cavilling, not gravelling," said Don Quixote, "thou prevaricator of
+honest language, God confound thee!"
+
+"Don't find fault with me, your worship," returned Sancho, "for
+you know I have not been bred up at court or trained at Salamanca,
+to know whether I am adding or dropping a letter or so in my words.
+Why! God bless me, it's not fair to force a Sayago-man to speak like a
+Toledan; maybe there are Toledans who do not hit it off when it
+comes to polished talk."
+
+"That is true," said the licentiate, "for those who have been bred
+up in the Tanneries and the Zocodover cannot talk like those who are
+almost all day pacing the cathedral cloisters, and yet they are all
+Toledans. Pure, correct, elegant and lucid language will be met with
+in men of courtly breeding and discrimination, though they may have
+been born in Majalahonda; I say of discrimination, because there are
+many who are not so, and discrimination is the grammar of good
+language, if it be accompanied by practice. I, sirs, for my sins
+have studied canon law at Salamanca, and I rather pique myself on
+expressing my meaning in clear, plain, and intelligible language."
+
+"If you did not pique yourself more on your dexterity with those
+foils you carry than on dexterity of tongue," said the other
+student, "you would have been head of the degrees, where you are now
+tail."
+
+"Look here, bachelor Corchuelo," returned the licentiate, "you
+have the most mistaken idea in the world about skill with the sword,
+if you think it useless."
+
+"It is no idea on my part, but an established truth," replied
+Corchuelo; "and if you wish me to prove it to you by experiment, you
+have swords there, and it is a good opportunity; I have a steady
+hand and a strong arm, and these joined with my resolution, which is
+not small, will make you confess that I am not mistaken. Dismount
+and put in practice your positions and circles and angles and science,
+for I hope to make you see stars at noonday with my rude raw
+swordsmanship, in which, next to God, I place my trust that the man is
+yet to be born who will make me turn my back, and that there is not
+one in the world I will not compel to give ground."
+
+"As to whether you turn your back or not, I do not concern
+myself," replied the master of fence; "though it might be that your
+grave would be dug on the spot where you planted your foot the first
+time; I mean that you would be stretched dead there for despising
+skill with the sword."
+
+"We shall soon see," replied Corchuelo, and getting off his ass
+briskly, he drew out furiously one of the swords the licentiate
+carried on his beast.
+
+"It must not be that way," said Don Quixote at this point; "I will
+be the director of this fencing match, and judge of this often
+disputed question;" and dismounting from Rocinante and grasping his
+lance, he planted himself in the middle of the road, just as the
+licentiate, with an easy, graceful bearing and step, advanced
+towards Corchuelo, who came on against him, darting fire from his
+eyes, as the saying is. The other two of the company, the peasants,
+without dismounting from their asses, served as spectators of the
+mortal tragedy. The cuts, thrusts, down strokes, back strokes and
+doubles, that Corchuelo delivered were past counting, and came thicker
+than hops or hail. He attacked like an angry lion, but he was met by a
+tap on the mouth from the button of the licentiate's sword that
+checked him in the midst of his furious onset, and made him kiss it as
+if it were a relic, though not as devoutly as relics are and ought
+to he kissed. The end of it was that the licentiate reckoned up for
+him by thrusts every one of the buttons of the short cassock he
+wore, tore the skirts into strips, like the tails of a cuttlefish,
+knocked off his hat twice, and so completely tired him out, that in
+vexation, anger, and rage, he took the sword by the hilt and flung
+it away with such force, that one of the peasants that were there, who
+was a notary, and who went for it, made an affidavit afterwards that
+he sent it nearly three-quarters of a league, which testimony will
+serve, and has served, to show and establish with all certainty that
+strength is overcome by skill.
+
+Corchuelo sat down wearied, and Sancho approaching him said, "By
+my faith, senor bachelor, if your worship takes my advice, you will
+never challenge anyone to fence again, only to wrestle and throw the
+bar, for you have the youth and strength for that; but as for these
+fencers as they call them, I have heard say they can put the point
+of a sword through the eye of a needle."
+
+"I am satisfied with having tumbled off my donkey," said
+Corchuelo, "and with having had the truth I was so ignorant of
+proved to me by experience;" and getting up he embraced the
+licentiate, and they were better friends than ever; and not caring
+to wait for the notary who had gone for the sword, as they saw he
+would be a long time about it, they resolved to push on so as to reach
+the village of Quiteria, to which they all belonged, in good time.
+
+During the remainder of the journey the licentiate held forth to
+them on the excellences of the sword, with such conclusive
+arguments, and such figures and mathematical proofs, that all were
+convinced of the value of the science, and Corchuelo cured of his
+dogmatism.
+
+It grew dark; but before they reached the town it seemed to them all
+as if there was a heaven full of countless glittering stars in front
+of it. They heard, too, the pleasant mingled notes of a variety of
+instruments, flutes, drums, psalteries, pipes, tabors, and timbrels,
+and as they drew near they perceived that the trees of a leafy
+arcade that had been constructed at the entrance of the town were
+filled with lights unaffected by the wind, for the breeze at the
+time was so gentle that it had not power to stir the leaves on the
+trees. The musicians were the life of the wedding, wandering through
+the pleasant grounds in separate bands, some dancing, others
+singing, others playing the various instruments already mentioned.
+In short, it seemed as though mirth and gaiety were frisking and
+gambolling all over the meadow. Several other persons were engaged
+in erecting raised benches from which people might conveniently see
+the plays and dances that were to be performed the next day on the
+spot dedicated to the celebration of the marriage of Camacho the
+rich and the obsequies of Basilio. Don Quixote would not enter the
+village, although the peasant as well as the bachelor pressed him;
+he excused himself, however, on the grounds, amply sufficient in his
+opinion, that it was the custom of knights-errant to sleep in the
+fields and woods in preference to towns, even were it under gilded
+ceilings; and so turned aside a little out of the road, very much
+against Sancho's will, as the good quarters he had enjoyed in the
+castle or house of Don Diego came back to his mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+WHEREIN AN ACCOUNT IS GIVEN OF THE WEDDING OF CAMACHO THE RICH,
+TOGETHER WITH THE INCIDENT OF BASILIO THE POOR
+
+Scarce had the fair Aurora given bright Phoebus time to dry the
+liquid pearls upon her golden locks with the heat of his fervent rays,
+when Don Quixote, shaking off sloth from his limbs, sprang to his feet
+and called to his squire Sancho, who was still snoring; seeing which
+Don Quixote ere he roused him thus addressed him: "Happy thou, above
+all the dwellers on the face of the earth, that, without envying or
+being envied, sleepest with tranquil mind, and that neither enchanters
+persecute nor enchantments affright. Sleep, I say, and will say a
+hundred times, without any jealous thoughts of thy mistress to make
+thee keep ceaseless vigils, or any cares as to how thou art to pay the
+debts thou owest, or find to-morrow's food for thyself and thy needy
+little family, to interfere with thy repose. Ambition breaks not thy
+rest, nor doth this world's empty pomp disturb thee, for the utmost
+reach of thy anxiety is to provide for thy ass, since upon my
+shoulders thou hast laid the support of thyself, the counterpoise
+and burden that nature and custom have imposed upon masters. The
+servant sleeps and the master lies awake thinking how he is to feed
+him, advance him, and reward him. The distress of seeing the sky
+turn brazen, and withhold its needful moisture from the earth, is
+not felt by the servant but by the master, who in time of scarcity and
+famine must support him who has served him in times of plenty and
+abundance."
+
+To all this Sancho made no reply because he was asleep, nor would he
+have wakened up so soon as he did had not Don Quixote brought him to
+his senses with the butt of his lance. He awoke at last, drowsy and
+lazy, and casting his eyes about in every direction, observed,
+"There comes, if I don't mistake, from the quarter of that arcade a
+steam and a smell a great deal more like fried rashers than
+galingale or thyme; a wedding that begins with smells like that, by my
+faith, ought to be plentiful and unstinting."
+
+"Have done, thou glutton," said Don Quixote; "come, let us go and
+witness this bridal, and see what the rejected Basilio does."
+
+"Let him do what he likes," returned Sancho; "be he not poor, he
+would marry Quiteria. To make a grand match for himself, and he
+without a farthing; is there nothing else? Faith, senor, it's my
+opinion the poor man should be content with what he can get, and not
+go looking for dainties in the bottom of the sea. I will bet my arm
+that Camacho could bury Basilio in reals; and if that be so, as no
+doubt it is, what a fool Quiteria would be to refuse the fine
+dresses and jewels Camacho must have given her and will give her,
+and take Basilio's bar-throwing and sword-play. They won't give a pint
+of wine at the tavern for a good cast of the bar or a neat thrust of
+the sword. Talents and accomplishments that can't be turned into
+money, let Count Dirlos have them; but when such gifts fall to one
+that has hard cash, I wish my condition of life was as becoming as
+they are. On a good foundation you can raise a good building, and
+the best foundation in the world is money."
+
+"For God's sake, Sancho," said Don Quixote here, "stop that
+harangue; it is my belief, if thou wert allowed to continue all thou
+beginnest every instant, thou wouldst have no time left for eating
+or sleeping; for thou wouldst spend it all in talking."
+
+"If your worship had a good memory," replied Sancho, "you would
+remember the articles of our agreement before we started from home
+this last time; one of them was that I was to be let say all I
+liked, so long as it was not against my neighbour or your worship's
+authority; and so far, it seems to me, I have not broken the said
+article."
+
+"I remember no such article, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "and even if
+it were so, I desire you to hold your tongue and come along; for the
+instruments we heard last night are already beginning to enliven the
+valleys again, and no doubt the marriage will take place in the cool
+of the morning, and not in the heat of the afternoon."
+
+Sancho did as his master bade him, and putting the saddle on
+Rocinante and the pack-saddle on Dapple, they both mounted and at a
+leisurely pace entered the arcade. The first thing that presented
+itself to Sancho's eyes was a whole ox spitted on a whole elm tree,
+and in the fire at which it was to be roasted there was burning a
+middling-sized mountain of faggots, and six stewpots that stood
+round the blaze had not been made in the ordinary mould of common
+pots, for they were six half wine-jars, each fit to hold the
+contents of a slaughter-house; they swallowed up whole sheep and hid
+them away in their insides without showing any more sign of them
+than if they were pigeons. Countless were the hares ready skinned
+and the plucked fowls that hung on the trees for burial in the pots,
+numberless the wildfowl and game of various sorts suspended from the
+branches that the air might keep them cool. Sancho counted more than
+sixty wine skins of over six gallons each, and all filled, as it
+proved afterwards, with generous wines. There were, besides, piles
+of the whitest bread, like the heaps of corn one sees on the
+threshing-floors. There was a wall made of cheeses arranged like
+open brick-work, and two cauldrons full of oil, bigger than those of a
+dyer's shop, served for cooking fritters, which when fried were
+taken out with two mighty shovels, and plunged into another cauldron
+of prepared honey that stood close by. Of cooks and cook-maids there
+were over fifty, all clean, brisk, and blithe. In the capacious
+belly of the ox were a dozen soft little sucking-pigs, which, sewn
+up there, served to give it tenderness and flavour. The spices of
+different kinds did not seem to have been bought by the pound but by
+the quarter, and all lay open to view in a great chest. In short,
+all the preparations made for the wedding were in rustic style, but
+abundant enough to feed an army.
+
+Sancho observed all, contemplated all, and everything won his heart.
+The first to captivate and take his fancy were the pots, out of
+which he would have very gladly helped himself to a moderate
+pipkinful; then the wine skins secured his affections; and lastly, the
+produce of the frying-pans, if, indeed, such imposing cauldrons may be
+called frying-pans; and unable to control himself or bear it any
+longer, he approached one of the busy cooks and civilly but hungrily
+begged permission to soak a scrap of bread in one of the pots; to
+which the cook made answer, "Brother, this is not a day on which
+hunger is to have any sway, thanks to the rich Camacho; get down and
+look about for a ladle and skim off a hen or two, and much good may
+they do you."
+
+"I don't see one," said Sancho.
+
+"Wait a bit," said the cook; "sinner that I am! how particular and
+bashful you are!" and so saying, he seized a bucket and plunging it
+into one of the half jars took up three hens and a couple of geese,
+and said to Sancho, "Fall to, friend, and take the edge off your
+appetite with these skimmings until dinner-time comes."
+
+"I have nothing to put them in," said Sancho.
+
+"Well then," said the cook, "take spoon and all; for Camacho's
+wealth and happiness furnish everything."
+
+While Sancho fared thus, Don Quixote was watching the entrance, at
+one end of the arcade, of some twelve peasants, all in holiday and
+gala dress, mounted on twelve beautiful mares with rich handsome field
+trappings and a number of little bells attached to their petrals, who,
+marshalled in regular order, ran not one but several courses over
+the meadow, with jubilant shouts and cries of "Long live Camacho and
+Quiteria! he as rich as she is fair; and she the fairest on earth!"
+
+Hearing this, Don Quixote said to himself, "It is easy to see
+these folk have never seen my Dulcinea del Toboso; for if they had
+they would be more moderate in their praises of this Quiteria of
+theirs."
+
+Shortly after this, several bands of dancers of various sorts
+began to enter the arcade at different points, and among them one of
+sword-dancers composed of some four-and-twenty lads of gallant and
+high-spirited mien, clad in the finest and whitest of linen, and
+with handkerchiefs embroidered in various colours with fine silk;
+and one of those on the mares asked an active youth who led them if
+any of the dancers had been wounded. "As yet, thank God, no one has
+been wounded," said he, "we are all safe and sound;" and he at once
+began to execute complicated figures with the rest of his comrades,
+with so many turns and so great dexterity, that although Don Quixote
+was well used to see dances of the same kind, he thought he had
+never seen any so good as this. He also admired another that came in
+composed of fair young maidens, none of whom seemed to be under
+fourteen or over eighteen years of age, all clad in green stuff,
+with their locks partly braided, partly flowing loose, but all of such
+bright gold as to vie with the sunbeams, and over them they wore
+garlands of jessamine, roses, amaranth, and honeysuckle. At their head
+were a venerable old man and an ancient dame, more brisk and active,
+however, than might have been expected from their years. The notes
+of a Zamora bagpipe accompanied them, and with modesty in their
+countenances and in their eyes, and lightness in their feet, they
+looked the best dancers in the world.
+
+Following these there came an artistic dance of the sort they call
+"speaking dances." It was composed of eight nymphs in two files,
+with the god Cupid leading one and Interest the other, the former
+furnished with wings, bow, quiver and arrows, the latter in a rich
+dress of gold and silk of divers colours. The nymphs that followed
+Love bore their names written on white parchment in large letters on
+their backs. "Poetry" was the name of the first, "Wit" of the
+second, "Birth" of the third, and "Valour" of the fourth. Those that
+followed Interest were distinguished in the same way; the badge of the
+first announced "Liberality," that of the second "Largess," the
+third "Treasure," and the fourth "Peaceful Possession." In front of
+them all came a wooden castle drawn by four wild men, all clad in
+ivy and hemp stained green, and looking so natural that they nearly
+terrified Sancho. On the front of the castle and on each of the four
+sides of its frame it bore the inscription "Castle of Caution." Four
+skillful tabor and flute players accompanied them, and the dance
+having been opened, Cupid, after executing two figures, raised his
+eyes and bent his bow against a damsel who stood between the turrets
+of the castle, and thus addressed her:
+
+I am the mighty God whose sway
+  Is potent over land and sea.
+The heavens above us own me; nay,
+  The shades below acknowledge me.
+I know not fear, I have my will,
+  Whate'er my whim or fancy be;
+For me there's no impossible,
+  I order, bind, forbid, set free.
+
+Having concluded the stanza he discharged an arrow at the top of the
+castle, and went back to his place. Interest then came forward and
+went through two more figures, and as soon as the tabors ceased, he said:
+
+But mightier than Love am I,
+  Though Love it be that leads me on,
+Than mine no lineage is more high,
+  Or older, underneath the sun.
+To use me rightly few know how,
+  To act without me fewer still,
+For I am Interest, and I vow
+  For evermore to do thy will.
+
+Interest retired, and Poetry came forward, and when she had gone
+through her figures like the others, fixing her eyes on the damsel
+of the castle, she said:
+
+With many a fanciful conceit,
+  Fair Lady, winsome Poesy
+Her soul, an offering at thy feet,
+  Presents in sonnets unto thee.
+If thou my homage wilt not scorn,
+  Thy fortune, watched by envious eyes,
+On wings of poesy upborne
+  Shall be exalted to the skies.
+
+Poetry withdrew, and on the side of Interest Liberality advanced,
+and after having gone through her figures, said:
+
+To give, while shunning each extreme,
+  The sparing hand, the over-free,
+Therein consists, so wise men deem,
+  The virtue Liberality.
+But thee, fair lady, to enrich,
+  Myself a prodigal I'll prove,
+A vice not wholly shameful, which
+  May find its fair excuse in love.
+
+
+In the same manner all the characters of the two bands advanced
+and retired, and each executed its figures, and delivered its
+verses, some of them graceful, some burlesque, but Don Quixote's
+memory (though he had an excellent one) only carried away those that
+have been just quoted. All then mingled together, forming chains and
+breaking off again with graceful, unconstrained gaiety; and whenever
+Love passed in front of the castle he shot his arrows up at it,
+while Interest broke gilded pellets against it. At length, after
+they had danced a good while, Interest drew out a great purse, made of
+the skin of a large brindled cat and to all appearance full of
+money, and flung it at the castle, and with the force of the blow
+the boards fell asunder and tumbled down, leaving the damsel exposed
+and unprotected. Interest and the characters of his band advanced, and
+throwing a great chain of gold over her neck pretended to take her and
+lead her away captive, on seeing which, Love and his supporters made
+as though they would release her, the whole action being to the
+accompaniment of the tabors and in the form of a regular dance. The
+wild men made peace between them, and with great dexterity
+readjusted and fixed the boards of the castle, and the damsel once
+more ensconced herself within; and with this the dance wound up, to
+the great enjoyment of the beholders.
+
+Don Quixote asked one of the nymphs who it was that had composed and
+arranged it. She replied that it was a beneficiary of the town who had
+a nice taste in devising things of the sort. "I will lay a wager,"
+said Don Quixote, "that the same bachelor or beneficiary is a
+greater friend of Camacho's than of Basilio's, and that he is better
+at satire than at vespers; he has introduced the accomplishments of
+Basilio and the riches of Camacho very neatly into the dance."
+Sancho Panza, who was listening to all this, exclaimed, "The king is
+my cock; I stick to Camacho." "It is easy to see thou art a clown,
+Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and one of that sort that cry 'Long life
+to the conqueror.'"
+
+"I don't know of what sort I am," returned Sancho, "but I know
+very well I'll never get such elegant skimmings off Basilio's pots
+as these I have got off Camacho's;" and he showed him the bucketful of
+geese and hens, and seizing one began to eat with great gaiety and
+appetite, saying, "A fig for the accomplishments of Basilio! As much
+as thou hast so much art thou worth, and as much as thou art worth
+so much hast thou. As a grandmother of mine used to say, there are
+only two families in the world, the Haves and the Haven'ts; and she
+stuck to the Haves; and to this day, Senor Don Quixote, people would
+sooner feel the pulse of 'Have,' than of 'Know;' an ass covered with
+gold looks better than a horse with a pack-saddle. So once more I
+say I stick to Camacho, the bountiful skimmings of whose pots are
+geese and hens, hares and rabbits; but of Basilio's, if any ever
+come to hand, or even to foot, they'll be only rinsings."
+
+"Hast thou finished thy harangue, Sancho?" said Don Quixote. "Of
+course I have finished it," replied Sancho, "because I see your
+worship takes offence at it; but if it was not for that, there was
+work enough cut out for three days."
+
+"God grant I may see thee dumb before I die, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote.
+
+"At the rate we are going," said Sancho, "I'll be chewing clay
+before your worship dies; and then, maybe, I'll be so dumb that I'll
+not say a word until the end of the world, or, at least, till the
+day of judgment."
+
+"Even should that happen, O Sancho," said Don Quixote, "thy
+silence will never come up to all thou hast talked, art talking, and
+wilt talk all thy life; moreover, it naturally stands to reason,
+that my death will come before thine; so I never expect to see thee
+dumb, not even when thou art drinking or sleeping, and that is the
+utmost I can say."
+
+"In good faith, senor," replied Sancho, "there's no trusting that
+fleshless one, I mean Death, who devours the lamb as soon as the
+sheep, and, as I have heard our curate say, treads with equal foot
+upon the lofty towers of kings and the lowly huts of the poor. That
+lady is more mighty than dainty, she is no way squeamish, she
+devours all and is ready for all, and fills her alforjas with people
+of all sorts, ages, and ranks. She is no reaper that sleeps out the
+noontide; at all times she is reaping and cutting down, as well the
+dry grass as the green; she never seems to chew, but bolts and
+swallows all that is put before her, for she has a canine appetite
+that is never satisfied; and though she has no belly, she shows she
+has a dropsy and is athirst to drink the lives of all that live, as
+one would drink a jug of cold water."
+
+"Say no more, Sancho," said Don Quixote at this; "don't try to
+better it, and risk a fall; for in truth what thou hast said about
+death in thy rustic phrase is what a good preacher might have said.
+I tell thee, Sancho, if thou hadst discretion equal to thy mother wit,
+thou mightst take a pulpit in hand, and go about the world preaching
+fine sermons." "He preaches well who lives well," said Sancho, "and
+I know no more theology than that."
+
+"Nor needst thou," said Don Quixote, "but I cannot conceive or
+make out how it is that, the fear of God being the beginning of
+wisdom, thou, who art more afraid of a lizard than of him, knowest
+so much."
+
+"Pass judgment on your chivalries, senor," returned Sancho, "and
+don't set yourself up to judge of other men's fears or braveries,
+for I am as good a fearer of God as my neighbours; but leave me to
+despatch these skimmings, for all the rest is only idle talk that we
+shall be called to account for in the other world;" and so saying,
+he began a fresh attack on the bucket, with such a hearty appetite
+that he aroused Don Quixote's, who no doubt would have helped him
+had he not been prevented by what must be told farther on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+IN WHICH CAMACHO'S WEDDING IS CONTINUED, WITH OTHER DELIGHTFUL INCIDENTS
+
+While Don Quixote and Sancho were engaged in the discussion set
+forth the last chapter, they heard loud shouts and a great noise,
+which were uttered and made by the men on the mares as they went at
+full gallop, shouting, to receive the bride and bridegroom, who were
+approaching with musical instruments and pageantry of all sorts around
+them, and accompanied by the priest and the relatives of both, and all
+the most distinguished people of the surrounding villages. When Sancho
+saw the bride, he exclaimed, "By my faith, she is not dressed like a
+country girl, but like some fine court lady; egad, as well as I can
+make out, the patena she wears rich coral, and her green Cuenca
+stuff is thirty-pile velvet; and then the white linen trimming- by
+my oath, but it's satin! Look at her hands- jet rings on them! May I
+never have luck if they're not gold rings, and real gold, and set with
+pearls as white as a curdled milk, and every one of them worth an
+eye of one's head! Whoreson baggage, what hair she has! if it's not
+a wig, I never saw longer or fairer all the days of my life. See how
+bravely she bears herself- and her shape! Wouldn't you say she was
+like a walking palm tree loaded with clusters of dates? for the
+trinkets she has hanging from her hair and neck look just like them. I
+swear in my heart she is a brave lass, and fit 'to pass over the banks
+of Flanders.'"
+
+Don Quixote laughed at Sancho's boorish eulogies and thought that,
+saving his lady Dulcinea del Toboso, he had never seen a more
+beautiful woman. The fair Quiteria appeared somewhat pale, which
+was, no doubt, because of the bad night brides always pass dressing
+themselves out for their wedding on the morrow. They advanced
+towards a theatre that stood on one side of the meadow decked with
+carpets and boughs, where they were to plight their troth, and from
+which they were to behold the dances and plays; but at the moment of
+their arrival at the spot they heard a loud outcry behind them, and
+a voice exclaiming, "Wait a little, ye, as inconsiderate as ye are
+hasty!" At these words all turned round, and perceived that the
+speaker was a man clad in what seemed to be a loose black coat
+garnished with crimson patches like flames. He was crowned (as was
+presently seen) with a crown of gloomy cypress, and in his hand he
+held a long staff. As he approached he was recognised by everyone as
+the gay Basilio, and all waited anxiously to see what would come of
+his words, in dread of some catastrophe in consequence of his
+appearance at such a moment. He came up at last weary and
+breathless, and planting himself in front of the bridal pair, drove
+his staff, which had a steel spike at the end, into the ground, and,
+with a pale face and eyes fixed on Quiteria, he thus addressed her
+in a hoarse, trembling voice:
+
+"Well dost thou know, ungrateful Quiteria, that according to the
+holy law we acknowledge, so long as live thou canst take no husband;
+nor art thou ignorant either that, in my hopes that time and my own
+exertions would improve my fortunes, I have never failed to observe
+the respect due to thy honour; but thou, casting behind thee all
+thou owest to my true love, wouldst surrender what is mine to
+another whose wealth serves to bring him not only good fortune but
+supreme happiness; and now to complete it (not that I think he
+deserves it, but inasmuch as heaven is pleased to bestow it upon him),
+I will, with my own hands, do away with the obstacle that may
+interfere with it, and remove myself from between you. Long live the
+rich Camacho! many a happy year may he live with the ungrateful
+Quiteria! and let the poor Basilio die, Basilio whose poverty
+clipped the wings of his happiness, and brought him to the grave!"
+
+And so saying, he seized the staff he had driven into the ground,
+and leaving one half of it fixed there, showed it to be a sheath
+that concealed a tolerably long rapier; and, what may he called its
+hilt being planted in the ground, he swiftly, coolly, and deliberately
+threw himself upon it, and in an instant the bloody point and half the
+steel blade appeared at his back, the unhappy man falling to the earth
+bathed in his blood, and transfixed by his own weapon.
+
+His friends at once ran to his aid, filled with grief at his
+misery and sad fate, and Don Quixote, dismounting from Rocinante,
+hastened to support him, and took him in his arms, and found he had
+not yet ceased to breathe. They were about to draw out the rapier, but
+the priest who was standing by objected to its being withdrawn
+before he had confessed him, as the instant of its withdrawal would be
+that of this death. Basilio, however, reviving slightly, said in a
+weak voice, as though in pain, "If thou wouldst consent, cruel
+Quiteria, to give me thy hand as my bride in this last fatal moment, I
+might still hope that my rashness would find pardon, as by its means I
+attained the bliss of being thine."
+
+Hearing this the priest bade him think of the welfare of his soul
+rather than of the cravings of the body, and in all earnestness
+implore God's pardon for his sins and for his rash resolve; to which
+Basilio replied that he was determined not to confess unless
+Quiteria first gave him her hand in marriage, for that happiness would
+compose his mind and give him courage to make his confession.
+
+Don Quixote hearing the wounded man's entreaty, exclaimed aloud that
+what Basilio asked was just and reasonable, and moreover a request
+that might be easily complied with; and that it would be as much to
+Senor Camacho's honour to receive the lady Quiteria as the widow of
+the brave Basilio as if he received her direct from her father.
+
+"In this case," said he, "it will be only to say 'yes,' and no
+consequences can follow the utterance of the word, for the nuptial
+couch of this marriage must be the grave."
+
+Camacho was listening to all this, perplexed and bewildered and
+not knowing what to say or do; but so urgent were the entreaties of
+Basilio's friends, imploring him to allow Quiteria to give him her
+hand, so that his soul, quitting this life in despair, should not be
+lost, that they moved, nay, forced him, to say that if Quiteria were
+willing to give it he was satisfied, as it was only putting off the
+fulfillment of his wishes for a moment. At once all assailed
+Quiteria and pressed her, some with prayers, and others with tears,
+and others with persuasive arguments, to give her hand to poor
+Basilio; but she, harder than marble and more unmoved than any statue,
+seemed unable or unwilling to utter a word, nor would she have given
+any reply had not the priest bade her decide quickly what she meant to
+do, as Basilio now had his soul at his teeth, and there was no time
+for hesitation.
+
+On this the fair Quiteria, to all appearance distressed, grieved,
+and repentant, advanced without a word to where Basilio lay, his
+eyes already turned in his head, his breathing short and painful,
+murmuring the name of Quiteria between his teeth, and apparently about
+to die like a heathen and not like a Christian. Quiteria approached
+him, and kneeling, demanded his hand by signs without speaking.
+Basilio opened his eyes and gazing fixedly at her, said, "O
+Quiteria, why hast thou turned compassionate at a moment when thy
+compassion will serve as a dagger to rob me of life, for I have not
+now the strength left either to bear the happiness thou givest me in
+accepting me as thine, or to suppress the pain that is rapidly drawing
+the dread shadow of death over my eyes? What I entreat of thee, O thou
+fatal star to me, is that the hand thou demandest of me and wouldst
+give me, be not given out of complaisance or to deceive me afresh, but
+that thou confess and declare that without any constraint upon thy
+will thou givest it to me as to thy lawful husband; for it is not meet
+that thou shouldst trifle with me at such a moment as this, or have
+recourse to falsehoods with one who has dealt so truly by thee."
+
+While uttering these words he showed such weakness that the
+bystanders expected each return of faintness would take his life
+with it. Then Quiteria, overcome with modesty and shame, holding in
+her right hand the hand of Basilio, said, "No force would bend my
+will; as freely, therefore, as it is possible for me to do so, I
+give thee the hand of a lawful wife, and take thine if thou givest
+it to me of thine own free will, untroubled and unaffected by the
+calamity thy hasty act has brought upon thee."
+
+"Yes, I give it," said Basilio, "not agitated or distracted, but
+with unclouded reason that heaven is pleased to grant me, thus do I
+give myself to be thy husband."
+
+"And I give myself to be thy wife," said Quiteria, "whether thou
+livest many years, or they carry thee from my arms to the grave."
+
+"For one so badly wounded," observed Sancho at this point, "this
+young man has a great deal to say; they should make him leave off
+billing and cooing, and attend to his soul; for to my thinking he
+has it more on his tongue than at his teeth."
+
+Basilio and Quiteria having thus joined hands, the priest, deeply
+moved and with tears in his eyes, pronounced the blessing upon them,
+and implored heaven to grant an easy passage to the soul of the
+newly wedded man, who, the instant he received the blessing, started
+nimbly to his feet and with unparalleled effrontery pulled out the
+rapier that had been sheathed in his body. All the bystanders were
+astounded, and some, more simple than inquiring, began shouting, "A
+miracle, a miracle!" But Basilio replied, "No miracle, no miracle;
+only a trick, a trick!" The priest, perplexed and amazed, made haste
+to examine the wound with both hands, and found that the blade had
+passed, not through Basilio's flesh and ribs, but through a hollow
+iron tube full of blood, which he had adroitly fixed at the place, the
+blood, as was afterwards ascertained, having been so prepared as not
+to congeal. In short, the priest and Camacho and most of those present
+saw they were tricked and made fools of. The bride showed no signs
+of displeasure at the deception; on the contrary, hearing them say
+that the marriage, being fraudulent, would not be valid, she said that
+she confirmed it afresh, whence they all concluded that the affair had
+been planned by agreement and understanding between the pair,
+whereat Camacho and his supporters were so mortified that they
+proceeded to revenge themselves by violence, and a great number of
+them drawing their swords attacked Basilio, in whose protection as
+many more swords were in an instant unsheathed, while Don Quixote
+taking the lead on horseback, with his lance over his arm and well
+covered with his shield, made all give way before him. Sancho, who
+never found any pleasure or enjoyment in such doings, retreated to the
+wine-jars from which he had taken his delectable skimmings,
+considering that, as a holy place, that spot would be respected.
+
+"Hold, sirs, hold!" cried Don Quixote in a loud voice; "we have no
+right to take vengeance for wrongs that love may do to us: remember
+love and war are the same thing, and as in war it is allowable and
+common to make use of wiles and stratagems to overcome the enemy, so
+in the contests and rivalries of love the tricks and devices
+employed to attain the desired end are justifiable, provided they be
+not to the discredit or dishonour of the loved object. Quiteria
+belonged to Basilio and Basilio to Quiteria by the just and beneficent
+disposal of heaven. Camacho is rich, and can purchase his pleasure
+when, where, and as it pleases him. Basilio has but this ewe-lamb, and
+no one, however powerful he may be, shall take her from him; these two
+whom God hath joined man cannot separate; and he who attempts it
+must first pass the point of this lance;" and so saying he
+brandished it so stoutly and dexterously that he overawed all who
+did not know him.
+
+But so deep an impression had the rejection of Quiteria made on
+Camacho's mind that it banished her at once from his thoughts; and
+so the counsels of the priest, who was a wise and kindly disposed man,
+prevailed with him, and by their means he and his partisans were
+pacified and tranquillised, and to prove it put up their swords again,
+inveighing against the pliancy of Quiteria rather than the
+craftiness of Basilio; Camacho maintaining that, if Quiteria as a
+maiden had such a love for Basilio, she would have loved him too as
+a married woman, and that he ought to thank heaven more for having
+taken her than for having given her.
+
+Camacho and those of his following, therefore, being consoled and
+pacified, those on Basilio's side were appeased; and the rich Camacho,
+to show that he felt no resentment for the trick, and did not care
+about it, desired the festival to go on just as if he were married
+in reality. Neither Basilio, however, nor his bride, nor their
+followers would take any part in it, and they withdrew to Basilio's
+village; for the poor, if they are persons of virtue and good sense,
+have those who follow, honour, and uphold them, just as the rich
+have those who flatter and dance attendance on them. With them they
+carried Don Quixote, regarding him as a man of worth and a stout
+one. Sancho alone had a cloud on his soul, for he found himself
+debarred from waiting for Camacho's splendid feast and festival, which
+lasted until night; and thus dragged away, he moodily followed his
+master, who accompanied Basilio's party, and left behind him the
+flesh-pots of Egypt; though in his heart he took them with him, and
+their now nearly finished skimmings that he carried in the bucket
+conjured up visions before his eyes of the glory and abundance of
+the good cheer he was losing. And so, vexed and dejected though not
+hungry, without dismounting from Dapple he followed in the footsteps
+of Rocinante.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+WHERIN IS RELATED THE GRAND ADVENTURE OF THE CAVE OF MONTESINOS IN
+THE HEART OF LA MANCHA, WHICH THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE BROUGHT TO A
+HAPPY TERMINATION
+
+Many and great were the attentions shown to Don Quixote by the newly
+married couple, who felt themselves under an obligation to him for
+coming forward in defence of their cause; and they exalted his
+wisdom to the same level with his courage, rating him as a Cid in
+arms, and a Cicero in eloquence. Worthy Sancho enjoyed himself for
+three days at the expense of the pair, from whom they learned that the
+sham wound was not a scheme arranged with the fair Quiteria, but a
+device of Basilio's, who counted on exactly the result they had
+seen; he confessed, it is true, that he had confided his idea to
+some of his friends, so that at the proper time they might aid him
+in his purpose and insure the success of the deception.
+
+"That," said Don Quixote, "is not and ought not to be called
+deception which aims at virtuous ends;" and the marriage of lovers
+he maintained to be a most excellent end, reminding them, however,
+that love has no greater enemy than hunger and constant want; for love
+is all gaiety, enjoyment, and happiness, especially when the lover
+is in the possession of the object of his love, and poverty and want
+are the declared enemies of all these; which he said to urge Senor
+Basilio to abandon the practice of those accomplishments he was
+skilled in, for though they brought him fame, they brought him no
+money, and apply himself to the acquisition of wealth by legitimate
+industry, which will never fail those who are prudent and persevering.
+The poor man who is a man of honour (if indeed a poor man can be a man
+of honour) has a jewel when he has a fair wife, and if she is taken
+from him, his honour is taken from him and slain. The fair woman who
+is a woman of honour, and whose husband is poor, deserves to be
+crowned with the laurels and crowns of victory and triumph. Beauty
+by itself attracts the desires of all who behold it, and the royal
+eagles and birds of towering flight stoop on it as on a dainty lure;
+but if beauty be accompanied by want and penury, then the ravens and
+the kites and other birds of prey assail it, and she who stands firm
+against such attacks well deserves to be called the crown of her
+husband. "Remember, O prudent Basilio," added Don Quixote, "it was the
+opinion of a certain sage, I know not whom, that there was not more
+than one good woman in the whole world; and his advice was that each
+one should think and believe that this one good woman was his own
+wife, and in this way he would live happy. I myself am not married,
+nor, so far, has it ever entered my thoughts to be so; nevertheless
+I would venture to give advice to anyone who might ask it, as to the
+mode in which he should seek a wife such as he would be content to
+marry. The first thing I would recommend him, would be to look to good
+name rather than to wealth, for a good woman does not win a good
+name merely by being good, but by letting it he seen that she is so,
+and open looseness and freedom do much more damage to a woman's honour
+than secret depravity. If you take a good woman into your house it
+will he an easy matter to keep her good, and even to make her still
+better; but if you take a bad one you will find it hard work to mend
+her, for it is no very easy matter to pass from one extreme to
+another. I do not say it is impossible, but I look upon it as
+difficult."
+
+Sancho, listening to all this, said to himself, "This master of
+mine, when I say anything that has weight and substance, says I
+might take a pulpit in hand, and go about the world preaching fine
+sermons; but I say of him that, when he begins stringing maxims
+together and giving advice not only might he take a pulpit in hand,
+but two on each finger, and go into the market-places to his heart's
+content. Devil take you for a knight-errant, what a lot of things
+you know! I used to think in my heart that the only thing he knew
+was what belonged to his chivalry; but there is nothing he won't
+have a finger in."
+
+Sancho muttered this somewhat aloud, and his master overheard him,
+and asked, "What art thou muttering there, Sancho?"
+
+"I'm not saying anything or muttering anything," said Sancho; "I was
+only saying to myself that I wish I had heard what your worship has
+said just now before I married; perhaps I'd say now, 'The ox that's
+loose licks himself well.'"
+
+"Is thy Teresa so bad then, Sancho?"
+
+"She is not very bad," replied Sancho; "but she is not very good; at
+least she is not as good as I could wish."
+
+"Thou dost wrong, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "to speak ill of thy
+wife; for after all she is the mother of thy children." "We are
+quits," returned Sancho; "for she speaks ill of me whenever she
+takes it into her head, especially when she is jealous; and Satan
+himself could not put up with her then."
+
+In fine, they remained three days with the newly married couple,
+by whom they were entertained and treated like kings. Don Quixote
+begged the fencing licentiate to find him a guide to show him the
+way to the cave of Montesinos, as he had a great desire to enter it
+and see with his own eyes if the wonderful tales that were told of
+it all over the country were true. The licentiate said he would get
+him a cousin of his own, a famous scholar, and one very much given
+to reading books of chivalry, who would have great pleasure in
+conducting him to the mouth of the very cave, and would show him the
+lakes of Ruidera, which were likewise famous all over La Mancha, and
+even all over Spain; and he assured him he would find him
+entertaining, for he was a youth who could write books good enough
+to be printed and dedicated to princes. The cousin arrived at last,
+leading an ass in foal, with a pack-saddle covered with a
+parti-coloured carpet or sackcloth; Sancho saddled Rocinante, got
+Dapple ready, and stocked his alforjas, along with which went those of
+the cousin, likewise well filled; and so, commending themselves to God
+and bidding farewell to all, they set out, taking the road for the
+famous cave of Montesinos.
+
+On the way Don Quixote asked the cousin of what sort and character
+his pursuits, avocations, and studies were, to which he replied that
+he was by profession a humanist, and that his pursuits and studies
+were making books for the press, all of great utility and no less
+entertainment to the nation. One was called "The Book of Liveries," in
+which he described seven hundred and three liveries, with their
+colours, mottoes, and ciphers, from which gentlemen of the court might
+pick and choose any they fancied for festivals and revels, without
+having to go a-begging for them from anyone, or puzzling their brains,
+as the saying is, to have them appropriate to their objects and
+purposes; "for," said he, "I give the jealous, the rejected, the
+forgotten, the absent, what will suit them, and fit them without fail.
+I have another book, too, which I shall call 'Metamorphoses, or the
+Spanish Ovid,' one of rare and original invention, for imitating
+Ovid in burlesque style, I show in it who the Giralda of Seville and
+the Angel of the Magdalena were, what the sewer of Vecinguerra at
+Cordova was, what the bulls of Guisando, the Sierra Morena, the
+Leganitos and Lavapies fountains at Madrid, not forgetting those of
+the Piojo, of the Cano Dorado, and of the Priora; and all with their
+allegories, metaphors, and changes, so that they are amusing,
+interesting, and instructive, all at once. Another book I have which I
+call 'The Supplement to Polydore Vergil,' which treats of the
+invention of things, and is a work of great erudition and research,
+for I establish and elucidate elegantly some things of great
+importance which Polydore omitted to mention. He forgot to tell us who
+was the first man in the world that had a cold in his head, and who
+was the first to try salivation for the French disease, but I give
+it accurately set forth, and quote more than five-and-twenty authors
+in proof of it, so you may perceive I have laboured to good purpose
+and that the book will be of service to the whole world."
+
+Sancho, who had been very attentive to the cousin's words, said to
+him, "Tell me, senor- and God give you luck in printing your books-
+can you tell me (for of course you know, as you know everything) who
+was the first man that scratched his head? For to my thinking it
+must have been our father Adam."
+
+"So it must," replied the cousin; "for there is no doubt but Adam
+had a head and hair; and being the first man in the world he would
+have scratched himself sometimes."
+
+"So I think," said Sancho; "but now tell me, who was the first
+tumbler in the world?"
+
+"Really, brother," answered the cousin, "I could not at this
+moment say positively without having investigated it; I will look it
+up when I go back to where I have my books, and will satisfy you the
+next time we meet, for this will not be the last time."
+
+"Look here, senor," said Sancho, "don't give yourself any trouble
+about it, for I have just this minute hit upon what I asked you. The
+first tumbler in the world, you must know, was Lucifer, when they cast
+or pitched him out of heaven; for he came tumbling into the bottomless
+pit."
+
+"You are right, friend," said the cousin; and said Don Quixote,
+"Sancho, that question and answer are not thine own; thou hast heard
+them from some one else."
+
+"Hold your peace, senor," said Sancho; "faith, if I take to asking
+questions and answering, I'll go on from this till to-morrow
+morning. Nay! to ask foolish things and answer nonsense I needn't go
+looking for help from my neighbours."
+
+"Thou hast said more than thou art aware of, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote; "for there are some who weary themselves out in learning
+and proving things that, after they are known and proved, are not
+worth a farthing to the understanding or memory."
+
+In this and other pleasant conversation the day went by, and that
+night they put up at a small hamlet whence it was not more than two
+leagues to the cave of Montesinos, so the cousin told Don Quixote,
+adding, that if he was bent upon entering it, it would be requisite
+for him to provide himself with ropes, so that he might be tied and
+lowered into its depths. Don Quixote said that even if it reached to
+the bottomless pit he meant to see where it went to; so they bought
+about a hundred fathoms of rope, and next day at two in the
+afternoon they arrived at the cave, the mouth of which is spacious and
+wide, but full of thorn and wild-fig bushes and brambles and briars,
+so thick and matted that they completely close it up and cover it
+over.
+
+On coming within sight of it the cousin, Sancho, and Don Quixote
+dismounted, and the first two immediately tied the latter very
+firmly with the ropes, and as they were girding and swathing him
+Sancho said to him, "Mind what you are about, master mine; don't go
+burying yourself alive, or putting yourself where you'll be like a
+bottle put to cool in a well; it's no affair or business of your
+worship's to become the explorer of this, which must be worse than a
+Moorish dungeon."
+
+"Tie me and hold thy peace," said Don Quixote, "for an emprise
+like this, friend Sancho, was reserved for me;" and said the guide, "I
+beg of you, Senor Don Quixote, to observe carefully and examine with a
+hundred eyes everything that is within there; perhaps there may be
+some things for me to put into my book of 'Transformations.'"
+
+"The drum is in hands that will know how to beat it well enough,"
+said Sancho Panza.
+
+When he had said this and finished the tying (which was not over the
+armour but only over the doublet) Don Quixote observed, "It was
+careless of us not to have provided ourselves with a small cattle-bell
+to be tied on the rope close to me, the sound of which would show that
+I was still descending and alive; but as that is out of the question
+now, in God's hand be it to guide me;" and forthwith he fell on his
+knees and in a low voice offered up a prayer to heaven, imploring
+God to aid him and grant him success in this to all appearance
+perilous and untried adventure, and then exclaimed aloud, "O
+mistress of my actions and movements, illustrious and peerless
+Dulcinea del Toboso, if so be the prayers and supplications of this
+fortunate lover can reach thy ears, by thy incomparable beauty I
+entreat thee to listen to them, for they but ask thee not to refuse me
+thy favour and protection now that I stand in such need of them. I
+am about to precipitate, to sink, to plunge myself into the abyss that
+is here before me, only to let the world know that while thou dost
+favour me there is no impossibility I will not attempt and
+accomplish." With these words he approached the cavern, and
+perceived that it was impossible to let himself down or effect an
+entrance except by sheer force or cleaving a passage; so drawing his
+sword he began to demolish and cut away the brambles at the mouth of
+the cave, at the noise of which a vast multitude of crows and
+choughs flew out of it so thick and so fast that they knocked Don
+Quixote down; and if he had been as much of a believer in augury as he
+was a Catholic Christian he would have taken it as a bad omen and
+declined to bury himself in such a place. He got up, however, and as
+there came no more crows, or night-birds like the bats that flew out
+at the same time with the crows, the cousin and Sancho giving him
+rope, he lowered himself into the depths of the dread cavern; and as
+he entered it Sancho sent his blessing after him, making a thousand
+crosses over him and saying, "God, and the Pena de Francia, and the
+Trinity of Gaeta guide thee, flower and cream of knights-errant. There
+thou goest, thou dare-devil of the earth, heart of steel, arm of
+brass; once more, God guide thee and send thee back safe, sound, and
+unhurt to the light of this world thou art leaving to bury thyself
+in the darkness thou art seeking there;" and the cousin offered up
+almost the same prayers and supplications.
+
+Don Quixote kept calling to them to give him rope and more rope, and
+they gave it out little by little, and by the time the calls, which
+came out of the cave as out of a pipe, ceased to be heard they had let
+down the hundred fathoms of rope. They were inclined to pull Don
+Quixote up again, as they could give him no more rope; however, they
+waited about half an hour, at the end of which time they began to
+gather in the rope again with great ease and without feeling any
+weight, which made them fancy Don Quixote was remaining below; and
+persuaded that it was so, Sancho wept bitterly, and hauled away in
+great haste in order to settle the question. When, however, they had
+come to, as it seemed, rather more than eighty fathoms they felt a
+weight, at which they were greatly delighted; and at last, at ten
+fathoms more, they saw Don Quixote distinctly, and Sancho called out
+to him, saying, "Welcome back, senor, for we had begun to think you
+were going to stop there to found a family." But Don Quixote
+answered not a word, and drawing him out entirely they perceived he
+had his eyes shut and every appearance of being fast asleep.
+
+They stretched him on the ground and untied him, but still he did
+not awake; however, they rolled him back and forwards and shook and
+pulled him about, so that after some time he came to himself,
+stretching himself just as if he were waking up from a deep and
+sound sleep, and looking about him he said, "God forgive you, friends;
+ye have taken me away from the sweetest and most delightful
+existence and spectacle that ever human being enjoyed or beheld. Now
+indeed do I know that all the pleasures of this life pass away like
+a shadow and a dream, or fade like the flower of the field. O
+ill-fated Montesinos! O sore-wounded Durandarte! O unhappy Belerma!
+O tearful Guadiana, and ye O hapless daughters of Ruidera who show
+in your waves the tears that flowed from your beauteous eyes!"
+
+The cousin and Sancho Panza listened with deep attention to the
+words of Don Quixote, who uttered them as though with immense pain
+he drew them up from his very bowels. They begged of him to explain
+himself, and tell them what he had seen in that hell down there.
+
+"Hell do you call it?" said Don Quixote; "call it by no such name,
+for it does not deserve it, as ye shall soon see."
+
+He then begged them to give him something to eat, as he was very
+hungry. They spread the cousin's sackcloth on the grass, and put the
+stores of the alforjas into requisition, and all three sitting down
+lovingly and sociably, they made a luncheon and a supper of it all
+in one; and when the sackcloth was removed, Don Quixote of La Mancha
+said, "Let no one rise, and attend to me, my sons, both of you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+OF THE WONDERFUL THINGS THE INCOMPARABLE DON QUIXOTE SAID HE SAW
+IN THE PROFOUND CAVE OF MONTESINOS, THE IMPOSSIBILITY AND MAGNITUDE OF
+WHICH CAUSE THIS ADVENTURE TO BE DEEMED APOCRYPHAL
+
+It was about four in the afternoon when the sun, veiled in clouds,
+with subdued light and tempered beams, enabled Don Quixote to
+relate, without heat or inconvenience, what he had seen in the cave of
+Montesinos to his two illustrious hearers, and he began as follows:
+
+"A matter of some twelve or fourteen times a man's height down in
+this pit, on the right-hand side, there is a recess or space, roomy
+enough to contain a large cart with its mules. A little light
+reaches it through some chinks or crevices, communicating with it
+and open to the surface of the earth. This recess or space I perceived
+when I was already growing weary and disgusted at finding myself
+hanging suspended by the rope, travelling downwards into that dark
+region without any certainty or knowledge of where I was going, so I
+resolved to enter it and rest myself for a while. I called out,
+telling you not to let out more rope until I bade you, but you
+cannot have heard me. I then gathered in the rope you were sending me,
+and making a coil or pile of it I seated myself upon it, ruminating
+and considering what I was to do to lower myself to the bottom, having
+no one to hold me up; and as I was thus deep in thought and
+perplexity, suddenly and without provocation a profound sleep fell
+upon me, and when I least expected it, I know not how, I awoke and
+found myself in the midst of the most beautiful, delightful meadow
+that nature could produce or the most lively human imagination
+conceive. I opened my eyes, I rubbed them, and found I was not
+asleep but thoroughly awake. Nevertheless, I felt my head and breast
+to satisfy myself whether it was I myself who was there or some
+empty delusive phantom; but touch, feeling, the collected thoughts
+that passed through my mind, all convinced me that I was the same then
+and there that I am this moment. Next there presented itself to my
+sight a stately royal palace or castle, with walls that seemed built
+of clear transparent crystal; and through two great doors that
+opened wide therein, I saw coming forth and advancing towards me a
+venerable old man, clad in a long gown of mulberry-coloured serge that
+trailed upon the ground. On his shoulders and breast he had a green
+satin collegiate hood, and covering his head a black Milanese
+bonnet, and his snow-white beard fell below his girdle. He carried
+no arms whatever, nothing but a rosary of beads bigger than fair-sized
+filberts, each tenth bead being like a moderate ostrich egg; his
+bearing, his gait, his dignity and imposing presence held me
+spellbound and wondering. He approached me, and the first thing he did
+was to embrace me closely, and then he said to me, 'For a long time
+now, O valiant knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, we who are here
+enchanted in these solitudes have been hoping to see thee, that thou
+mayest make known to the world what is shut up and concealed in this
+deep cave, called the cave of Montesinos, which thou hast entered,
+an achievement reserved for thy invincible heart and stupendous
+courage alone to attempt. Come with me, illustrious sir, and I will
+show thee the marvels hidden within this transparent castle, whereof I
+am the alcaide and perpetual warden; for I am Montesinos himself, from
+whom the cave takes its name.'
+
+"The instant he told me he was Montesinos, I asked him if the
+story they told in the world above here was true, that he had taken
+out the heart of his great friend Durandarte from his breast with a
+little dagger, and carried it to the lady Belerma, as his friend
+when at the point of death had commanded him. He said in reply that
+they spoke the truth in every respect except as to the dagger, for
+it was not a dagger, nor little, but a burnished poniard sharper
+than an awl."
+
+"That poniard must have been made by Ramon de Hoces the
+Sevillian," said Sancho.
+
+"I do not know," said Don Quixote; "it could not have been by that
+poniard maker, however, because Ramon de Hoces was a man of yesterday,
+and the affair of Roncesvalles, where this mishap occurred, was long
+ago; but the question is of no great importance, nor does it affect or
+make any alteration in the truth or substance of the story."
+
+"That is true," said the cousin; "continue, Senor Don Quixote, for I
+am listening to you with the greatest pleasure in the world."
+
+"And with no less do I tell the tale," said Don Quixote; "and so, to
+proceed- the venerable Montesinos led me into the palace of crystal,
+where, in a lower chamber, strangely cool and entirely of alabaster,
+was an elaborately wrought marble tomb, upon which I beheld, stretched
+at full length, a knight, not of bronze, or marble, or jasper, as
+are seen on other tombs, but of actual flesh and bone. His right
+hand (which seemed to me somewhat hairy and sinewy, a sign of great
+strength in its owner) lay on the side of his heart; but before I
+could put any question to Montesinos, he, seeing me gazing at the tomb
+in amazement, said to me, 'This is my friend Durandarte, flower and
+mirror of the true lovers and valiant knights of his time. He is
+held enchanted here, as I myself and many others are, by that French
+enchanter Merlin, who, they say, was the devil's son; but my belief
+is, not that he was the devil's son, but that he knew, as the saying
+is, a point more than the devil. How or why he enchanted us, no one
+knows, but time will tell, and I suspect that time is not far off.
+What I marvel at is, that I know it to be as sure as that it is now
+day, that Durandarte ended his life in my arms, and that, after his
+death, I took out his heart with my own hands; and indeed it must have
+weighed more than two pounds, for, according to naturalists, he who
+has a large heart is more largely endowed with valour than he who
+has a small one. Then, as this is the case, and as the knight did
+really die, how comes it that he now moans and sighs from time to
+time, as if he were still alive?'
+
+"As he said this, the wretched Durandarte cried out in a loud voice:
+
+O cousin Montesinos!
+  'T was my last request of thee,
+When my soul hath left the body,
+  And that lying dead I be,
+With thy poniard or thy dagger
+  Cut the heart from out my breast,
+And bear it to Belerma.
+  This was my last request.
+
+On hearing which, the venerable Montesinos fell on his knees before
+the unhappy knight, and with tearful eyes exclaimed, 'Long since,
+Senor Durandarte, my beloved cousin, long since have I done what you
+bade me on that sad day when I lost you; I took out your heart as well
+as I could, not leaving an atom of it in your breast, I wiped it
+with a lace handkerchief, and I took the road to France with it,
+having first laid you in the bosom of the earth with tears enough to
+wash and cleanse my hands of the blood that covered them after
+wandering among your bowels; and more by token, O cousin of my soul,
+at the first village I came to after leaving Roncesvalles, I sprinkled
+a little salt upon your heart to keep it sweet, and bring it, if not
+fresh, at least pickled, into the presence of the lady Belerma,
+whom, together with you, myself, Guadiana your squire, the duenna
+Ruidera and her seven daughters and two nieces, and many more of
+your friends and acquaintances, the sage Merlin has been keeping
+enchanted here these many years; and although more than five hundred
+have gone by, not one of us has died; Ruidera and her daughters and
+nieces alone are missing, and these, because of the tears they shed,
+Merlin, out of the compassion he seems to have felt for them,
+changed into so many lakes, which to this day in the world of the
+living, and in the province of La Mancha, are called the Lakes of
+Ruidera. The seven daughters belong to the kings of Spain and the
+two nieces to the knights of a very holy order called the Order of St.
+John. Guadiana your squire, likewise bewailing your fate, was
+changed into a river of his own name, but when he came to the
+surface and beheld the sun of another heaven, so great was his grief
+at finding he was leaving you, that he plunged into the bowels of
+the earth; however, as he cannot help following his natural course, he
+from time to time comes forth and shows himself to the sun and the
+world. The lakes aforesaid send him their waters, and with these,
+and others that come to him, he makes a grand and imposing entrance
+into Portugal; but for all that, go where he may, he shows his
+melancholy and sadness, and takes no pride in breeding dainty choice
+fish, only coarse and tasteless sorts, very different from those of
+the golden Tagus. All this that I tell you now, O cousin mine, I
+have told you many times before, and as you make no answer, I fear
+that either you believe me not, or do not hear me, whereat I feel
+God knows what grief. I have now news to give you, which, if it serves
+not to alleviate your sufferings, will not in any wise increase
+them. Know that you have here before you (open your eyes and you
+will see) that great knight of whom the sage Merlin has prophesied
+such great things; that Don Quixote of La Mancha I mean, who has
+again, and to better purpose than in past times, revived in these days
+knight-errantry, long since forgotten, and by whose intervention and
+aid it may be we shall be disenchanted; for great deeds are reserved
+for great men.'
+
+"'And if that may not be,' said the wretched Durandarte in a low and
+feeble voice, 'if that may not be, then, my cousin, I say "patience
+and shuffle;"' and turning over on his side, he relapsed into his
+former silence without uttering another word.
+
+"And now there was heard a great outcry and lamentation, accompanied
+by deep sighs and bitter sobs. I looked round, and through the crystal
+wall I saw passing through another chamber a procession of two lines
+of fair damsels all clad in mourning, and with white turbans of
+Turkish fashion on their heads. Behind, in the rear of these, there
+came a lady, for so from her dignity she seemed to be, also clad in
+black, with a white veil so long and ample that it swept the ground.
+Her turban was twice as large as the largest of any of the others; her
+eyebrows met, her nose was rather flat, her mouth was large but with
+ruddy lips, and her teeth, of which at times she allowed a glimpse,
+were seen to be sparse and ill-set, though as white as peeled almonds.
+She carried in her hands a fine cloth, and in it, as well as I could
+make out, a heart that had been mummied, so parched and dried was
+it. Montesinos told me that all those forming the procession were
+the attendants of Durandarte and Belerma, who were enchanted there
+with their master and mistress, and that the last, she who carried the
+heart in the cloth, was the lady Belerma, who, with her damsels,
+four days in the week went in procession singing, or rather weeping,
+dirges over the body and miserable heart of his cousin; and that if
+she appeared to me somewhat ill-favoured or not so beautiful as fame
+reported her, it was because of the bad nights and worse days that she
+passed in that enchantment, as I could see by the great dark circles
+round her eyes, and her sickly complexion; 'her sallowness, and the
+rings round her eyes,' said he, 'are not caused by the periodical
+ailment usual with women, for it is many months and even years since
+she has had any, but by the grief her own heart suffers because of
+that which she holds in her hand perpetually, and which recalls and
+brings back to her memory the sad fate of her lost lover; were it
+not for this, hardly would the great Dulcinea del Toboso, so
+celebrated in all these parts, and even in the world, come up to her
+for beauty, grace, and gaiety.'
+
+"'Hold hard!' said I at this, 'tell your story as you ought, Senor
+Don Montesinos, for you know very well that all comparisons are
+odious, and there is no occasion to compare one person with another;
+the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso is what she is, and the lady Dona
+Belerma is what she is and has been, and that's enough.' To which he
+made answer, 'Forgive me, Senor Don Quixote; I own I was wrong and
+spoke unadvisedly in saying that the lady Dulcinea could scarcely come
+up to the lady Belerma; for it were enough for me to have learned,
+by what means I know not, that youare her knight, to make me bite my
+tongue out before I compared her to anything save heaven itself.'
+After this apology which the great Montesinos made me, my heart
+recovered itself from the shock I had received in hearing my lady
+compared with Belerma."
+
+"Still I wonder," said Sancho, "that your worship did not get upon
+the old fellow and bruise every bone of him with kicks, and pluck
+his beard until you didn't leave a hair in it."
+
+"Nay, Sancho, my friend," said Don Quixote, "it would not have
+been right in me to do that, for we are all bound to pay respect to
+the aged, even though they be not knights, but especially to those who
+are, and who are enchanted; I only know I gave him as good as he
+brought in the many other questions and answers we exchanged."
+
+"I cannot understand, Senor Don Quixote," remarked the cousin
+here, "how it is that your worship, in such a short space of time as
+you have been below there, could have seen so many things, and said
+and answered so much."
+
+"How long is it since I went down?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"Little better than an hour," replied Sancho.
+
+"That cannot be," returned Don Quixote, "because night overtook me
+while I was there, and day came, and it was night again and day
+again three times; so that, by my reckoning, I have been three days in
+those remote regions beyond our ken."
+
+"My master must be right," replied Sancho; "for as everything that
+has happened to him is by enchantment, maybe what seems to us an
+hour would seem three days and nights there."
+
+"That's it," said Don Quixote.
+
+"And did your worship eat anything all that time, senor?" asked
+the cousin.
+
+"I never touched a morsel," answered Don Quixote, "nor did I feel
+hunger, or think of it."
+
+"And do the enchanted eat?" said the cousin.
+
+"They neither eat," said Don Quixote; "nor are they subject to the
+greater excrements, though it is thought that their nails, beards, and
+hair grow."
+
+"And do the enchanted sleep, now, senor?" asked Sancho.
+
+"Certainly not," replied Don Quixote; "at least, during those
+three days I was with them not one of them closed an eye, nor did I
+either."
+
+"The proverb, 'Tell me what company thou keepest and I'll tell
+thee what thou art,' is to the point here," said Sancho; "your worship
+keeps company with enchanted people that are always fasting and
+watching; what wonder is it, then, that you neither eat nor sleep
+while you are with them? But forgive me, senor, if I say that of all
+this you have told us now, may God take me- I was just going to say
+the devil- if I believe a single particle."
+
+"What!" said the cousin, "has Senor Don Quixote, then, been lying?
+Why, even if he wished it he has not had time to imagine and put
+together such a host of lies."
+
+"I don't believe my master lies," said Sancho.
+
+"If not, what dost thou believe?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"I believe," replied Sancho, "that this Merlin, or those
+enchanters who enchanted the whole crew your worship says you saw
+and discoursed with down there, stuffed your imagination or your
+mind with all this rigmarole you have been treating us to, and all
+that is still to come."
+
+"All that might be, Sancho," replied Don Quixote; "but it is not so,
+for everything that I have told you I saw with my own eyes, and
+touched with my own hands. But what will you say when I tell you now
+how, among the countless other marvellous things Montesinos showed
+me (of which at leisure and at the proper time I will give thee an
+account in the course of our journey, for they would not be all in
+place here), he showed me three country girls who went skipping and
+capering like goats over the pleasant fields there, and the instant
+I beheld them I knew one to be the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, and
+the other two those same country girls that were with her and that
+we spoke to on the road from El Toboso! I asked Montesinos if he
+knew them, and he told me he did not, but he thought they must be some
+enchanted ladies of distinction, for it was only a few days before
+that they had made their appearance in those meadows; but I was not to
+be surprised at that, because there were a great many other ladies
+there of times past and present, enchanted in various strange
+shapes, and among them he had recognised Queen Guinevere and her
+dame Quintanona, she who poured out the wine for Lancelot when he came
+from Britain."
+
+When Sancho Panza heard his master say this he was ready to take
+leave of his senses, or die with laughter; for, as he knew the real
+truth about the pretended enchantment of Dulcinea, in which he himself
+had been the enchanter and concocter of all the evidence, he made up
+his mind at last that, beyond all doubt, his master was out of his
+wits and stark mad, so he said to him, "It was an evil hour, a worse
+season, and a sorrowful day, when your worship, dear master mine, went
+down to the other world, and an unlucky moment when you met with Senor
+Montesinos, who has sent you back to us like this. You were well
+enough here above in your full senses, such as God had given you,
+delivering maxims and giving advice at every turn, and not as you
+are now, talking the greatest nonsense that can be imagined."
+
+"As I know thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "I heed not thy words."
+
+"Nor I your worship's," said Sancho, "whether you beat me or kill me
+for those I have spoken, and will speak if you don't correct and
+mend your own. But tell me, while we are still at peace, how or by
+what did you recognise the lady our mistress; and if you spoke to her,
+what did you say, and what did she answer?"
+
+"I recognised her," said Don Quixote, "by her wearing the same
+garments she wore when thou didst point her out to me. I spoke to her,
+but she did not utter a word in reply; on the contrary, she turned her
+back on me and took to flight, at such a pace that crossbow bolt could
+not have overtaken her. I wished to follow her, and would have done so
+had not Montesinos recommended me not to take the trouble as it
+would be useless, particularly as the time was drawing near when it
+would be necessary for me to quit the cavern. He told me, moreover,
+that in course of time he would let me know how he and Belerma, and
+Durandarte, and all who were there, were to be disenchanted. But of
+all I saw and observed down there, what gave me most pain was, that
+while Montesinos was speaking to me, one of the two companions of
+the hapless Dulcinea approached me on one without my having seen her
+coming, and with tears in her eyes said to me, in a low, agitated
+voice, 'My lady Dulcinea del Toboso kisses your worship's hands, and
+entreats you to do her the favour of letting her know how you are;
+and, being in great need, she also entreats your worship as
+earnestly as she can to be so good as to lend her half a dozen
+reals, or as much as you may have about you, on this new dimity
+petticoat that I have here; and she promises to repay them very
+speedily.' I was amazed and taken aback by such a message, and turning
+to Senor Montesinos I asked him, 'Is it possible, Senor Montesinos,
+that persons of distinction under enchantment can be in need?' To
+which he replied, 'Believe me, Senor Don Quixote, that which is called
+need is to be met with everywhere, and penetrates all quarters and
+reaches everyone, and does not spare even the enchanted; and as the
+lady Dulcinea del Toboso sends to beg those six reals, and the
+pledge is to all appearance a good one, there is nothing for it but to
+give them to her, for no doubt she must be in some great strait.' 'I
+will take no pledge of her,' I replied, 'nor yet can I give her what
+she asks, for all I have is four reals; which I gave (they were
+those which thou, Sancho, gavest me the other day to bestow in alms
+upon the poor I met along the road), and I said, 'Tell your
+mistress, my dear, that I am grieved to the heart because of her
+distresses, and wish I was a Fucar to remedy them, and that I would
+have her know that I cannot be, and ought not be, in health while
+deprived of the happiness of seeing her and enjoying her discreet
+conversation, and that I implore her as earnestly as I can, to allow
+herself to be seen and addressed by this her captive servant and
+forlorn knight. Tell her, too, that when she least expects it she will
+hear it announced that I have made an oath and vow after the fashion
+of that which the Marquis of Mantua made to avenge his nephew Baldwin,
+when he found him at the point of death in the heart of the mountains,
+which was, not to eat bread off a tablecloth, and other trifling
+matters which he added, until he had avenged him; and I will make
+the same to take no rest, and to roam the seven regions of the earth
+more thoroughly than the Infante Don Pedro of Portugal ever roamed
+them, until I have disenchanted her.' 'All that and more, you owe my
+lady,' the damsel's answer to me, and taking the four reals, instead
+of making me a curtsey she cut a caper, springing two full yards
+into the air."
+
+"O blessed God!" exclaimed Sancho aloud at this, "is it possible
+that such things can be in the world, and that enchanters and
+enchantments can have such power in it as to have changed my
+master's right senses into a craze so full of absurdity! O senor,
+senor, for God's sake, consider yourself, have a care for your honour,
+and give no credit to this silly stuff that has left you scant and
+short of wits."
+
+"Thou talkest in this way because thou lovest me, Sancho," said
+Don Quixote; "and not being experienced in the things of the world,
+everything that has some difficulty about it seems to thee impossible;
+but time will pass, as I said before, and I will tell thee some of the
+things I saw down there which will make thee believe what I have
+related now, the truth of which admits of neither reply nor question."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+WHEREIN ARE RELATED A THOUSAND TRIFLING MATTERS, AS TRIVIAL AS
+THEY ARE NECESSARY TO THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF THIS GREAT HISTORY
+
+He who translated this great history from the original written by
+its first author, Cide Hamete Benengeli, says that on coming to the
+chapter giving the adventures of the cave of Montesinos he found
+written on the margin of it, in Hamete's own hand, these exact words:
+
+"I cannot convince or persuade myself that everything that is
+written in the preceding chapter could have precisely happened to
+the valiant Don Quixote; and for this reason, that all the
+adventures that have occurred up to the present have been possible and
+probable; but as for this one of the cave, I see no way of accepting
+it as true, as it passes all reasonable bounds. For me to believe that
+Don Quixote could lie, he being the most truthful gentleman and the
+noblest knight of his time, is impossible; he would not have told a
+lie though he were shot to death with arrows. On the other hand, I
+reflect that he related and told the story with all the
+circumstances detailed, and that he could not in so short a space have
+fabricated such a vast complication of absurdities; if, then, this
+adventure seems apocryphal, it is no fault of mine; and so, without
+affirming its falsehood or its truth, I write it down. Decide for
+thyself in thy wisdom, reader; for I am not bound, nor is it in my
+power, to do more; though certain it is they say that at the time of
+his death he retracted, and said he had invented it, thinking it
+matched and tallied with the adventures he had read of in his
+histories." And then he goes on to say:
+
+The cousin was amazed as well at Sancho's boldness as at the
+patience of his master, and concluded that the good temper the
+latter displayed arose from the happiness he felt at having seen his
+lady Dulcinea, even enchanted as she was; because otherwise the
+words and language Sancho had addressed to him deserved a thrashing;
+for indeed he seemed to him to have been rather impudent to his
+master, to whom he now observed, "I, Senor Don Quixote of La Mancha,
+look upon the time I have spent in travelling with your worship as
+very well employed, for I have gained four things in the course of it;
+the first is that I have made your acquaintance, which I consider
+great good fortune; the second, that I have learned what the cave of
+Montesinos contains, together with the transformations of Guadiana and
+of the lakes of Ruidera; which will be of use to me for the Spanish
+Ovid that I have in hand; the third, to have discovered the
+antiquity of cards, that they were in use at least in the time of
+Charlemagne, as may be inferred from the words you say Durandarte
+uttered when, at the end of that long spell while Montesinos was
+talking to him, he woke up and said, 'Patience and shuffle.' This
+phrase and expression he could not have learned while he was
+enchanted, but only before he had become so, in France, and in the
+time of the aforesaid emperor Charlemagne. And this demonstration is
+just the thing for me for that other book I am writing, the
+'Supplement to Polydore Vergil on the Invention of Antiquities;' for I
+believe he never thought of inserting that of cards in his book, as
+I mean to do in mine, and it will be a matter of great importance,
+particularly when I can cite so grave and veracious an authority as
+Senor Durandarte. And the fourth thing is, that I have ascertained the
+source of the river Guadiana, heretofore unknown to mankind."
+
+"You are right," said Don Quixote; "but I should like to know, if by
+God's favour they grant you a licence to print those books of yours-
+which I doubt- to whom do you mean dedicate them?"
+
+"There are lords and grandees in Spain to whom they can be
+dedicated," said the cousin.
+
+"Not many," said Don Quixote; "not that they are unworthy of it, but
+because they do not care to accept books and incur the obligation of
+making the return that seems due to the author's labour and
+courtesy. One prince I know who makes up for all the rest, and more-
+how much more, if I ventured to say, perhaps I should stir up envy
+in many a noble breast; but let this stand over for some more
+convenient time, and let us go and look for some place to shelter
+ourselves in to-night."
+
+"Not far from this," said the cousin, "there is a hermitage, where
+there lives a hermit, who they say was a soldier, and who has the
+reputation of being a good Christian and a very intelligent and
+charitable man. Close to the hermitage he has a small house which he
+built at his own cost, but though small it is large enough for the
+reception of guests."
+
+"Has this hermit any hens, do you think?" asked Sancho.
+
+"Few hermits are without them," said Don Quixote; "for those we
+see now-a-days are not like the hermits of the Egyptian deserts who
+were clad in palm-leaves, and lived on the roots of the earth. But
+do not think that by praising these I am disparaging the others; all I
+mean to say is that the penances of those of the present day do not
+come up to the asceticism and austerity of former times; but it does
+not follow from this that they are not all worthy; at least I think
+them so; and at the worst the hypocrite who pretends to be good does
+less harm than the open sinner."
+
+At this point they saw approaching the spot where they stood a man
+on foot, proceeding at a rapid pace, and beating a mule loaded with
+lances and halberds. When he came up to them, he saluted them and
+passed on without stopping. Don Quixote called to him, "Stay, good
+fellow; you seem to be making more haste than suits that mule."
+
+"I cannot stop, senor," answered the man; "for the arms you see I
+carry here are to be used tomorrow, so I must not delay; God be with
+you. But if you want to know what I am carrying them for, I mean to
+lodge to-night at the inn that is beyond the hermitage, and if you
+be going the same road you will find me there, and I will tell you
+some curious things; once more God be with you;" and he urged on his
+mule at such a pace that Don Quixote had no time to ask him what these
+curious things were that he meant to tell them; and as he was somewhat
+inquisitive, and always tortured by his anxiety to learn something
+new, he decided to set out at once, and go and pass the night at the
+inn instead of stopping at the hermitage, where the cousin would
+have had them halt. Accordingly they mounted and all three took the
+direct road for the inn, which they reached a little before nightfall.
+On the road the cousin proposed they should go up to the hermitage
+to drink a sup. The instant Sancho heard this he steered his Dapple
+towards it, and Don Quixote and the cousin did the same; but it
+seems Sancho's bad luck so ordered it that the hermit was not at home,
+for so a sub-hermit they found in the hermitage told them. They called
+for some of the best. She replied that her master had none, but that
+if they liked cheap water she would give it with great pleasure.
+
+"If I found any in water," said Sancho, "there are wells along the
+road where I could have had enough of it. Ah, Camacho's wedding, and
+plentiful house of Don Diego, how often do I miss you!"
+
+Leaving the hermitage, they pushed on towards the inn, and a
+little farther they came upon a youth who was pacing along in front of
+them at no great speed, so that they overtook him. He carried a
+sword over his shoulder, and slung on it a budget or bundle of his
+clothes apparently, probably his breeches or pantaloons, and his cloak
+and a shirt or two; for he had on a short jacket of velvet with a
+gloss like satin on it in places, and had his shirt out; his stockings
+were of silk, and his shoes square-toed as they wear them at court.
+His age might have been eighteen or nineteen; he was of a merry
+countenance, and to all appearance of an active habit, and he went
+along singing seguidillas to beguile the wearisomeness of the road. As
+they came up with him he was just finishing one, which the cousin
+got by heart and they say ran thus-
+
+I'm off to the wars
+  For the want of pence,
+Oh, had I but money
+  I'd show more sense.
+
+
+The first to address him was Don Quixote, who said, "You travel very
+airily, sir gallant; whither bound, may we ask, if it is your pleasure
+to tell us?"
+
+To which the youth replied, "The heat and my poverty are the
+reason of my travelling so airily, and it is to the wars that I am
+bound."
+
+"How poverty?" asked Don Quixote; "the heat one can understand."
+
+"Senor," replied the youth, "in this bundle I carry velvet
+pantaloons to match this jacket; if I wear them out on the road, I
+shall not be able to make a decent appearance in them in the city, and
+I have not the wherewithal to buy others; and so for this reason, as
+well as to keep myself cool, I am making my way in this fashion to
+overtake some companies of infantry that are not twelve leagues off,
+in which I shall enlist, and there will be no want of baggage trains
+to travel with after that to the place of embarkation, which they
+say will be Carthagena; I would rather have the King for a master, and
+serve him in the wars, than serve a court pauper."
+
+"And did you get any bounty, now?" asked the cousin.
+
+"If I had been in the service of some grandee of Spain or
+personage of distinction," replied the youth, "I should have been safe
+to get it; for that is the advantage of serving good masters, that out
+of the servants' hall men come to be ancients or captains, or get a
+good pension. But I, to my misfortune, always served place-hunters and
+adventurers, whose keep and wages were so miserable and scanty that
+half went in paying for the starching of one's collars; it would be
+a miracle indeed if a page volunteer ever got anything like a
+reasonable bounty."
+
+"And tell me, for heaven's sake," asked Don Quixote, "is it
+possible, my friend, that all the time you served you never got any
+livery?"
+
+"They gave me two," replied the page; "but just as when one quits
+a religious community before making profession, they strip him of
+the dress of the order and give him back his own clothes, so did my
+masters return me mine; for as soon as the business on which they came
+to court was finished, they went home and took back the liveries
+they had given merely for show."
+
+"What spilorceria!- as an Italian would say," said Don Quixote; "but
+for all that, consider yourself happy in having left court with as
+worthy an object as you have, for there is nothing on earth more
+honourable or profitable than serving, first of all God, and then
+one's king and natural lord, particularly in the profession of arms,
+by which, if not more wealth, at least more honour is to be won than
+by letters, as I have said many a time; for though letters may have
+founded more great houses than arms, still those founded by arms
+have I know not what superiority over those founded by letters, and
+a certain splendour belonging to them that distinguishes them above
+all. And bear in mind what I am now about to say to you, for it will
+be of great use and comfort to you in time of trouble; it is, not to
+let your mind dwell on the adverse chances that may befall you; for
+the worst of all is death, and if it be a good death, the best of
+all is to die. They asked Julius Caesar, the valiant Roman emperor,
+what was the best death. He answered, that which is unexpected,
+which comes suddenly and unforeseen; and though he answered like a
+pagan, and one without the knowledge of the true God, yet, as far as
+sparing our feelings is concerned, he was right; for suppose you are
+killed in the first engagement or skirmish, whether by a cannon ball
+or blown up by mine, what matters it? It is only dying, and all is
+over; and according to Terence, a soldier shows better dead in battle,
+than alive and safe in flight; and the good soldier wins fame in
+proportion as he is obedient to his captains and those in command over
+him. And remember, my son, that it is better for the soldier to
+smell of gunpowder than of civet, and that if old age should come upon
+you in this honourable calling, though you may be covered with
+wounds and crippled and lame, it will not come upon you without
+honour, and that such as poverty cannot lessen; especially now that
+provisions are being made for supporting and relieving old and
+disabled soldiers; for it is not right to deal with them after the
+fashion of those who set free and get rid of their black slaves when
+they are old and useless, and, turning them out of their houses
+under the pretence of making them free, make them slaves to hunger,
+from which they cannot expect to be released except by death. But
+for the present I won't say more than get ye up behind me on my
+horse as far as the inn, and sup with me there, and to-morrow you
+shall pursue your journey, and God give you as good speed as your
+intentions deserve."
+
+The page did not accept the invitation to mount, though he did
+that to supper at the inn; and here they say Sancho said to himself,
+"God be with you for a master; is it possible that a man who can say
+things so many and so good as he has said just now, can say that he
+saw the impossible absurdities he reports about the cave of
+Montesinos? Well, well, we shall see."
+
+And now, just as night was falling, they reached the inn, and it was
+not without satisfaction that Sancho perceived his master took it
+for a real inn, and not for a castle as usual. The instant they
+entered Don Quixote asked the landlord after the man with the lances
+and halberds, and was told that he was in the stable seeing to his
+mule; which was what Sancho and the cousin proceeded to do for their
+beasts, giving the best manger and the best place in the stable to
+Rocinante.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+WHEREIN IS SET DOWN THE BRAYING ADVENTURE, AND THE DROLL ONE OF
+THE PUPPET-SHOWMAN, TOGETHER WITH THE MEMORABLE DIVINATIONS OF THE
+DIVINING APE
+
+Don Quixote's bread would not bake, as the common saying is, until
+he had heard and learned the curious things promised by the man who
+carried the arms. He went to seek him where the innkeeper said be
+was and having found him, bade him say now at any rate what he had
+to say in answer to the question he had asked him on the road. "The
+tale of my wonders must be taken more leisurely and not standing,"
+said the man; "let me finish foddering my beast, good sir; and then
+I'll tell you things that will astonish you."
+
+"Don't wait for that," said Don Quixote; "I'll help you in
+everything," and so he did, sifting the barley for him and cleaning
+out the manger; a degree of humility which made the other feel bound
+to tell him with a good grace what he had asked; so seating himself on
+a bench, with Don Quixote beside him, and the cousin, the page, Sancho
+Panza, and the landlord, for a senate and an audience, he began his
+story in this way:
+
+"You must know that in a village four leagues and a half from this
+inn, it so happened that one of the regidors, by the tricks and
+roguery of a servant girl of his (it's too long a tale to tell),
+lost an ass; and though he did all he possibly could to find it, it
+was all to no purpose. A fortnight might have gone by, so the story
+goes, since the ass had been missing, when, as the regidor who had
+lost it was standing in the plaza, another regidor of the same town
+said to him, 'Pay me for good news, gossip; your ass has turned up.'
+'That I will, and well, gossip,' said the other; 'but tell us, where
+has he turned up?' 'In the forest,' said the finder; 'I saw him this
+morning without pack-saddle or harness of any sort, and so lean that
+it went to one's heart to see him. I tried to drive him before me
+and bring him to you, but he is already so wild and shy that when I
+went near him he made off into the thickest part of the forest. If you
+have a mind that we two should go back and look for him, let me put up
+this she-ass at my house and I'll be back at once.' 'You will be doing
+me a great kindness,' said the owner of the ass, 'and I'll try to
+pay it back in the same coin.' It is with all these circumstances, and
+in the very same way I am telling it now, that those who know all
+about the matter tell the story. Well then, the two regidors set off
+on foot, arm in arm, for the forest, and coming to the place where
+they hoped to find the ass they could not find him, nor was he to be
+seen anywhere about, search as they might. Seeing, then, that there
+was no sign of him, the regidor who had seen him said to the other,
+'Look here, gossip; a plan has occurred to me, by which, beyond a
+doubt, we shall manage to discover the animal, even if he is stowed
+away in the bowels of the earth, not to say the forest. Here it is.
+I can bray to perfection, and if you can ever so little, the thing's
+as good as done.' 'Ever so little did you say, gossip?' said the
+other; 'by God, I'll not give in to anybody, not even to the asses
+themselves.' 'We'll soon see,' said the second regidor, 'for my plan
+is that you should go one side of the forest, and I the other, so as
+to go all round about it; and every now and then you will bray and I
+will bray; and it cannot be but that the ass will hear us, and
+answer us if he is in the forest.' To which the owner of the ass
+replied, 'It's an excellent plan, I declare, gossip, and worthy of
+your great genius;' and the two separating as agreed, it so fell out
+that they brayed almost at the same moment, and each, deceived by
+the braying of the other, ran to look, fancying the ass had turned
+up at last. When they came in sight of one another, said the loser,
+'Is it possible, gossip, that it was not my ass that brayed?' 'No,
+it was I,' said the other. 'Well then, I can tell you, gossip,' said
+the ass's owner, 'that between you and an ass there is not an atom
+of difference as far as braying goes, for I never in all my life saw
+or heard anything more natural.' 'Those praises and compliments belong
+to you more justly than to me, gossip,' said the inventor of the plan;
+'for, by the God that made me, you might give a couple of brays odds
+to the best and most finished brayer in the world; the tone you have
+got is deep, your voice is well kept up as to time and pitch, and your
+finishing notes come thick and fast; in fact, I own myself beaten, and
+yield the palm to you, and give in to you in this rare
+accomplishment.' 'Well then,' said the owner, 'I'll set a higher value
+on myself for the future, and consider that I know something, as I
+have an excellence of some sort; for though I always thought I
+brayed well, I never supposed I came up to the pitch of perfection you
+say.' 'And I say too,' said the second, 'that there are rare gifts
+going to loss in the world, and that they are ill bestowed upon
+those who don't know how to make use of them.' 'Ours,' said the
+owner of the ass, 'unless it is in cases like this we have now in
+hand, cannot be of any service to us, and even in this God grant
+they may be of some use.' So saying they separated, and took to
+their braying once more, but every instant they were deceiving one
+another, and coming to meet one another again, until they arranged
+by way of countersign, so as to know that it was they and not the ass,
+to give two brays, one after the other. In this way, doubling the
+brays at every step, they made the complete circuit of the forest, but
+the lost ass never gave them an answer or even the sign of one. How
+could the poor ill-starred brute have answered, when, in the
+thickest part of the forest, they found him devoured by wolves? As
+soon as he saw him his owner said, 'I was wondering he did not answer,
+for if he wasn't dead he'd have brayed when he heard us, or he'd
+have been no ass; but for the sake of having heard you bray to such
+perfection, gossip, I count the trouble I have taken to look for him
+well bestowed, even though I have found him dead.' 'It's in a good
+hand, gossip,' said the other; 'if the abbot sings well, the acolyte
+is not much behind him.' So they returned disconsolate and hoarse to
+their village, where they told their friends, neighbours, and
+acquaintances what had befallen them in their search for the ass, each
+crying up the other's perfection in braying. The whole story came to
+be known and spread abroad through the villages of the
+neighbourhood; and the devil, who never sleeps, with his love for
+sowing dissensions and scattering discord everywhere, blowing mischief
+about and making quarrels out of nothing, contrived to make the people
+of the other towns fall to braying whenever they saw anyone from our
+village, as if to throw the braying of our regidors in our teeth. Then
+the boys took to it, which was the same thing for it as getting into
+the hands and mouths of all the devils of hell; and braying spread
+from one town to another in such a way that the men of the braying
+town are as easy to be known as blacks are to be known from whites,
+and the unlucky joke has gone so far that several times the scoffed
+have come out in arms and in a body to do battle with the scoffers,
+and neither king nor rook, fear nor shame, can mend matters. To-morrow
+or the day after, I believe, the men of my town, that is, of the
+braying town, are going to take the field against another village
+two leagues away from ours, one of those that persecute us most; and
+that we may turn out well prepared I have bought these lances and
+halberds you have seen. These are the curious things I told you I
+had to tell, and if you don't think them so, I have got no others;"
+and with this the worthy fellow brought his story to a close.
+
+Just at this moment there came in at the gate of the inn a man
+entirely clad in chamois leather, hose, breeches, and doublet, who
+said in a loud voice, "Senor host, have you room? Here's the
+divining ape and the show of the Release of Melisendra just coming."
+
+"Ods body!" said the landlord, "why, it's Master Pedro! We're in for
+a grand night!" I forgot to mention that the said Master Pedro had his
+left eye and nearly half his cheek covered with a patch of green
+taffety, showing that something ailed all that side. "Your worship
+is welcome, Master Pedro," continued the landlord; "but where are
+the ape and the show, for I don't see them?" "They are close at hand,"
+said he in the chamois leather, "but I came on first to know if
+there was any room." "I'd make the Duke of Alva himself clear out to
+make room for Master Pedro," said the landlord; "bring in the ape
+and the show; there's company in the inn to-night that will pay to see
+that and the cleverness of the ape." "So be it by all means," said the
+man with the patch; "I'll lower the price, and he well satisfied if
+I only pay my expenses; and now I'll go back and hurry on the cart
+with the ape and the show;" and with this he went out of the inn.
+
+Don Quixote at once asked the landlord what this Master Pedro was,
+and what was the show and what was the ape he had with him; which
+the landlord replied, "This is a famous puppet-showman, who for some
+time past has been going about this Mancha de Aragon, exhibiting a
+show of the release of Melisendra by the famous Don Gaiferos, one of
+the best and best-represented stories that have been seen in this part
+of the kingdom for many a year; he has also with him an ape with the
+most extraordinary gift ever seen in an ape or imagined in a human
+being; for if you ask him anything, he listens attentively to the
+question, and then jumps on his master's shoulder, and pressing
+close to his ear tells him the answer which Master Pedro then
+delivers. He says a great deal more about things past than about
+things to come; and though he does not always hit the truth in every
+case, most times he is not far wrong, so that he makes us fancy he has
+got the devil in him. He gets two reals for every question if the
+ape answers; I mean if his master answers for him after he has
+whispered into his ear; and so it is believed that this same Master
+Pedro is very rich. He is a 'gallant man' as they say in Italy, and
+good company, and leads the finest life in the world; talks more
+than six, drinks more than a dozen, and all by his tongue, and his
+ape, and his show."
+
+Master Pedro now came back, and in a cart followed the show and
+the ape- a big one, without a tail and with buttocks as bare as
+felt, but not vicious-looking. As soon as Don Quixote saw him, he
+asked him, "Can you tell me, sir fortune-teller, what fish do we
+catch, and how will it be with us? See, here are my two reals," and he
+bade Sancho give them to Master Pedro; but he answered for the ape and
+said, "Senor, this animal does not give any answer or information
+touching things that are to come; of things past he knows something,
+and more or less of things present."
+
+"Gad," said Sancho, "I would not give a farthing to be told what's
+past with me, for who knows that better than I do myself? And to pay
+for being told what I know would be mighty foolish. But as you know
+things present, here are my two reals, and tell me, most excellent sir
+ape, what is my wife Teresa Panza doing now, and what is she diverting
+herself with?"
+
+Master Pedro refused to take the money, saying, "I will not
+receive payment in advance or until the service has been first
+rendered;" and then with his right hand he gave a couple of slaps on
+his left shoulder, and with one spring the ape perched himself upon
+it, and putting his mouth to his master's ear began chattering his
+teeth rapidly; and having kept this up as long as one would be
+saying a credo, with another spring he brought himself to the
+ground, and the same instant Master Pedro ran in great haste and
+fell upon his knees before Don Quixote, and embracing his legs
+exclaimed, "These legs do I embrace as I would embrace the two pillars
+of Hercules, O illustrious reviver of knight-errantry, so long
+consigned to oblivion! O never yet duly extolled knight, Don Quixote
+of La Mancha, courage of the faint-hearted, prop of the tottering, arm
+of the fallen, staff and counsel of all who are unfortunate!"
+
+Don Quixote was thunderstruck, Sancho astounded, the cousin
+staggered, the page astonished, the man from the braying town agape,
+the landlord in perplexity, and, in short, everyone amazed at the
+words of the puppet-showman, who went on to say, "And thou, worthy
+Sancho Panza, the best squire and squire to the best knight in the
+world! Be of good cheer, for thy good wife Teresa is well, and she
+is at this moment hackling a pound of flax; and more by token she
+has at her left hand a jug with a broken spout that holds a good
+drop of wine, with which she solaces herself at her work."
+
+"That I can well believe," said Sancho. "She is a lucky one, and
+if it was not for her jealousy I would not change her for the giantess
+Andandona, who by my master's account was a very clever and worthy
+woman; my Teresa is one of those that won't let themselves want for
+anything, though their heirs may have to pay for it."
+
+"Now I declare," said Don Quixote, "he who reads much and travels
+much sees and knows a great deal. I say so because what amount of
+persuasion could have persuaded me that there are apes in the world
+that can divine as I have seen now with my own eyes? For I am that
+very Don Quixote of La Mancha this worthy animal refers to, though
+he has gone rather too far in my praise; but whatever I may be, I
+thank heaven that it has endowed me with a tender and compassionate
+heart, always disposed to do good to all and harm to none."
+
+"If I had money," said the page, "I would ask senor ape what will
+happen me in the peregrination I am making."
+
+To this Master Pedro, who had by this time risen from Don
+Quixote's feet, replied, "I have already said that this little beast
+gives no answer as to the future; but if he did, not having money
+would be of no consequence, for to oblige Senor Don Quixote, here
+present, I would give up all the profits in the world. And now,
+because I have promised it, and to afford him pleasure, I will set
+up my show and offer entertainment to all who are in the inn,
+without any charge whatever." As soon as he heard this, the
+landlord, delighted beyond measure, pointed out a place where the show
+might be fixed, which was done at once.
+
+Don Quixote was not very well satisfied with the divinations of
+the ape, as he did not think it proper that an ape should divine
+anything, either past or future; so while Master Pedro was arranging
+the show, he retired with Sancho into a corner of the stable, where,
+without being overheard by anyone, he said to him, "Look here, Sancho,
+I have been seriously thinking over this ape's extraordinary gift, and
+have come to the conclusion that beyond doubt this Master Pedro, his
+master, has a pact, tacit or express, with the devil."
+
+"If the packet is express from the devil," said Sancho, "it must
+be a very dirty packet no doubt; but what good can it do Master
+Pedro to have such packets?"
+
+"Thou dost not understand me, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "I only
+mean he must have made some compact with the devil to infuse this
+power into the ape, that he may get his living, and after he has grown
+rich he will give him his soul, which is what the enemy of mankind
+wants; this I am led to believe by observing that the ape only answers
+about things past or present, and the devil's knowledge extends no
+further; for the future he knows only by guesswork, and that not
+always; for it is reserved for God alone to know the times and the
+seasons, and for him there is neither past nor future; all is present.
+This being as it is, it is clear that this ape speaks by the spirit of
+the devil; and I am astonished they have not denounced him to the Holy
+Office, and put him to the question, and forced it out of him by whose
+virtue it is that he divines; because it is certain this ape is not an
+astrologer; neither his master nor he sets up, or knows how to set up,
+those figures they call judiciary, which are now so common in Spain
+that there is not a jade, or page, or old cobbler, that will not
+undertake to set up a figure as readily as pick up a knave of cards
+from the ground, bringing to nought the marvellous truth of the
+science by their lies and ignorance. I know of a lady who asked one of
+these figure schemers whether her little lap-dog would be in pup and
+would breed, and how many and of what colour the little pups would be.
+To which senor astrologer, after having set up his figure, made answer
+that the bitch would be in pup, and would drop three pups, one
+green, another bright red, and the third parti-coloured, provided
+she conceived between eleven and twelve either of the day or night,
+and on a Monday or Saturday; but as things turned out, two days
+after this the bitch died of a surfeit, and senor planet-ruler had the
+credit all over the place of being a most profound astrologer, as most
+of these planet-rulers have."
+
+"Still," said Sancho, "I would be glad if your worship would make
+Master Pedro ask his ape whether what happened your worship in the
+cave of Montesinos is true; for, begging your worship's pardon, I, for
+my part, take it to have been all flam and lies, or at any rate
+something you dreamt."
+
+"That may be," replied Don Quixote; "however, I will do what you
+suggest; though I have my own scruples about it."
+
+At this point Master Pedro came up in quest of Don Quixote, to
+tell him the show was now ready and to come and see it, for it was
+worth seeing. Don Quixote explained his wish, and begged him to ask
+his ape at once to tell him whether certain things which had
+happened to him in the cave of Montesinos were dreams or realities,
+for to him they appeared to partake of both. Upon this Master Pedro,
+without answering, went back to fetch the ape, and, having placed it
+in front of Don Quixote and Sancho, said: "See here, senor ape, this
+gentleman wishes to know whether certain things which happened to
+him in the cave called the cave of Montesinos were false or true."
+On his making the usual sign the ape mounted on his left shoulder
+and seemed to whisper in his ear, and Master Pedro said at once,
+"The ape says that the things you saw or that happened to you in
+that cave are, part of them false, part true; and that he only knows
+this and no more as regards this question; but if your worship
+wishes to know more, on Friday next he will answer all that may be
+asked him, for his virtue is at present exhausted, and will not return
+to him till Friday, as he has said."
+
+"Did I not say, senor," said Sancho, "that I could not bring
+myself to believe that all your worship said about the adventures in
+the cave was true, or even the half of it?"
+
+"The course of events will tell, Sancho," replied Don Quixote;
+"time, that discloses all things, leaves nothing that it does not drag
+into the light of day, though it be buried in the bosom of the
+earth. But enough of that for the present; let us go and see Master
+Pedro's show, for I am sure there must be something novel in it."
+
+"Something!" said Master Pedro; "this show of mine has sixty
+thousand novel things in it; let me tell you, Senor Don Quixote, it is
+one of the best-worth-seeing things in the world this day; but
+operibus credite et non verbis, and now let's get to work, for it is
+growing late, and we have a great deal to do and to say and show."
+
+Don Quixote and Sancho obeyed him and went to where the show was
+already put up and uncovered, set all around with lighted wax tapers
+which made it look splendid and bright. When they came to it Master
+Pedro ensconced himself inside it, for it was he who had to work the
+puppets, and a boy, a servant of his, posted himself outside to act as
+showman and explain the mysteries of the exhibition, having a wand
+in his hand to point to the figures as they came out. And so, all
+who were in the inn being arranged in front of the show, some of
+them standing, and Don Quixote, Sancho, the page, and cousin,
+accommodated with the best places, the interpreter began to say what
+he will hear or see who reads or hears the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE DROLL ADVENTURE OF THE PUPPET-SHOWMAN,
+TOGETHER WITH OTHER THINGS IN TRUTH RIGHT GOOD
+
+All were silent, Tyrians and Trojans; I mean all who were watching
+the show were hanging on the lips of the interpreter of its wonders,
+when drums and trumpets were heard to sound inside it and cannon to go
+off. The noise was soon over, and then the boy lifted up his voice and
+said, "This true story which is here represented to your worships is
+taken word for word from the French chronicles and from the Spanish
+ballads that are in everybody's mouth, and in the mouth of the boys
+about the streets. Its subject is the release by Senor Don Gaiferos of
+his wife Melisendra, when a captive in Spain at the hands of the Moors
+in the city of Sansuena, for so they called then what is now called
+Saragossa; and there you may see how Don Gaiferos is playing at the
+tables, just as they sing it-
+
+At tables playing Don Gaiferos sits,
+For Melisendra is forgotten now.
+
+And that personage who appears there with a crown on his head and a
+sceptre in his hand is the Emperor Charlemagne, the supposed father of
+Melisendra, who, angered to see his son-in-law's inaction and
+unconcern, comes in to chide him; and observe with what vehemence
+and energy he chides him, so that you would fancy he was going to give
+him half a dozen raps with his sceptre; and indeed there are authors
+who say he did give them, and sound ones too; and after having said
+a great deal to him about imperilling his honour by not effecting
+the release of his wife, he said, so the tale runs,
+
+Enough I've said, see to it now.
+
+Observe, too, how the emperor turns away, and leaves Don Gaiferos
+fuming; and you see now how in a burst of anger, he flings the table
+and the board far from him and calls in haste for his armour, and asks
+his cousin Don Roland for the loan of his sword, Durindana, and how
+Don Roland refuses to lend it, offering him his company in the
+difficult enterprise he is undertaking; but he, in his valour and
+anger, will not accept it, and says that he alone will suffice to
+rescue his wife, even though she were imprisoned deep in the centre of
+the earth, and with this he retires to arm himself and set out on
+his journey at once. Now let your worships turn your eyes to that
+tower that appears there, which is supposed to be one of the towers of
+the alcazar of Saragossa, now called the Aljaferia; that lady who
+appears on that balcony dressed in Moorish fashion is the peerless
+Melisendra, for many a time she used to gaze from thence upon the road
+to France, and seek consolation in her captivity by thinking of
+Paris and her husband. Observe, too, a new incident which now
+occurs, such as, perhaps, never was seen. Do you not see that Moor,
+who silently and stealthily, with his finger on his lip, approaches
+Melisendra from behind? Observe now how he prints a kiss upon her
+lips, and what a hurry she is in to spit, and wipe them with the white
+sleeve of her smock, and how she bewails herself, and tears her fair
+hair as though it were to blame for the wrong. Observe, too, that
+the stately Moor who is in that corridor is King Marsilio of Sansuena,
+who, having seen the Moor's insolence, at once orders him (though
+his kinsman and a great favourite of his) to be seized and given two
+hundred lashes, while carried through the streets of the city
+according to custom, with criers going before him and officers of
+justice behind; and here you see them come out to execute the
+sentence, although the offence has been scarcely committed; for
+among the Moors there are no indictments nor remands as with us."
+
+Here Don Quixote called out, "Child, child, go straight on with your
+story, and don't run into curves and slants, for to establish a fact
+clearly there is need of a great deal of proof and confirmation;"
+and said Master Pedro from within, "Boy, stick to your text and do
+as the gentleman bids you; it's the best plan; keep to your plain
+song, and don't attempt harmonies, for they are apt to break down from
+being over fine."
+
+"I will," said the boy, and he went on to say, "This figure that you
+see here on horseback, covered with a Gascon cloak, is Don Gaiferos
+himself, whom his wife, now avenged of the insult of the amorous Moor,
+and taking her stand on the balcony of the tower with a calmer and
+more tranquil countenance, has perceived without recognising him;
+and she addresses her husband, supposing him to be some traveller, and
+holds with him all that conversation and colloquy in the ballad that runs-
+
+If you, sir knight, to France are bound,
+Oh! for Gaiferos ask-
+
+which I do not repeat here because prolixity begets disgust; suffice
+it to observe how Don Gaiferos discovers himself, and that by her
+joyful gestures Melisendra shows us she has recognised him; and what
+is more, we now see she lowers herself from the balcony to place
+herself on the haunches of her good husband's horse. But ah! unhappy
+lady, the edge of her petticoat has caught on one of the bars of the
+balcony and she is left hanging in the air, unable to reach the
+ground. But you see how compassionate heaven sends aid in our sorest
+need; Don Gaiferos advances, and without minding whether the rich
+petticoat is torn or not, he seizes her and by force brings her to the
+ground, and then with one jerk places her on the haunches of his
+horse, astraddle like a man, and bids her hold on tight and clasp
+her arms round his neck, crossing them on his breast so as not to
+fall, for the lady Melisendra was not used to that style of riding.
+You see, too, how the neighing of the horse shows his satisfaction
+with the gallant and beautiful burden he bears in his lord and lady.
+You see how they wheel round and quit the city, and in joy and
+gladness take the road to Paris. Go in peace, O peerless pair of
+true lovers! May you reach your longed-for fatherland in safety, and
+may fortune interpose no impediment to your prosperous journey; may
+the eyes of your friends and kinsmen behold you enjoying in peace
+and tranquillity the remaining days of your life- and that they may be
+as many as those of Nestor!"
+
+Here Master Pedro called out again and said, "Simplicity, boy!
+None of your high flights; all affectation is bad."
+
+The interpreter made no answer, but went on to say, "There was no
+want of idle eyes, that see everything, to see Melisendra come down
+and mount, and word was brought to King Marsilio, who at once gave
+orders to sound the alarm; and see what a stir there is, and how the
+city is drowned with the sound of the bells pealing in the towers of
+all the mosques."
+
+"Nay, nay," said Don Quixote at this; "on that point of the bells
+Master Pedro is very inaccurate, for bells are not in use among the
+Moors; only kettledrums, and a kind of small trumpet somewhat like our
+clarion; to ring bells this way in Sansuena is unquestionably a
+great absurdity."
+
+On hearing this, Master Pedro stopped ringing, and said, "Don't look
+into trifles, Senor Don Quixote, or want to have things up to a
+pitch of perfection that is out of reach. Are there not almost every
+day a thousand comedies represented all round us full of thousands
+of inaccuracies and absurdities, and, for all that, they have a
+successful run, and are listened to not only with applause, but with
+admiration and all the rest of it? Go on, boy, and don't mind; for
+so long as I fill my pouch, no matter if I show as many inaccuracies
+as there are motes in a sunbeam."
+
+"True enough," said Don Quixote; and the boy went on: "See what a
+numerous and glittering crowd of horsemen issues from the city in
+pursuit of the two faithful lovers, what a blowing of trumpets there
+is, what sounding of horns, what beating of drums and tabors; I fear
+me they will overtake them and bring them back tied to the tail of
+their own horse, which would be a dreadful sight."
+
+Don Quixote, however, seeing such a swarm of Moors and hearing
+such a din, thought it would be right to aid the fugitives, and
+standing up he exclaimed in a loud voice, "Never, while I live, will I
+permit foul play to be practised in my presence on such a famous
+knight and fearless lover as Don Gaiferos. Halt! ill-born rabble,
+follow him not nor pursue him, or ye will have to reckon with me in
+battle!" and suiting the action to the word, he drew his sword, and
+with one bound placed himself close to the show, and with unexampled
+rapidity and fury began to shower down blows on the puppet troop of
+Moors, knocking over some, decapitating others, maiming this one and
+demolishing that; and among many more he delivered one down stroke
+which, if Master Pedro had not ducked, made himself small, and got out
+of the way, would have sliced off his head as easily as if it had been
+made of almond-paste. Master Pedro kept shouting, "Hold hard! Senor
+Don Quixote! can't you see they're not real Moors you're knocking down
+and killing and destroying, but only little pasteboard figures!
+Look- sinner that I am!- how you're wrecking and ruining all that
+I'm worth!" But in spite of this, Don Quixote did not leave off
+discharging a continuous rain of cuts, slashes, downstrokes, and
+backstrokes, and at length, in less than the space of two credos, he
+brought the whole show to the ground, with all its fittings and
+figures shivered and knocked to pieces, King Marsilio badly wounded,
+and the Emperor Charlemagne with his crown and head split in two.
+The whole audience was thrown into confusion, the ape fled to the roof
+of the inn, the cousin was frightened, and even Sancho Panza himself
+was in mighty fear, for, as he swore after the storm was over, he
+had never seen his master in such a furious passion.
+
+The complete destruction of the show being thus accomplished, Don
+Quixote became a little calmer, said, "I wish I had here before me now
+all those who do not or will not believe how useful knights-errant are
+in the world; just think, if I had not been here present, what would
+have become of the brave Don Gaiferos and the fair Melisendra!
+Depend upon it, by this time those dogs would have overtaken them
+and inflicted some outrage upon them. So, then, long live
+knight-errantry beyond everything living on earth this day!"
+
+"Let it live, and welcome," said Master Pedro at this in a feeble
+voice, "and let me die, for I am so unfortunate that I can say with
+King Don Rodrigo-
+
+Yesterday was I lord of Spain
+To-day I've not a turret left
+That I may call mine own.
+
+Not half an hour, nay, barely a minute ago, I saw myself lord of kings
+and emperors, with my stables filled with countless horses, and my
+trunks and bags with gay dresses unnumbered; and now I find myself
+ruined and laid low, destitute and a beggar, and above all without
+my ape, for, by my faith, my teeth will have to sweat for it before
+I have him caught; and all through the reckless fury of sir knight
+here, who, they say, protects the fatherless, and rights wrongs, and
+does other charitable deeds; but whose generous intentions have been
+found wanting in my case only, blessed and praised be the highest
+heavens! Verily, knight of the rueful figure he must be to have
+disfigured mine."
+
+Sancho Panza was touched by Master Pedro's words, and said to him,
+"Don't weep and lament, Master Pedro; you break my heart; let me
+tell you my master, Don Quixote, is so catholic and scrupulous a
+Christian that, if he can make out that he has done you any wrong,
+he will own it, and be willing to pay for it and make it good, and
+something over and above."
+
+"Only let Senor Don Quixote pay me for some part of the work he
+has destroyed," said Master Pedro, "and I would be content, and his
+worship would ease his conscience, for he cannot be saved who keeps
+what is another's against the owner's will, and makes no restitution."
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote; "but at present I am not aware
+that I have got anything of yours, Master Pedro."
+
+"What!" returned Master Pedro; "and these relics lying here on the
+bare hard ground- what scattered and shattered them but the invincible
+strength of that mighty arm? And whose were the bodies they belonged
+to but mine? And what did I get my living by but by them?"
+
+"Now am I fully convinced," said Don Quixote, "of what I had many
+a time before believed; that the enchanters who persecute me do
+nothing more than put figures like these before my eyes, and then
+change and turn them into what they please. In truth and earnest, I
+assure you gentlemen who now hear me, that to me everything that has
+taken place here seemed to take place literally, that Melisendra was
+Melisendra, Don Gaiferos Don Gaiferos, Marsilio Marsilio, and
+Charlemagne Charlemagne. That was why my anger was roused; and to be
+faithful to my calling as a knight-errant I sought to give aid and
+protection to those who fled, and with this good intention I did
+what you have seen. If the result has been the opposite of what I
+intended, it is no fault of mine, but of those wicked beings that
+persecute me; but, for all that, I am willing to condemn myself in
+costs for this error of mine, though it did not proceed from malice;
+let Master Pedro see what he wants for the spoiled figures, for I
+agree to pay it at once in good and current money of Castile."
+
+Master Pedro made him a bow, saying, "I expected no less of the rare
+Christianity of the valiant Don Quixote of La Mancha, true helper
+and protector of all destitute and needy vagabonds; master landlord
+here and the great Sancho Panza shall be the arbitrators and
+appraisers between your worship and me of what these dilapidated
+figures are worth or may be worth."
+
+The landlord and Sancho consented, and then Master Pedro picked up
+from the ground King Marsilio of Saragossa with his head off, and
+said, "Here you see how impossible it is to restore this king to his
+former state, so I think, saving your better judgments, that for his
+death, decease, and demise, four reals and a half may be given me."
+
+"Proceed," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Well then, for this cleavage from top to bottom," continued
+Master Pedro, taking up the split Emperor Charlemagne, "it would not
+be much if I were to ask five reals and a quarter."
+
+"It's not little," said Sancho.
+
+"Nor is it much," said the landlord; "make it even, and say five
+reals."
+
+"Let him have the whole five and a quarter," said Don Quixote;
+"for the sum total of this notable disaster does not stand on a
+quarter more or less; and make an end of it quickly, Master Pedro, for
+it's getting on to supper-time, and I have some hints of hunger."
+
+"For this figure," said Master Pedro, "that is without a nose, and
+wants an eye, and is the fair Melisendra, I ask, and I am reasonable
+in my charge, two reals and twelve maravedis."
+
+"The very devil must be in it," said Don Quixote, "if Melisendra and
+her husband are not by this time at least on the French border, for
+the horse they rode on seemed to me to fly rather than gallop; so
+you needn't try to sell me the cat for the hare, showing me here a
+noseless Melisendra when she is now, may be, enjoying herself at her
+ease with her husband in France. God help every one to his own, Master
+Pedro, and let us all proceed fairly and honestly; and now go on."
+
+Master Pedro, perceiving that Don Quixote was beginning to wander,
+and return to his original fancy, was not disposed to let him
+escape, so he said to him, "This cannot be Melisendra, but must be one
+of the damsels that waited on her; so if I'm given sixty maravedis for
+her, I'll be content and sufficiently paid."
+
+And so he went on, putting values on ever so many more smashed
+figures, which, after the two arbitrators had adjusted them to the
+satisfaction of both parties, came to forty reals and
+three-quarters; and over and above this sum, which Sancho at once
+disbursed, Master Pedro asked for two reals for his trouble in
+catching the ape.
+
+"Let him have them, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "not to catch the
+ape, but to get drunk; and two hundred would I give this minute for
+the good news, to anyone who could tell me positively, that the lady
+Dona Melisandra and Senor Don Gaiferos were now in France and with
+their own people."
+
+"No one could tell us that better than my ape," said Master Pedro;
+"but there's no devil that could catch him now; I suspect, however,
+that affection and hunger will drive him to come looking for me
+to-night; but to-morrow will soon be here and we shall see."
+
+In short, the puppet-show storm passed off, and all supped in
+peace and good fellowship at Don Quixote's expense, for he was the
+height of generosity. Before it was daylight the man with the lances
+and halberds took his departure, and soon after daybreak the cousin
+and the page came to bid Don Quixote farewell, the former returning
+home, the latter resuming his journey, towards which, to help him, Don
+Quixote gave him twelve reals. Master Pedro did not care to engage
+in any more palaver with Don Quixote, whom he knew right well; so he
+rose before the sun, and having got together the remains of his show
+and caught his ape, he too went off to seek his adventures. The
+landlord, who did not know Don Quixote, was as much astonished at
+his mad freaks as at his generosity. To conclude, Sancho, by his
+master's orders, paid him very liberally, and taking leave of him they
+quitted the inn at about eight in the morning and took to the road,
+where we will leave them to pursue their journey, for this is
+necessary in order to allow certain other matters to be set forth,
+which are required to clear up this famous history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+WHEREIN IT IS SHOWN WHO MASTER PEDRO AND HIS APE WERE, TOGETHER WITH
+THE MISHAP DON QUIXOTE HAD IN THE BRAYING ADVENTURE, WHICH HE DID
+NOT CONCLUDE AS HE WOULD HAVE LIKED OR AS HE HAD EXPECTED
+
+Cide Hamete, the chronicler of this great history, begins this
+chapter with these words, "I swear as a Catholic Christian;" with
+regard to which his translator says that Cide Hamete's swearing as a
+Catholic Christian, he being- as no doubt he was- a Moor, only meant
+that, just as a Catholic Christian taking an oath swears, or ought
+to swear, what is true, and tell the truth in what he avers, so he was
+telling the truth, as much as if he swore as a Catholic Christian,
+in all he chose to write about Quixote, especially in declaring who
+Master Pedro was and what was the divining ape that astonished all the
+villages with his divinations. He says, then, that he who has read the
+First Part of this history will remember well enough the Gines de
+Pasamonte whom, with other galley slaves, Don Quixote set free in
+the Sierra Morena: a kindness for which he afterwards got poor
+thanks and worse payment from that evil-minded, ill-conditioned set.
+This Gines de Pasamonte- Don Ginesillo de Parapilla, Don Quixote
+called him- it was that stole Dapple from Sancho Panza; which, because
+by the fault of the printers neither the how nor the when was stated
+in the First Part, has been a puzzle to a good many people, who
+attribute to the bad memory of the author what was the error of the
+press. In fact, however, Gines stole him while Sancho Panza was asleep
+on his back, adopting the plan and device that Brunello had recourse
+to when he stole Sacripante's horse from between his legs at the siege
+of Albracca; and, as has been told, Sancho afterwards recovered him.
+This Gines, then, afraid of being caught by the officers of justice,
+who were looking for him to punish him for his numberless
+rascalities and offences (which were so many and so great that he
+himself wrote a big book giving an account of them), resolved to shift
+his quarters into the kingdom of Aragon, and cover up his left eye,
+and take up the trade of a puppet-showman; for this, as well as
+juggling, he knew how to practise to perfection. From some released
+Christians returning from Barbary, it so happened, he bought the
+ape, which he taught to mount upon his shoulder on his making a
+certain sign, and to whisper, or seem to do so, in his ear. Thus
+prepared, before entering any village whither he was bound with his
+show and his ape, he used to inform himself at the nearest village, or
+from the most likely person he could find, as to what particular
+things had happened there, and to whom; and bearing them well in mind,
+the first thing be did was to exhibit his show, sometimes one story,
+sometimes another, but all lively, amusing, and familiar. As soon as
+the exhibition was over he brought forward the accomplishments of
+his ape, assuring the public that he divined all the past and the
+present, but as to the future he had no skill. For each question
+answered he asked two reals, and for some he made a reduction, just as
+he happened to feel the pulse of the questioners; and when now and
+then he came to houses where things that he knew of had happened to
+the people living there, even if they did not ask him a question,
+not caring to pay for it, he would make the sign to the ape and then
+declare that it had said so and so, which fitted the case exactly.
+In this way he acquired a prodigious name and all ran after him; on
+other occasions, being very crafty, he would answer in such a way that
+the answers suited the questions; and as no one cross-questioned him
+or pressed him to tell how his ape divined, he made fools of them
+all and filled his pouch. The instant he entered the inn he knew Don
+Quixote and Sancho, and with that knowledge it was easy for him to
+astonish them and all who were there; but it would have cost him
+dear had Don Quixote brought down his hand a little lower when he
+cut off King Marsilio's head and destroyed all his horsemen, as
+related in the preceeding chapter.
+
+So much for Master Pedro and his ape; and now to return to Don
+Quixote of La Mancha. After he had left the inn he determined to
+visit, first of all, the banks of the Ebro and that neighbourhood,
+before entering the city of Saragossa, for the ample time there was
+still to spare before the jousts left him enough for all. With this
+object in view he followed the road and travelled along it for two
+days, without meeting any adventure worth committing to writing
+until on the third day, as he was ascending a hill, he heard a great
+noise of drums, trumpets, and musket-shots. At first he imagined
+some regiment of soldiers was passing that way, and to see them he
+spurred Rocinante and mounted the hill. On reaching the top he saw
+at the foot of it over two hundred men, as it seemed to him, armed
+with weapons of various sorts, lances, crossbows, partisans, halberds,
+and pikes, and a few muskets and a great many bucklers. He descended
+the slope and approached the band near enough to see distinctly the
+flags, make out the colours and distinguish the devices they bore,
+especially one on a standard or ensign of white satin, on which
+there was painted in a very life-like style an ass like a little sard,
+with its head up, its mouth open and its tongue out, as if it were
+in the act and attitude of braying; and round it were inscribed in
+large characters these two lines-
+
+They did not bray in vain,
+Our alcaldes twain.
+
+From this device Don Quixote concluded that these people must be
+from the braying town, and he said so to Sancho, explaining to him
+what was written on the standard. At the same time be observed that
+the man who had told them about the matter was wrong in saying that
+the two who brayed were regidors, for according to the lines of the
+standard they were alcaldes. To which Sancho replied, "Senor,
+there's nothing to stick at in that, for maybe the regidors who brayed
+then came to he alcaldes of their town afterwards, and so they may
+go by both titles; moreover, it has nothing to do with the truth of
+the story whether the brayers were alcaldes or regidors, provided at
+any rate they did bray; for an alcalde is just as likely to bray as
+a regidor." They perceived, in short, clearly that the town which
+had been twitted had turned out to do battle with some other that
+had jeered it more than was fair or neighbourly.
+
+Don Quixote proceeded to join them, not a little to Sancho's
+uneasiness, for he never relished mixing himself up in expeditions
+of that sort. The members of the troop received him into the midst
+of them, taking him to he some one who was on their side. Don Quixote,
+putting up his visor, advanced with an easy bearing and demeanour to
+the standard with the ass, and all the chief men of the army
+gathered round him to look at him, staring at him with the usual
+amazement that everybody felt on seeing him for the first time. Don
+Quixote, seeing them examining him so attentively, and that none of
+them spoke to him or put any question to him, determined to take
+advantage of their silence; so, breaking his own, he lifted up his
+voice and said, "Worthy sirs, I entreat you as earnestly as I can
+not to interrupt an argument I wish to address to you, until you
+find it displeases or wearies you; and if that come to pass, on the
+slightest hint you give me I will put a seal upon my lips and a gag
+upon my tongue."
+
+They all bade him say what he liked, for they would listen to him
+willingly.
+
+With this permission Don Quixote went on to say, "I, sirs, am a
+knight-errant whose calling is that of arms, and whose profession is
+to protect those who require protection, and give help to such as
+stand in need of it. Some days ago I became acquainted with your
+misfortune and the cause which impels you to take up arms again and
+again to revenge yourselves upon your enemies; and having many times
+thought over your business in my mind, I find that, according to the
+laws of combat, you are mistaken in holding yourselves insulted; for a
+private individual cannot insult an entire community; unless it be
+by defying it collectively as a traitor, because he cannot tell who in
+particular is guilty of the treason for which he defies it. Of this we
+have an example in Don Diego Ordonez de Lara, who defied the whole
+town of Zamora, because he did not know that Vellido Dolfos alone
+had committed the treachery of slaying his king; and therefore he
+defied them all, and the vengeance and the reply concerned all;
+though, to be sure, Senor Don Diego went rather too far, indeed very
+much beyond the limits of a defiance; for he had no occasion to defy
+the dead, or the waters, or the fishes, or those yet unborn, and all
+the rest of it as set forth; but let that pass, for when anger
+breaks out there's no father, governor, or bridle to check the tongue.
+The case being, then, that no one person can insult a kingdom,
+province, city, state, or entire community, it is clear there is no
+reason for going out to avenge the defiance of such an insult,
+inasmuch as it is not one. A fine thing it would be if the people of
+the clock town were to be at loggerheads every moment with everyone
+who called them by that name, -or the Cazoleros, Berengeneros,
+Ballenatos, Jaboneros, or the bearers of all the other names and
+titles that are always in the mouth of the boys and common people!
+It would be a nice business indeed if all these illustrious cities
+were to take huff and revenge themselves and go about perpetually
+making trombones of their swords in every petty quarrel! No, no; God
+forbid! There are four things for which sensible men and
+well-ordered States ought to take up arms, draw their swords, and risk
+their persons, lives, and properties. The first is to defend the
+Catholic faith; the second, to defend one's life, which is in
+accordance with natural and divine law; the third, in defence of one's
+honour, family, and property; the fourth, in the service of one's king
+in a just war; and if to these we choose to add a fifth (which may
+be included in the second), in defence of one's country. To these
+five, as it were capital causes, there may be added some others that
+may be just and reasonable, and make it a duty to take up arms; but to
+take them up for trifles and things to laugh at and he amused by
+rather than offended, looks as though he who did so was altogether
+wanting in common sense. Moreover, to take an unjust revenge (and
+there cannot be any just one) is directly opposed to the sacred law
+that we acknowledge, wherein we are commanded to do good to our
+enemies and to love them that hate us; a command which, though it
+seems somewhat difficult to obey, is only so to those who have in them
+less of God than of the world, and more of the flesh than of the
+spirit; for Jesus Christ, God and true man, who never lied, and
+could not and cannot lie, said, as our law-giver, that his yoke was
+easy and his burden light; he would not, therefore, have laid any
+command upon us that it was impossible to obey. Thus, sirs, you are
+bound to keep quiet by human and divine law."
+
+"The devil take me," said Sancho to himself at this, "but this
+master of mine is a tologian; or, if not, faith, he's as like one as
+one egg is like another."
+
+Don Quixote stopped to take breath, and, observing that silence
+was still preserved, had a mind to continue his discourse, and would
+have done so had not Sancho interposed with his smartness; for he,
+seeing his master pause, took the lead, saying, "My lord Don Quixote
+of La Mancha, who once was called the Knight of the Rueful
+Countenance, but now is called the Knight of the Lions, is a gentleman
+of great discretion who knows Latin and his mother tongue like a
+bachelor, and in everything that he deals with or advises proceeds
+like a good soldier, and has all the laws and ordinances of what
+they call combat at his fingers' ends; so you have nothing to do but
+to let yourselves be guided by what he says, and on my head be it if
+it is wrong. Besides which, you have been told that it is folly to
+take offence at merely hearing a bray. I remember when I was a boy I
+brayed as often as I had a fancy, without anyone hindering me, and
+so elegantly and naturally that when I brayed all the asses in the
+town would bray; but I was none the less for that the son of my
+parents who were greatly respected; and though I was envied because of
+the gift by more than one of the high and mighty ones of the town, I
+did not care two farthings for it; and that you may see I am telling
+the truth, wait a bit and listen, for this art, like swimming, once
+learnt is never forgotten;" and then, taking hold of his nose, he
+began to bray so vigorously that all the valleys around rang again.
+
+One of those, however, that stood near him, fancying he was
+mocking them, lifted up a long staff he had in his hand and smote
+him such a blow with it that Sancho dropped helpless to the ground.
+Don Quixote, seeing him so roughly handled, attacked the man who had
+struck him lance in hand, but so many thrust themselves between them
+that he could not avenge him. Far from it, finding a shower of
+stones rained upon him, and crossbows and muskets unnumbered
+levelled at him, he wheeled Rocinante round and, as fast as his best
+gallop could take him, fled from the midst of them, commending himself
+to God with all his heart to deliver him out of this peril, in dread
+every step of some ball coming in at his back and coming out at his
+breast, and every minute drawing his breath to see whether it had gone
+from him. The members of the band, however, were satisfied with seeing
+him take to flight, and did not fire on him. They put up Sancho,
+scarcely restored to his senses, on his ass, and let him go after
+his master; not that he was sufficiently in his wits to guide the
+beast, but Dapple followed the footsteps of Rocinante, from whom he
+could not remain a moment separated. Don Quixote having got some way
+off looked back, and seeing Sancho coming, waited for him, as he
+perceived that no one followed him. The men of the troop stood their
+ground till night, and as the enemy did not come out to battle, they
+returned to their town exulting; and had they been aware of the
+ancient custom of the Greeks, they would have erected a trophy on
+the spot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+OF MATTERS THAT BENENGELI SAYS HE WHO READS THEM WILL KNOW, IF HE
+READS THEM WITH ATTENTION
+
+When the brave man flees, treachery is manifest and it is for wise
+men to reserve themselves for better occasions. This proved to be
+the case with Don Quixote, who, giving way before the fury of the
+townsfolk and the hostile intentions of the angry troop, took to
+flight and, without a thought of Sancho or the danger in which he
+was leaving him, retreated to such a distance as he thought made him
+safe. Sancho, lying across his ass, followed him, as has been said,
+and at length came up, having by this time recovered his senses, and
+on joining him let himself drop off Dapple at Rocinante's feet,
+sore, bruised, and belaboured. Don Quixote dismounted to examine his
+wounds, but finding him whole from head to foot, he said to him,
+angrily enough, "In an evil hour didst thou take to braying, Sancho!
+Where hast thou learned that it is well done to mention the rope in
+the house of the man that has been hanged? To the music of brays
+what harmonies couldst thou expect to get but cudgels? Give thanks
+to God, Sancho, that they signed the cross on thee just now with a
+stick, and did not mark thee per signum crucis with a cutlass."
+
+"I'm not equal to answering," said Sancho, "for I feel as if I was
+speaking through my shoulders; let us mount and get away from this;
+I'll keep from braying, but not from saying that knights-errant fly
+and leave their good squires to be pounded like privet, or made meal
+of at the hands of their enemies."
+
+"He does not fly who retires," returned Don Quixote; "for I would
+have thee know, Sancho, that the valour which is not based upon a
+foundation of prudence is called rashness, and the exploits of the
+rash man are to be attributed rather to good fortune than to
+courage; and so I own that I retired, but not that I fled; and therein
+I have followed the example of many valiant men who have reserved
+themselves for better times; the histories are full of instances of
+this, but as it would not be any good to thee or pleasure to me, I
+will not recount them to thee now."
+
+Sancho was by this time mounted with the help of Don Quixote, who
+then himself mounted Rocinante, and at a leisurely pace they proceeded
+to take shelter in a grove which was in sight about a quarter of a
+league off. Every now and then Sancho gave vent to deep sighs and
+dismal groans, and on Don Quixote asking him what caused such acute
+suffering, he replied that, from the end of his back-bone up to the
+nape of his neck, he was so sore that it nearly drove him out of his
+senses.
+
+"The cause of that soreness," said Don Quixote, "will be, no
+doubt, that the staff wherewith they smote thee being a very long one,
+it caught thee all down the back, where all the parts that are sore
+are situated, and had it reached any further thou wouldst be sorer
+still."
+
+"By God," said Sancho, "your worship has relieved me of a great
+doubt, and cleared up the point for me in elegant style! Body o' me!
+is the cause of my soreness such a mystery that there's any need to
+tell me I am sore everywhere the staff hit me? If it was my ankles
+that pained me there might be something in going divining why they
+did, but it is not much to divine that I'm sore where they thrashed
+me. By my faith, master mine, the ills of others hang by a hair; every
+day I am discovering more and more how little I have to hope for
+from keeping company with your worship; for if this time you have
+allowed me to be drubbed, the next time, or a hundred times more,
+we'll have the blanketings of the other day over again, and all the
+other pranks which, if they have fallen on my shoulders now, will be
+thrown in my teeth by-and-by. I would do a great deal better (if I was
+not an ignorant brute that will never do any good all my life), I
+would do a great deal better, I say, to go home to my wife and
+children and support them and bring them up on what God may please
+to give me, instead of following your worship along roads that lead
+nowhere and paths that are none at all, with little to drink and
+less to eat. And then when it comes to sleeping! Measure out seven
+feet on the earth, brother squire, and if that's not enough for you,
+take as many more, for you may have it all your own way and stretch
+yourself to your heart's content. Oh that I could see burnt and turned
+to ashes the first man that meddled with knight-errantry or at any
+rate the first who chose to be squire to such fools as all the
+knights-errant of past times must have been! Of those of the present
+day I say nothing, because, as your worship is one of them, I
+respect them, and because I know your worship knows a point more
+than the devil in all you say and think."
+
+"I would lay a good wager with you, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that
+now that you are talking on without anyone to stop you, you don't feel
+a pain in your whole body. Talk away, my son, say whatever comes
+into your head or mouth, for so long as you feel no pain, the
+irritation your impertinences give me will he a pleasure to me; and if
+you are so anxious to go home to your wife and children, God forbid
+that I should prevent you; you have money of mine; see how long it
+is since we left our village this third time, and how much you can and
+ought to earn every month, and pay yourself out of your own hand."
+
+"When I worked for Tom Carrasco, the father of the bachelor Samson
+Carrasco that your worship knows," replied Sancho, "I used to earn two
+ducats a month besides my food; I can't tell what I can earn with your
+worship, though I know a knight-errant's squire has harder times of it
+than he who works for a farmer; for after all, we who work for
+farmers, however much we toil all day, at the worst, at night, we have
+our olla supper and sleep in a bed, which I have not slept in since
+I have been in your worship's service, if it wasn't the short time
+we were in Don Diego de Miranda's house, and the feast I had with
+the skimmings I took off Camacho's pots, and what I ate, drank, and
+slept in Basilio's house; all the rest of the time I have been
+sleeping on the hard ground under the open sky, exposed to what they
+call the inclemencies of heaven, keeping life in me with scraps of
+cheese and crusts of bread, and drinking water either from the
+brooks or from the springs we come to on these by-paths we travel."
+
+"I own, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that all thou sayest is true;
+how much, thinkest thou, ought I to give thee over and above what
+Tom Carrasco gave thee?"
+
+"I think," said Sancho, "that if your worship was to add on two
+reals a month I'd consider myself well paid; that is, as far as the
+wages of my labour go; but to make up to me for your worship's
+pledge and promise to me to give me the government of an island, it
+would be fair to add six reals more, making thirty in all."
+
+"Very good," said Don Quixote; "it is twenty-five days since we left
+our village, so reckon up, Sancho, according to the wages you have
+made out for yourself, and see how much I owe you in proportion, and
+pay yourself, as I said before, out of your own hand."
+
+"O body o' me!" said Sancho, "but your worship is very much out in
+that reckoning; for when it comes to the promise of the island we must
+count from the day your worship promised it to me to this present hour
+we are at now."
+
+"Well, how long is it, Sancho, since I promised it to you?" said Don
+Quixote.
+
+"If I remember rightly," said Sancho, "it must be over twenty years,
+three days more or less."
+
+Don Quixote gave himself a great slap on the forehead and began to
+laugh heartily, and said he, "Why, I have not been wandering, either
+in the Sierra Morena or in the whole course of our sallies, but barely
+two months, and thou sayest, Sancho, that it is twenty years since I
+promised thee the island. I believe now thou wouldst have all the
+money thou hast of mine go in thy wages. If so, and if that be thy
+pleasure, I give it to thee now, once and for all, and much good may
+it do thee, for so long as I see myself rid of such a good-for-nothing
+squire I'll be glad to be left a pauper without a rap. But tell me,
+thou perverter of the squirely rules of knight-errantry, where hast
+thou ever seen or read that any knight-errant's squire made terms with
+his lord, 'you must give me so much a month for serving you'?
+Plunge, scoundrel, rogue, monster- for such I take thee to be- plunge,
+I say, into the mare magnum of their histories; and if thou shalt find
+that any squire ever said or thought what thou hast said now, I will
+let thee nail it on my forehead, and give me, over and above, four
+sound slaps in the face. Turn the rein, or the halter, of thy
+Dapple, and begone home; for one single step further thou shalt not
+make in my company. O bread thanklessly received! O promises
+ill-bestowed! O man more beast than human being! Now, when I was about
+to raise thee to such a position, that, in spite of thy wife, they
+would call thee 'my lord,' thou art leaving me? Thou art going now
+when I had a firm and fixed intention of making thee lord of the
+best island in the world? Well, as thou thyself hast said before
+now, honey is not for the mouth of the ass. Ass thou art, ass thou
+wilt be, and ass thou wilt end when the course of thy life is run; for
+I know it will come to its close before thou dost perceive or
+discern that thou art a beast."
+
+Sancho regarded Don Quixote earnestly while he was giving him this
+rating, and was so touched by remorse that the tears came to his eyes,
+and in a piteous and broken voice he said to him, "Master mine, I
+confess that, to be a complete ass, all I want is a tail; if your
+worship will only fix one on to me, I'll look on it as rightly placed,
+and I'll serve you as an ass all the remaining days of my life.
+Forgive me and have pity on my folly, and remember I know but
+little, and, if I talk much, it's more from infirmity than malice; but
+he who sins and mends commends himself to God."
+
+"I should have been surprised, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "if thou
+hadst not introduced some bit of a proverb into thy speech. Well,
+well, I forgive thee, provided thou dost mend and not show thyself
+in future so fond of thine own interest, but try to be of good cheer
+and take heart, and encourage thyself to look forward to the
+fulfillment of my promises, which, by being delayed, does not become
+impossible."
+
+Sancho said he would do so, and keep up his heart as best he
+could. They then entered the grove, and Don Quixote settled himself at
+the foot of an elm, and Sancho at that of a beech, for trees of this
+kind and others like them always have feet but no hands. Sancho passed
+the night in pain, for with the evening dews the blow of the staff
+made itself felt all the more. Don Quixote passed it in his
+never-failing meditations; but, for all that, they had some winks of
+sleep, and with the appearance of daylight they pursued their
+journey in quest of the banks of the famous Ebro, where that befell
+them which will be told in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+OF THE FAMOUS ADVENTURE OF THE ENCHANTED BARK
+
+By stages as already described or left undescribed, two days after
+quitting the grove Don Quixote and Sancho reached the river Ebro,
+and the sight of it was a great delight to Don Quixote as he
+contemplated and gazed upon the charms of its banks, the clearness
+of its stream, the gentleness of its current and the abundance of
+its crystal waters; and the pleasant view revived a thousand tender
+thoughts in his mind. Above all, he dwelt upon what he had seen in the
+cave of Montesinos; for though Master Pedro's ape had told him that of
+those things part was true, part false, he clung more to their truth
+than to their falsehood, the very reverse of Sancho, who held them all
+to be downright lies.
+
+As they were thus proceeding, then, they discovered a small boat,
+without oars or any other gear, that lay at the water's edge tied to
+the stem of a tree growing on the bank. Don Quixote looked all
+round, and seeing nobody, at once, without more ado, dismounted from
+Rocinante and bade Sancho get down from Dapple and tie both beasts
+securely to the trunk of a poplar or willow that stood there. Sancho
+asked him the reason of this sudden dismounting and tying. Don Quixote
+made answer, "Thou must know, Sancho, that this bark is plainly, and
+without the possibility of any alternative, calling and inviting me to
+enter it, and in it go to give aid to some knight or other person of
+distinction in need of it, who is no doubt in some sore strait; for
+this is the way of the books of chivalry and of the enchanters who
+figure and speak in them. When a knight is involved in some difficulty
+from which he cannot be delivered save by the hand of another
+knight, though they may be at a distance of two or three thousand
+leagues or more one from the other, they either take him up on a
+cloud, or they provide a bark for him to get into, and in less than
+the twinkling of an eye they carry him where they will and where his
+help is required; and so, Sancho, this bark is placed here for the
+same purpose; this is as true as that it is now day, and ere this
+one passes tie Dapple and Rocinante together, and then in God's hand
+be it to guide us; for I would not hold back from embarking, though
+barefooted friars were to beg me."
+
+"As that's the case," said Sancho, "and your worship chooses to give
+in to these- I don't know if I may call them absurdities- at every
+turn, there's nothing for it but to obey and bow the head, bearing
+in mind the proverb, 'Do as thy master bids thee, and sit down to
+table with him;' but for all that, for the sake of easing my
+conscience, I warn your worship that it is my opinion this bark is
+no enchanted one, but belongs to some of the fishermen of the river,
+for they catch the best shad in the world here."
+
+As Sancho said this, he tied the beasts, leaving them to the care
+and protection of the enchanters with sorrow enough in his heart.
+Don Quixote bade him not be uneasy about deserting the animals, "for
+he who would carry themselves over such longinquous roads and
+regions would take care to feed them."
+
+"I don't understand that logiquous," said Sancho, "nor have I ever
+heard the word all the days of my life."
+
+"Longinquous," replied Don Quixote, "means far off; but it is no
+wonder thou dost not understand it, for thou art not bound to know
+Latin, like some who pretend to know it and don't."
+
+"Now they are tied," said Sancho; "what are we to do next?"
+
+"What?" said Don Quixote, "cross ourselves and weigh anchor; I mean,
+embark and cut the moorings by which the bark is held;" and the bark
+began to drift away slowly from the bank. But when Sancho saw
+himself somewhere about two yards out in the river, he began to
+tremble and give himself up for lost; but nothing distressed him
+more than hearing Dapple bray and seeing Rocinante struggling to get
+loose, and said he to his master, "Dapple is braying in grief at our
+leaving him, and Rocinante is trying to escape and plunge in after us.
+O dear friends, peace be with you, and may this madness that is taking
+us away from you, turned into sober sense, bring us back to you."
+And with this he fell weeping so bitterly, that Don Quixote said to
+him, sharply and angrily, "What art thou afraid of, cowardly creature?
+What art thou weeping at, heart of butter-paste? Who pursues or
+molests thee, thou soul of a tame mouse? What dost thou want,
+unsatisfied in the very heart of abundance? Art thou, perchance,
+tramping barefoot over the Riphaean mountains, instead of being seated
+on a bench like an archduke on the tranquil stream of this pleasant
+river, from which in a short space we shall come out upon the broad
+sea? But we must have already emerged and gone seven hundred or
+eight hundred leagues; and if I had here an astrolabe to take the
+altitude of the pole, I could tell thee how many we have travelled,
+though either I know little, or we have already crossed or shall
+shortly cross the equinoctial line which parts the two opposite
+poles midway."
+
+"And when we come to that line your worship speaks of," said Sancho,
+"how far shall we have gone?"
+
+"Very far," said Don Quixote, "for of the three hundred and sixty
+degrees that this terraqueous globe contains, as computed by
+Ptolemy, the greatest cosmographer known, we shall have travelled
+one-half when we come to the line I spoke of."
+
+"By God," said Sancho, "your worship gives me a nice authority for
+what you say, putrid Dolly something transmogrified, or whatever it
+is."
+
+Don Quixote laughed at the interpretation Sancho put upon
+"computed," and the name of the cosmographer Ptolemy, and said he,
+"Thou must know, Sancho, that with the Spaniards and those who
+embark at Cadiz for the East Indies, one of the signs they have to
+show them when they have passed the equinoctial line I told thee of,
+is, that the lice die upon everybody on board the ship, and not a
+single one is left, or to be found in the whole vessel if they gave
+its weight in gold for it; so, Sancho, thou mayest as well pass thy
+hand down thy thigh, and if thou comest upon anything alive we shall
+be no longer in doubt; if not, then we have crossed."
+
+"I don't believe a bit of it," said Sancho; "still, I'll do as
+your worship bids me; though I don't know what need there is for
+trying these experiments, for I can see with my own eyes that we
+have not moved five yards away from the bank, or shifted two yards
+from where the animals stand, for there are Rocinante and Dapple in
+the very same place where we left them; and watching a point, as I
+do now, I swear by all that's good, we are not stirring or moving at
+the pace of an ant."
+
+"Try the test I told thee of, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and
+don't mind any other, for thou knowest nothing about colures, lines,
+parallels, zodiacs, ecliptics, poles, solstices, equinoxes, planets,
+signs, bearings, the measures of which the celestial and terrestrial
+spheres are composed; if thou wert acquainted with all these things,
+or any portion of them, thou wouldst see clearly how many parallels we
+have cut, what signs we have seen, and what constellations we have
+left behind and are now leaving behind. But again I tell thee, feel
+and hunt, for I am certain thou art cleaner than a sheet of smooth
+white paper."
+
+Sancho felt, and passing his hand gently and carefully down to the
+hollow of his left knee, he looked up at his master and said,
+"Either the test is a false one, or we have not come to where your
+worship says, nor within many leagues of it."
+
+"Why, how so?" asked Don Quixote; "hast thou come upon aught?"
+
+"Ay, and aughts," replied Sancho; and shaking his fingers he
+washed his whole hand in the river along which the boat was quietly
+gliding in midstream, not moved by any occult intelligence or
+invisible enchanter, but simply by the current, just there smooth
+and gentle.
+
+They now came in sight of some large water mills that stood in the
+middle of the river, and the instant Don Quixote saw them he cried
+out, "Seest thou there, my friend? there stands the castle or
+fortress, where there is, no doubt, some knight in durance, or
+ill-used queen, or infanta, or princess, in whose aid I am brought
+hither."
+
+"What the devil city, fortress, or castle is your worship talking
+about, senor?" said Sancho; "don't you see that those are mills that
+stand in the river to grind corn?"
+
+"Hold thy peace, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "though they look like
+mills they are not so; I have already told thee that enchantments
+transform things and change their proper shapes; I do not mean to
+say they really change them from one form into another, but that it
+seems as though they did, as experience proved in the transformation
+of Dulcinea, sole refuge of my hopes."
+
+By this time, the boat, having reached the middle of the stream,
+began to move less slowly than hitherto. The millers belonging to
+the mills, when they saw the boat coming down the river, and on the
+point of being sucked in by the draught of the wheels, ran out in
+haste, several of them, with long poles to stop it, and being all
+mealy, with faces and garments covered with flour, they presented a
+sinister appearance. They raised loud shouts, crying, "Devils of
+men, where are you going to? Are you mad? Do you want to drown
+yourselves, or dash yourselves to pieces among these wheels?"
+
+"Did I not tell thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote at this, "that we
+had reached the place where I am to show what the might of my arm
+can do? See what ruffians and villains come out against me; see what
+monsters oppose me; see what hideous countenances come to frighten us!
+You shall soon see, scoundrels!" And then standing up in the boat he
+began in a loud voice to hurl threats at the millers, exclaiming,
+"Ill-conditioned and worse-counselled rabble, restore to liberty and
+freedom the person ye hold in durance in this your fortress or prison,
+high or low or of whatever rank or quality he be, for I am Don Quixote
+of La Mancha, otherwise called the Knight of the Lions, for whom, by
+the disposition of heaven above, it is reserved to give a happy
+issue to this adventure;" and so saying he drew his sword and began
+making passes in the air at the millers, who, hearing but not
+understanding all this nonsense, strove to stop the boat, which was
+now getting into the rushing channel of the wheels. Sancho fell upon
+his knees devoutly appealing to heaven to deliver him from such
+imminent peril; which it did by the activity and quickness of the
+millers, who, pushing against the boat with their poles, stopped it,
+not, however, without upsetting and throwing Don Quixote and Sancho
+into the water; and lucky it was for Don Quixote that he could swim
+like a goose, though the weight of his armour carried him twice to the
+bottom; and had it not been for the millers, who plunged in and
+hoisted them both out, it would have been Troy town with the pair of
+them. As soon as, more drenched than thirsty, they were landed, Sancho
+went down on his knees and with clasped hands and eyes raised to
+heaven, prayed a long and fervent prayer to God to deliver him
+evermore from the rash projects and attempts of his master. The
+fishermen, the owners of the boat, which the mill-wheels had knocked
+to pieces, now came up, and seeing it smashed they proceeded to
+strip Sancho and to demand payment for it from Don Quixote; but he
+with great calmness, just as if nothing had happened him, told the
+millers and fishermen that he would pay for the bark most
+cheerfully, on condition that they delivered up to him, free and
+unhurt, the person or persons that were in durance in that castle of
+theirs.
+
+"What persons or what castle art thou talking of, madman? Art thou
+for carrying off the people who come to grind corn in these mills?"
+
+"That's enough," said Don Quixote to himself, "it would be preaching
+in the desert to attempt by entreaties to induce this rabble to do any
+virtuous action. In this adventure two mighty enchanters must have
+encountered one another, and one frustrates what the other attempts;
+one provided the bark for me, and the other upset me; God help us,
+this world is all machinations and schemes at cross purposes one
+with the other. I can do no more." And then turning towards the
+mills he said aloud, "Friends, whoe'er ye be that are immured in
+that prison, forgive me that, to my misfortune and yours, I cannot
+deliver you from your misery; this adventure is doubtless reserved and
+destined for some other knight."
+
+So saying he settled with the fishermen, and paid fifty reals for
+the boat, which Sancho handed to them very much against the grain,
+saying, "With a couple more bark businesses like this we shall have
+sunk our whole capital."
+
+The fishermen and the millers stood staring in amazement at the
+two figures, so very different to all appearance from ordinary men,
+and were wholly unable to make out the drift of the observations and
+questions Don Quixote addressed to them; and coming to the
+conclusion that they were madmen, they left them and betook
+themselves, the millers to their mills, and the fishermen to their
+huts. Don Quixote and Sancho returned to their beasts, and to their
+life of beasts, and so ended the adventure of the enchanted bark.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+OF DON QUIXOTE'S ADVENTURE WITH A FAIR HUNTRESS
+
+They reached their beasts in low spirits and bad humour enough,
+knight and squire, Sancho particularly, for with him what touched
+the stock of money touched his heart, and when any was taken from
+him he felt as if he was robbed of the apples of his eyes. In fine,
+without exchanging a word, they mounted and quitted the famous
+river, Don Quixote absorbed in thoughts of his love, Sancho in
+thinking of his advancement, which just then, it seemed to him, he was
+very far from securing; for, fool as he was, he saw clearly enough
+that his master's acts were all or most of them utterly senseless; and
+he began to cast about for an opportunity of retiring from his service
+and going home some day, without entering into any explanations or
+taking any farewell of him. Fortune, however, ordered matters after
+a fashion very much the opposite of what he contemplated.
+
+It so happened that the next day towards sunset, on coming out of
+a wood, Don Quixote cast his eyes over a green meadow, and at the
+far end of it observed some people, and as he drew nearer saw that
+it was a hawking party. Coming closer, he distinguished among them a
+lady of graceful mien, on a pure white palfrey or hackney
+caparisoned with green trappings and a silver-mounted side-saddle. The
+lady was also in green, and so richly and splendidly dressed that
+splendour itself seemed personified in her. On her left hand she
+bore a hawk, a proof to Don Quixote's mind that she must be some great
+lady and the mistress of the whole hunting party, which was the
+fact; so he said to Sancho, "Run Sancho, my son, and say to that
+lady on the palfrey with the hawk that I, the Knight of the Lions,
+kiss the hands of her exalted beauty, and if her excellence will grant
+me leave I will go and kiss them in person and place myself at her
+service for aught that may be in my power and her highness may
+command; and mind, Sancho, how thou speakest, and take care not to
+thrust in any of thy proverbs into thy message."
+
+"You've got a likely one here to thrust any in!" said Sancho; "leave
+me alone for that! Why, this is not the first time in my life I have
+carried messages to high and exalted ladies."
+
+"Except that thou didst carry to the lady Dulcinea," said Don
+Quixote, "I know not that thou hast carried any other, at least in
+my service."
+
+"That is true," replied Sancho; "but pledges don't distress a good
+payer, and in a house where there's plenty supper is soon cooked; I
+mean there's no need of telling or warning me about anything; for
+I'm ready for everything and know a little of everything."
+
+"That I believe, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "go and good luck to
+thee, and God speed thee."
+
+Sancho went off at top speed, forcing Dapple out of his regular
+pace, and came to where the fair huntress was standing, and
+dismounting knelt before her and said, "Fair lady, that knight that
+you see there, the Knight of the Lions by name, is my master, and I am
+a squire of his, and at home they call me Sancho Panza. This same
+Knight of the Lions, who was called not long since the Knight of the
+Rueful Countenance, sends by me to say may it please your highness
+to give him leave that, with your permission, approbation, and
+consent, he may come and carry out his wishes, which are, as he says
+and I believe, to serve your exalted loftiness and beauty; and if
+you give it, your ladyship will do a thing which will redound to
+your honour, and he will receive a most distinguished favour and
+happiness."
+
+"You have indeed, squire," said the lady, "delivered your message
+with all the formalities such messages require; rise up, for it is not
+right that the squire of a knight so great as he of the Rueful
+Countenance, of whom we have heard a great deal here, should remain on
+his knees; rise, my friend, and bid your master welcome to the
+services of myself and the duke my husband, in a country house we have
+here."
+
+Sancho got up, charmed as much by the beauty of the good lady as
+by her high-bred air and her courtesy, but, above all, by what she had
+said about having heard of his master, the Knight of the Rueful
+Countenance; for if she did not call him Knight of the Lions it was no
+doubt because he had so lately taken the name. "Tell me, brother
+squire," asked the duchess (whose title, however, is not known), "this
+master of yours, is he not one of whom there is a history extant in
+print, called 'The Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote of La Mancha,' who
+has for the lady of his heart a certain Dulcinea del Toboso?"
+
+"He is the same, senora," replied Sancho; "and that squire of his
+who figures, or ought to figure, in the said history under the name of
+Sancho Panza, is myself, unless they have changed me in the cradle,
+I mean in the press."
+
+"I am rejoiced at all this," said the duchess; "go, brother Panza,
+and tell your master that he is welcome to my estate, and that nothing
+could happen me that could give me greater pleasure."
+
+Sancho returned to his master mightily pleased with this
+gratifying answer, and told him all the great lady had said to him,
+lauding to the skies, in his rustic phrase, her rare beauty, her
+graceful gaiety, and her courtesy. Don Quixote drew himself up briskly
+in his saddle, fixed himself in his stirrups, settled his visor,
+gave Rocinante the spur, and with an easy bearing advanced to kiss the
+hands of the duchess, who, having sent to summon the duke her husband,
+told him while Don Quixote was approaching all about the message;
+and as both of them had read the First Part of this history, and
+from it were aware of Don Quixote's crazy turn, they awaited him
+with the greatest delight and anxiety to make his acquaintance,
+meaning to fall in with his humour and agree with everything he
+said, and, so long as he stayed with them, to treat him as a
+knight-errant, with all the ceremonies usual in the books of
+chivalry they had read, for they themselves were very fond of them.
+
+Don Quixote now came up with his visor raised, and as he seemed
+about to dismount Sancho made haste to go and hold his stirrup for
+him; but in getting down off Dapple he was so unlucky as to hitch
+his foot in one of the ropes of the pack-saddle in such a way that
+he was unable to free it, and was left hanging by it with his face and
+breast on the ground. Don Quixote, who was not used to dismount
+without having the stirrup held, fancying that Sancho had by this time
+come to hold it for him, threw himself off with a lurch and brought
+Rocinante's saddle after him, which was no doubt badly girthed, and
+saddle and he both came to the ground; not without discomfiture to him
+and abundant curses muttered between his teeth against the unlucky
+Sancho, who had his foot still in the shackles. The duke ordered his
+huntsmen to go to the help of knight and squire, and they raised Don
+Quixote, sorely shaken by his fall; and he, limping, advanced as
+best he could to kneel before the noble pair. This, however, the
+duke would by no means permit; on the contrary, dismounting from his
+horse, he went and embraced Don Quixote, saying, "I am grieved, Sir
+Knight of the Rueful Countenance, that your first experience on my
+ground should have been such an unfortunate one as we have seen; but
+the carelessness of squires is often the cause of worse accidents."
+
+"That which has happened me in meeting you, mighty prince,"
+replied Don Quixote, "cannot be unfortunate, even if my fall had not
+stopped short of the depths of the bottomless pit, for the glory of
+having seen you would have lifted me up and delivered me from it. My
+squire, God's curse upon him, is better at unloosing his tongue in
+talking impertinence than in tightening the girths of a saddle to keep
+it steady; but however I may be, allen or raised up, on foot or on
+horseback, I shall always be at your service and that of my lady the
+duchess, your worthy consort, worthy queen of beauty and paramount
+princess of courtesy."
+
+"Gently, Senor Don Quixote of La Mancha," said the duke; "where my
+lady Dona Dulcinea del Toboso is, it is not right that other
+beauties should he praised."
+
+Sancho, by this time released from his entanglement, was standing
+by, and before his master could answer he said, "There is no
+denying, and it must be maintained, that my lady Dulcinea del Toboso
+is very beautiful; but the hare jumps up where one least expects it;
+and I have heard say that what we call nature is like a potter that
+makes vessels of clay, and he who makes one fair vessel can as well
+make two, or three, or a hundred; I say so because, by my faith, my
+lady the duchess is in no way behind my mistress the lady Dulcinea del
+Toboso."
+
+Don Quixote turned to the duchess and said, "Your highness may
+conceive that never had knight-errant in this world a more talkative
+or a droller squire than I have, and he will prove the truth of what I
+say, if your highness is pleased to accept of my services for a few
+days."
+
+To which the duchess made answer, "that worthy Sancho is droll I
+consider a very good thing, because it is a sign that he is shrewd;
+for drollery and sprightliness, Senor Don Quixote, as you very well
+know, do not take up their abode with dull wits; and as good Sancho is
+droll and sprightly I here set him down as shrewd."
+
+"And talkative," added Don Quixote.
+
+"So much the better," said the duke, "for many droll things cannot
+be said in few words; but not to lose time in talking, come, great
+Knight of the Rueful Countenance-"
+
+"Of the Lions, your highness must say," said Sancho, "for there is
+no Rueful Countenance nor any such character now."
+
+"He of the Lions be it," continued the duke; "I say, let Sir
+Knight of the Lions come to a castle of mine close by, where he
+shall be given that reception which is due to so exalted a
+personage, and which the duchess and I are wont to give to all
+knights-errant who come there."
+
+By this time Sancho had fixed and girthed Rocinante's saddle, and
+Don Quixote having got on his back and the duke mounted a fine
+horse, they placed the duchess in the middle and set out for the
+castle. The duchess desired Sancho to come to her side, for she
+found infinite enjoyment in listening to his shrewd remarks. Sancho
+required no pressing, but pushed himself in between them and the duke,
+who thought it rare good fortune to receive such a knight-errant and
+such a homely squire in their castle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+WHICH TREATS OF MANY AND GREAT MATTERS
+
+Supreme was the satisfaction that Sancho felt at seeing himself,
+as it seemed, an established favourite with the duchess, for he looked
+forward to finding in her castle what he had found in Don Diego's
+house and in Basilio's; he was always fond of good living, and
+always seized by the forelock any opportunity of feasting himself
+whenever it presented itself. The history informs us, then, that
+before they reached the country house or castle, the duke went on in
+advance and instructed all his servants how they were to treat Don
+Quixote; and so the instant he came up to the castle gates with the
+duchess, two lackeys or equerries, clad in what they call morning
+gowns of fine crimson satin reaching to their feet, hastened out,
+and catching Don Quixote in their arms before he saw or heard them,
+said to him, "Your highness should go and take my lady the duchess off
+her horse." Don Quixote obeyed, and great bandying of compliments
+followed between the two over the matter; but in the end the duchess's
+determination carried the day, and she refused to get down or dismount
+from her palfrey except in the arms of the duke, saying she did not
+consider herself worthy to impose so unnecessary a burden on so
+great a knight. At length the duke came out to take her down, and as
+they entered a spacious court two fair damsels came forward and
+threw over Don Quixote's shoulders a large mantle of the finest
+scarlet cloth, and at the same instant all the galleries of the
+court were lined with the men-servants and women-servants of the
+household, crying, "Welcome, flower and cream of knight-errantry!"
+while all or most of them flung pellets filled with scented water over
+Don Quixote and the duke and duchess; at all which Don Quixote was
+greatly astonished, and this was the first time that he thoroughly
+felt and believed himself to be a knight-errant in reality and not
+merely in fancy, now that he saw himself treated in the same way as he
+had read of such knights being treated in days of yore.
+
+Sancho, deserting Dapple, hung on to the duchess and entered the
+castle, but feeling some twinges of conscience at having left the
+ass alone, he approached a respectable duenna who had come out with
+the rest to receive the duchess, and in a low voice he said to her,
+"Senora Gonzalez, or however your grace may be called-"
+
+"I am called Dona Rodriguez de Grijalba," replied the duenna;
+"what is your will, brother?" To which Sancho made answer, "I should
+be glad if your worship would do me the favour to go out to the castle
+gate, where you will find a grey ass of mine; make them, if you
+please, put him in the stable, or put him there yourself, for the poor
+little beast is rather easily frightened, and cannot bear being
+alone at all."
+
+"If the master is as wise as the man," said the duenna, "we have got
+a fine bargain. Be off with you, brother, and bad luck to you and
+him who brought you here; go, look after your ass, for we, the duennas
+of this house, are not used to work of that sort."
+
+"Well then, in troth," returned Sancho, "I have heard my master, who
+is the very treasure-finder of stories, telling the story of
+Lancelot when he came from Britain, say that ladies waited upon him
+and duennas upon his hack; and, if it comes to my ass, I wouldn't
+change him for Senor Lancelot's hack."
+
+"If you are a jester, brother," said the duenna, "keep your
+drolleries for some place where they'll pass muster and be paid for;
+for you'll get nothing from me but a fig."
+
+"At any rate, it will be a very ripe one," said Sancho, "for you
+won't lose the trick in years by a point too little."
+
+"Son of a bitch," said the duenna, all aglow with anger, "whether
+I'm old or not, it's with God I have to reckon, not with you, you
+garlic-stuffed scoundrel!" and she said it so loud, that the duchess
+heard it, and turning round and seeing the duenna in such a state of
+excitement, and her eyes flaming so, asked whom she was wrangling
+with.
+
+"With this good fellow here," said the duenna, "who has particularly
+requested me to go and put an ass of his that is at the castle gate
+into the stable, holding it up to me as an example that they did the
+same I don't know where- that some ladies waited on one Lancelot,
+and duennas on his hack; and what is more, to wind up with, he
+called me old."
+
+"That," said the duchess, "I should have considered the greatest
+affront that could be offered me;" and addressing Sancho, she said
+to him, "You must know, friend Sancho, that Dona Rodriguez is very
+youthful, and that she wears that hood more for authority and custom
+sake than because of her years."
+
+"May all the rest of mine be unlucky," said Sancho, "if I meant it
+that way; I only spoke because the affection I have for my ass is so
+great, and I thought I could not commend him to a more kind-hearted
+person than the lady Dona Rodriguez."
+
+Don Quixote, who was listening, said to him, "Is this proper
+conversation for the place, Sancho?"
+
+"Senor," replied Sancho, "every one must mention what he wants
+wherever he may be; I thought of Dapple here, and I spoke of him here;
+if I had thought of him in the stable I would have spoken there."
+
+On which the duke observed, "Sancho is quite right, and there is
+no reason at all to find fault with him; Dapple shall be fed to his
+heart's content, and Sancho may rest easy, for he shall be treated
+like himself."
+
+While this conversation, amusing to all except Don Quixote, was
+proceeding, they ascended the staircase and ushered Don Quixote into a
+chamber hung with rich cloth of gold and brocade; six damsels relieved
+him of his armour and waited on him like pages, all of them prepared
+and instructed by the duke and duchess as to what they were to do, and
+how they were to treat Don Quixote, so that he might see and believe
+they were treating him like a knight-errant. When his armour was
+removed, there stood Don Quixote in his tight-fitting breeches and
+chamois doublet, lean, lanky, and long, with cheeks that seemed to
+be kissing each other inside; such a figure, that if the damsels
+waiting on him had not taken care to check their merriment (which
+was one of the particular directions their master and mistress had
+given them), they would have burst with laughter. They asked him to
+let himself be stripped that they might put a shirt on him, but he
+would not on any account, saying that modesty became knights-errant
+just as much as valour. However, he said they might give the shirt
+to Sancho; and shutting himself in with him in a room where there
+was a sumptuous bed, he undressed and put on the shirt; and then,
+finding himself alone with Sancho, he said to him, "Tell me, thou
+new-fledged buffoon and old booby, dost thou think it right to
+offend and insult a duenna so deserving of reverence and respect as
+that one just now? Was that a time to bethink thee of thy Dapple, or
+are these noble personages likely to let the beasts fare badly when
+they treat their owners in such elegant style? For God's sake, Sancho,
+restrain thyself, and don't show the thread so as to let them see what
+a coarse, boorish texture thou art of. Remember, sinner that thou art,
+the master is the more esteemed the more respectable and well-bred his
+servants are; and that one of the greatest advantages that princes
+have over other men is that they have servants as good as themselves
+to wait on them. Dost thou not see- shortsighted being that thou
+art, and unlucky mortal that I am!- that if they perceive thee to be a
+coarse clown or a dull blockhead, they will suspect me to be some
+impostor or swindler? Nay, nay, Sancho friend, keep clear, oh, keep
+clear of these stumbling-blocks; for he who falls into the way of
+being a chatterbox and droll, drops into a wretched buffoon the
+first time he trips; bridle thy tongue, consider and weigh thy words
+before they escape thy mouth, and bear in mind we are now in
+quarters whence, by God's help, and the strength of my arm, we shall
+come forth mightily advanced in fame and fortune."
+
+Sancho promised him with much earnestness to keep his mouth shut,
+and to bite off his tongue before he uttered a word that was not
+altogether to the purpose and well considered, and told him he might
+make his mind easy on that point, for it should never be discovered
+through him what they were.
+
+Don Quixote dressed himself, put on his baldric with his sword,
+threw the scarlet mantle over his shoulders, placed on his head a
+montera of green satin that the damsels had given him, and thus
+arrayed passed out into the large room, where he found the damsels
+drawn up in double file, the same number on each side, all with the
+appliances for washing the hands, which they presented to him with
+profuse obeisances and ceremonies. Then came twelve pages, together
+with the seneschal, to lead him to dinner, as his hosts were already
+waiting for him. They placed him in the midst of them, and with much
+pomp and stateliness they conducted him into another room, where there
+was a sumptuous table laid with but four covers. The duchess and the
+duke came out to the door of the room to receive him, and with them
+a grave ecclesiastic, one of those who rule noblemen's houses; one
+of those who, not being born magnates themselves, never know how to
+teach those who are how to behave as such; one of those who would have
+the greatness of great folk measured by their own narrowness of
+mind; one of those who, when they try to introduce economy into the
+household they rule, lead it into meanness. One of this sort, I say,
+must have been the grave churchman who came out with the duke and
+duchess to receive Don Quixote.
+
+A vast number of polite speeches were exchanged, and at length,
+taking Don Quixote between them, they proceeded to sit down to
+table. The duke pressed Don Quixote to take the head of the table,
+and, though he refused, the entreaties of the duke were so urgent that
+he had to accept it.
+
+The ecclesiastic took his seat opposite to him, and the duke and
+duchess those at the sides. All this time Sancho stood by, gaping with
+amazement at the honour he saw shown to his master by these
+illustrious persons; and observing all the ceremonious pressing that
+had passed between the duke and Don Quixote to induce him to take
+his seat at the head of the table, he said, "If your worship will give
+me leave I will tell you a story of what happened in my village
+about this matter of seats."
+
+The moment Sancho said this Don Quixote trembled, making sure that
+he was about to say something foolish. Sancho glanced at him, and
+guessing his thoughts, said, "Don't be afraid of my going astray,
+senor, or saying anything that won't be pat to the purpose; I
+haven't forgotten the advice your worship gave me just now about
+talking much or little, well or ill."
+
+"I have no recollection of anything, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "say
+what thou wilt, only say it quickly."
+
+"Well then," said Sancho, "what I am going to say is so true that my
+master Don Quixote, who is here present, will keep me from lying."
+
+"Lie as much as thou wilt for all I care, Sancho," said Don Quixote,
+"for I am not going to stop thee, but consider what thou art going
+to say."
+
+"I have so considered and reconsidered," said Sancho, "that the
+bell-ringer's in a safe berth; as will be seen by what follows."
+
+"It would be well," said Don Quixote, "if your highnesses would
+order them to turn out this idiot, for he will talk a heap of
+nonsense."
+
+"By the life of the duke, Sancho shall not be taken away from me for
+a moment," said the duchess; "I am very fond of him, for I know he
+is very discreet."
+
+"Discreet be the days of your holiness," said Sancho, "for the
+good opinion you have of my wit, though there's none in me; but the
+story I want to tell is this. There was an invitation given by a
+gentleman of my town, a very rich one, and one of quality, for he
+was one of the Alamos of Medina del Campo, and married to Dona
+Mencia de Quinones, the daughter of Don Alonso de Maranon, Knight of
+the Order of Santiago, that was drowned at the Herradura- him there
+was that quarrel about years ago in our village, that my master Don
+Quixote was mixed up in, to the best of my belief, that Tomasillo
+the scapegrace, the son of Balbastro the smith, was wounded in.- Isn't
+all this true, master mine? As you live, say so, that these gentlefolk
+may not take me for some lying chatterer."
+
+"So far," said the ecclesiastic, "I take you to be more a
+chatterer than a liar; but I don't know what I shall take you for
+by-and-by."
+
+"Thou citest so many witnesses and proofs, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote, "that I have no choice but to say thou must be telling the
+truth; go on, and cut the story short, for thou art taking the way not
+to make an end for two days to come."
+
+"He is not to cut it short," said the duchess; "on the contrary, for
+my gratification, he is to tell it as he knows it, though he should
+not finish it these six days; and if he took so many they would be
+to me the pleasantest I ever spent."
+
+"Well then, sirs, I say," continued Sancho, "that this same
+gentleman, whom I know as well as I do my own hands, for it's not a
+bowshot from my house to his, invited a poor but respectable
+labourer-"
+
+"Get on, brother," said the churchman; "at the rate you are going
+you will not stop with your story short of the next world."
+
+"I'll stop less than half-way, please God," said Sancho; "and so I
+say this labourer, coming to the house of the gentleman I spoke of
+that invited him- rest his soul, he is now dead; and more by token
+he died the death of an angel, so they say; for I was not there, for
+just at that time I had gone to reap at Tembleque-"
+
+"As you live, my son," said the churchman, "make haste back from
+Tembleque, and finish your story without burying the gentleman, unless
+you want to make more funerals."
+
+"Well then, it so happened," said Sancho, "that as the pair of
+them were going to sit down to table -and I think I can see them now
+plainer than ever-"
+
+Great was the enjoyment the duke and duchess derived from the
+irritation the worthy churchman showed at the long-winded, halting way
+Sancho had of telling his story, while Don Quixote was chafing with
+rage and vexation.
+
+"So, as I was saying," continued Sancho, "as the pair of them were
+going to sit down to table, as I said, the labourer insisted upon
+the gentleman's taking the head of the table, and the gentleman
+insisted upon the labourer's taking it, as his orders should be obeyed
+in his house; but the labourer, who plumed himself on his politeness
+and good breeding, would not on any account, until the gentleman,
+out of patience, putting his hands on his shoulders, compelled him
+by force to sit down, saying, 'Sit down, you stupid lout, for wherever
+I sit will he the head to you; and that's the story, and, troth, I
+think it hasn't been brought in amiss here."
+
+Don Quixote turned all colours, which, on his sunburnt face, mottled
+it till it looked like jasper. The duke and duchess suppressed their
+laughter so as not altogether to mortify Don Quixote, for they saw
+through Sancho's impertinence; and to change the conversation, and
+keep Sancho from uttering more absurdities, the duchess asked Don
+Quixote what news he had of the lady Dulcinea, and if he had sent
+her any presents of giants or miscreants lately, for he could not
+but have vanquished a good many.
+
+To which Don Quixote replied, "Senora, my misfortunes, though they
+had a beginning, will never have an end. I have vanquished giants
+and I have sent her caitiffs and miscreants; but where are they to
+find her if she is enchanted and turned into the most ill-favoured
+peasant wench that can be imagined?"
+
+"I don't know," said Sancho Panza; "to me she seems the fairest
+creature in the world; at any rate, in nimbleness and jumping she
+won't give in to a tumbler; by my faith, senora duchess, she leaps
+from the ground on to the back of an ass like a cat."
+
+"Have you seen her enchanted, Sancho?" asked the duke.
+
+"What, seen her!" said Sancho; "why, who the devil was it but myself
+that first thought of the enchantment business? She is as much
+enchanted as my father."
+
+The ecclesiastic, when he heard them talking of giants and
+caitiffs and enchantments, began to suspect that this must be Don
+Quixote of La Mancha, whose story the duke was always reading; and
+he had himself often reproved him for it, telling him it was foolish
+to read such fooleries; and becoming convinced that his suspicion
+was correct, addressing the duke, he said very angrily to him, "Senor,
+your excellence will have to give account to God for what this good
+man does. This Don Quixote, or Don Simpleton, or whatever his name is,
+cannot, I imagine, be such a blockhead as your excellence would have
+him, holding out encouragement to him to go on with his vagaries and
+follies." Then turning to address Don Quixote he said, "And you,
+num-skull, who put it into your head that you are a knight-errant, and
+vanquish giants and capture miscreants? Go your ways in a good hour,
+and in a good hour be it said to you. Go home and bring up your
+children if you have any, and attend to your business, and give over
+going wandering about the world, gaping and making a laughing-stock of
+yourself to all who know you and all who don't. Where, in heaven's
+name, have you discovered that there are or ever were
+knights-errant? Where are there giants in Spain or miscreants in La
+Mancha, or enchanted Dulcineas, or all the rest of the silly things
+they tell about you?"
+
+Don Quixote listened attentively to the reverend gentleman's
+words, and as soon as he perceived he had done speaking, regardless of
+the presence of the duke and duchess, he sprang to his feet with angry
+looks and an agitated countenance, and said -But the reply deserves
+a chapter to itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+OF THE REPLY DON QUIXOTE GAVE HIS CENSURER, WITH OTHER INCIDENTS,
+GRAVE AND DROLL
+
+Don Quixote, then, having risen to his feet, trembling from head
+to foot like a man dosed with mercury, said in a hurried, agitated
+voice, "The place I am in, the presence in which I stand, and the
+respect I have and always have had for the profession to which your
+worship belongs, hold and bind the hands of my just indignation; and
+as well for these reasons as because I know, as everyone knows, that a
+gownsman's weapon is the same as a woman's, the tongue, I will with
+mine engage in equal combat with your worship, from whom one might
+have expected good advice instead of foul abuse. Pious, well-meant
+reproof requires a different demeanour and arguments of another
+sort; at any rate, to have reproved me in public, and so roughly,
+exceeds the bounds of proper reproof, for that comes better with
+gentleness than with rudeness; and it is not seemly to call the sinner
+roundly blockhead and booby, without knowing anything of the sin
+that is reproved. Come, tell me, for which of the stupidities you have
+observed in me do you condemn and abuse me, and bid me go home and
+look after my house and wife and children, without knowing whether I
+have any? Is nothing more needed than to get a footing, by hook or
+by crook, in other people's houses to rule over the masters (and that,
+perhaps, after having been brought up in all the straitness of some
+seminary, and without having ever seen more of the world than may
+lie within twenty or thirty leagues round), to fit one to lay down the
+law rashly for chivalry, and pass judgment on knights-errant? Is it,
+haply, an idle occupation, or is the time ill-spent that is spent in
+roaming the world in quest, not of its enjoyments, but of those
+arduous toils whereby the good mount upwards to the abodes of
+everlasting life? If gentlemen, great lords, nobles, men of high
+birth, were to rate me as a fool I should take it as an irreparable
+insult; but I care not a farthing if clerks who have never entered
+upon or trod the paths of chivalry should think me foolish. Knight I
+am, and knight I will die, if such be the pleasure of the Most High.
+Some take the broad road of overweening ambition; others that of
+mean and servile flattery; others that of deceitful hypocrisy, and
+some that of true religion; but I, led by my star, follow the narrow
+path of knight-errantry, and in pursuit of that calling I despise
+wealth, but not honour. I have redressed injuries, righted wrongs,
+punished insolences, vanquished giants, and crushed monsters; I am
+in love, for no other reason than that it is incumbent on
+knights-errant to be so; but though I am, I am no carnal-minded lover,
+but one of the chaste, platonic sort. My intentions are always
+directed to worthy ends, to do good to all and evil to none; and if he
+who means this, does this, and makes this his practice deserves to
+be called a fool, it is for your highnesses to say, O most excellent
+duke and duchess."
+
+"Good, by God!" cried Sancho; "say no more in your own defence,
+master mine, for there's nothing more in the world to be said,
+thought, or insisted on; and besides, when this gentleman denies, as
+he has, that there are or ever have been any knights-errant in the
+world, is it any wonder if he knows nothing of what he has been
+talking about?"
+
+"Perhaps, brother," said the ecclesiastic, "you are that Sancho
+Panza that is mentioned, to whom your master has promised an island?"
+
+"Yes, I am," said Sancho, "and what's more, I am one who deserves it
+as much as anyone; I am one of the sort- 'Attach thyself to the
+good, and thou wilt be one of them,' and of those, 'Not with whom thou
+art bred, but with whom thou art fed,' and of those, 'Who leans
+against a good tree, a good shade covers him;' I have leant upon a
+good master, and I have been for months going about with him, and
+please God I shall be just such another; long life to him and long
+life to me, for neither will he be in any want of empires to rule,
+or I of islands to govern."
+
+"No, Sancho my friend, certainly not," said the duke, "for in the
+name of Senor Don Quixote I confer upon you the government of one of
+no small importance that I have at my disposal."
+
+"Go down on thy knees, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and kiss the feet
+of his excellence for the favour he has bestowed upon thee."
+
+Sancho obeyed, and on seeing this the ecclesiastic stood up from
+table completely out of temper, exclaiming, "By the gown I wear, I
+am almost inclined to say that your excellence is as great a fool as
+these sinners. No wonder they are mad, when people who are in their
+senses sanction their madness! I leave your excellence with them,
+for so long as they are in the house, I will remain in my own, and
+spare myself the trouble of reproving what I cannot remedy;" and
+without uttering another word, or eating another morsel, he went
+off, the entreaties of the duke and duchess being entirely
+unavailing to stop him; not that the duke said much to him, for he
+could not, because of the laughter his uncalled-for anger provoked.
+
+When he had done laughing, he said to Don Quixote, "You have replied
+on your own behalf so stoutly, Sir Knight of the Lions, that there
+is no occasion to seek further satisfaction for this, which, though it
+may look like an offence, is not so at all, for, as women can give
+no offence, no more can ecclesiastics, as you very well know."
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote, "and the reason is, that he who is
+not liable to offence cannot give offence to anyone. Women,
+children, and ecclesiastics, as they cannot defend themselves,
+though they may receive offence cannot be insulted, because between
+the offence and the insult there is, as your excellence very well
+knows, this difference: the insult comes from one who is capable of
+offering it, and does so, and maintains it; the offence may come
+from any quarter without carrying insult. To take an example: a man is
+standing unsuspectingly in the street and ten others come up armed and
+beat him; he draws his sword and quits himself like a man, but the
+number of his antagonists makes it impossible for him to effect his
+purpose and avenge himself; this man suffers an offence but not an
+insult. Another example will make the same thing plain: a man is
+standing with his back turned, another comes up and strikes him, and
+after striking him takes to flight, without waiting an instant, and
+the other pursues him but does not overtake him; he who received the
+blow received an offence, but not an insult, because an insult must be
+maintained. If he who struck him, though he did so sneakingly and
+treacherously, had drawn his sword and stood and faced him, then he
+who had been struck would have received offence and insult at the same
+time; offence because he was struck treacherously, insult because he
+who struck him maintained what he had done, standing his ground
+without taking to flight. And so, according to the laws of the
+accursed duel, I may have received offence, but not insult, for
+neither women nor children can maintain it, nor can they wound, nor
+have they any way of standing their ground, and it is just the same
+with those connected with religion; for these three sorts of persons
+are without arms offensive or defensive, and so, though naturally they
+are bound to defend themselves, they have no right to offend
+anybody; and though I said just now I might have received offence, I
+say now certainly not, for he who cannot receive an insult can still
+less give one; for which reasons I ought not to feel, nor do I feel,
+aggrieved at what that good man said to me; I only wish he had
+stayed a little longer, that I might have shown him the mistake he
+makes in supposing and maintaining that there are not and never have
+been any knights-errant in the world; had Amadis or any of his
+countless descendants heard him say as much, I am sure it would not
+have gone well with his worship."
+
+"I will take my oath of that," said Sancho; "they would have given
+him a slash that would have slit him down from top to toe like a
+pomegranate or a ripe melon; they were likely fellows to put up with
+jokes of that sort! By my faith, I'm certain if Reinaldos of Montalvan
+had heard the little man's words he would have given him such a
+spank on the mouth that he wouldn't have spoken for the next three
+years; ay, let him tackle them, and he'll see how he'll get out of
+their hands!"
+
+The duchess, as she listened to Sancho, was ready to die with
+laughter, and in her own mind she set him down as droller and madder
+than his master; and there were a good many just then who were of
+the same opinion.
+
+Don Quixote finally grew calm, and dinner came to an end, and as the
+cloth was removed four damsels came in, one of them with a silver
+basin, another with a jug also of silver, a third with two fine
+white towels on her shoulder, and the fourth with her arms bared to
+the elbows, and in her white hands (for white they certainly were) a
+round ball of Naples soap. The one with the basin approached, and with
+arch composure and impudence, thrust it under Don Quixote's chin, who,
+wondering at such a ceremony, said never a word, supposing it to be
+the custom of that country to wash beards instead of hands; he
+therefore stretched his out as far as he could, and at the same
+instant the jug began to pour and the damsel with the soap rubbed
+his beard briskly, raising snow-flakes, for the soap lather was no
+less white, not only over the beard, but all over the face, and over
+the eyes of the submissive knight, so that they were perforce
+obliged to keep shut. The duke and duchess, who had not known anything
+about this, waited to see what came of this strange washing. The
+barber damsel, when she had him a hand's breadth deep in lather,
+pretended that there was no more water, and bade the one with the
+jug go and fetch some, while Senor Don Quixote waited. She did so, and
+Don Quixote was left the strangest and most ludicrous figure that
+could be imagined. All those present, and there were a good many, were
+watching him, and as they saw him there with half a yard of neck,
+and that uncommonly brown, his eyes shut, and his beard full of
+soap, it was a great wonder, and only by great discretion, that they
+were able to restrain their laughter. The damsels, the concocters of
+the joke, kept their eyes down, not daring to look at their master and
+mistress; and as for them, laughter and anger struggled within them,
+and they knew not what to do, whether to punish the audacity of the
+girls, or to reward them for the amusement they had received from
+seeing Don Quixote in such a plight.
+
+At length the damsel with the jug returned and they made an end of
+washing Don Quixote, and the one who carried the towels very
+deliberately wiped him and dried him; and all four together making him
+a profound obeisance and curtsey, they were about to go, when the
+duke, lest Don Quixote should see through the joke, called out to
+the one with the basin saying, "Come and wash me, and take care that
+there is water enough." The girl, sharp-witted and prompt, came and
+placed the basin for the duke as she had done for Don Quixote, and
+they soon had him well soaped and washed, and having wiped him dry
+they made their obeisance and retired. It appeared afterwards that the
+duke had sworn that if they had not washed him as they had Don Quixote
+he would have punished them for their impudence, which they adroitly
+atoned for by soaping him as well.
+
+Sancho observed the ceremony of the washing very attentively, and
+said to himself, "God bless me, if it were only the custom in this
+country to wash squires' beards too as well as knights'. For by God
+and upon my soul I want it badly; and if they gave me a scrape of
+the razor besides I'd take it as a still greater kindness."
+
+"What are you saying to yourself, Sancho?" asked the duchess.
+
+"I was saying, senora," he replied, "that in the courts of other
+princes, when the cloth is taken away, I have always heard say they
+give water for the hands, but not lye for the beard; and that shows it
+is good to live long that you may see much; to be sure, they say too
+that he who lives a long life must undergo much evil, though to
+undergo a washing of that sort is pleasure rather than pain."
+
+"Don't be uneasy, friend Sancho," said the duchess; "I will take
+care that my damsels wash you, and even put you in the tub if
+necessary."
+
+"I'll be content with the beard," said Sancho, "at any rate for
+the present; and as for the future, God has decreed what is to be."
+
+"Attend to worthy Sancho's request, seneschal," said the duchess,
+"and do exactly what he wishes."
+
+The seneschal replied that Senor Sancho should be obeyed in
+everything; and with that he went away to dinner and took Sancho along
+with him, while the duke and duchess and Don Quixote remained at table
+discussing a great variety of things, but all bearing on the calling
+of arms and knight-errantry.
+
+The duchess begged Don Quixote, as he seemed to have a retentive
+memory, to describe and portray to her the beauty and features of
+the lady Dulcinea del Toboso, for, judging by what fame trumpeted
+abroad of her beauty, she felt sure she must be the fairest creature
+in the world, nay, in all La Mancha.
+
+Don Quixote sighed on hearing the duchess's request, and said, "If I
+could pluck out my heart, and lay it on a plate on this table here
+before your highness's eyes, it would spare my tongue the pain of
+telling what can hardly be thought of, for in it your excellence would
+see her portrayed in full. But why should I attempt to depict and
+describe in detail, and feature by feature, the beauty of the peerless
+Dulcinea, the burden being one worthy of other shoulders than mine, an
+enterprise wherein the pencils of Parrhasius, Timantes, and Apelles,
+and the graver of Lysippus ought to be employed, to paint it in
+pictures and carve it in marble and bronze, and Ciceronian and
+Demosthenian eloquence to sound its praises?"
+
+"What does Demosthenian mean, Senor Don Quixote?" said the
+duchess; "it is a word I never heard in all my life."
+
+"Demosthenian eloquence," said Don Quixote, "means the eloquence
+of Demosthenes, as Ciceronian means that of Cicero, who were the two
+most eloquent orators in the world."
+
+"True," said the duke; "you must have lost your wits to ask such a
+question. Nevertheless, Senor Don Quixote would greatly gratify us
+if he would depict her to us; for never fear, even in an outline or
+sketch she will be something to make the fairest envious."
+
+"I would do so certainly," said Don Quixote, "had she not been
+blurred to my mind's eye by the misfortune that fell upon her a
+short time since, one of such a nature that I am more ready to weep
+over it than to describe it. For your highnesses must know that, going
+a few days back to kiss her hands and receive her benediction,
+approbation, and permission for this third sally, I found her
+altogether a different being from the one I sought; I found her
+enchanted and changed from a princess into a peasant, from fair to
+foul, from an angel into a devil, from fragrant to pestiferous, from
+refined to clownish, from a dignified lady into a jumping tomboy, and,
+in a word, from Dulcinea del Toboso into a coarse Sayago wench."
+
+"God bless me!" said the duke aloud at this, "who can have done
+the world such an injury? Who can have robbed it of the beauty that
+gladdened it, of the grace and gaiety that charmed it, of the
+modesty that shed a lustre upon it?"
+
+"Who?" replied Don Quixote; "who could it be but some malignant
+enchanter of the many that persecute me out of envy- that accursed
+race born into the world to obscure and bring to naught the
+achievements of the good, and glorify and exalt the deeds of the
+wicked? Enchanters have persecuted me, enchanters persecute me
+still, and enchanters will continue to persecute me until they have
+sunk me and my lofty chivalry in the deep abyss of oblivion; and
+they injure and wound me where they know I feel it most. For to
+deprive a knight-errant of his lady is to deprive him of the eyes he
+sees with, of the sun that gives him light, of the food whereby he
+lives. Many a time before have I said it, and I say it now once
+more, a knight-errant without a lady is like a tree without leaves,
+a building without a foundation, or a shadow without the body that
+causes it."
+
+"There is no denying it," said the duchess; "but still, if we are to
+believe the history of Don Quixote that has come out here lately
+with general applause, it is to be inferred from it, if I mistake not,
+that you never saw the lady Dulcinea, and that the said lady is
+nothing in the world but an imaginary lady, one that you yourself
+begot and gave birth to in your brain, and adorned with whatever
+charms and perfections you chose."
+
+"There is a good deal to be said on that point," said Don Quixote;
+"God knows whether there he any Dulcinea or not in the world, or
+whether she is imaginary or not imaginary; these are things the
+proof of which must not be pushed to extreme lengths. I have not
+begotten nor given birth to my lady, though I behold her as she
+needs must be, a lady who contains in herself all the qualities to
+make her famous throughout the world, beautiful without blemish,
+dignified without haughtiness, tender and yet modest, gracious from
+courtesy and courteous from good breeding, and lastly, of exalted
+lineage, because beauty shines forth and excels with a higher degree
+of perfection upon good blood than in the fair of lowly birth."
+
+"That is true," said the duke; "but Senor Don Quixote will give me
+leave to say what I am constrained to say by the story of his exploits
+that I have read, from which it is to be inferred that, granting there
+is a Dulcinea in El Toboso, or out of it, and that she is in the
+highest degree beautiful as you have described her to us, as regards
+the loftiness of her lineage she is not on a par with the Orianas,
+Alastrajareas, Madasimas, or others of that sort, with whom, as you
+well know, the histories abound."
+
+"To that I may reply," said Don Quixote, "that Dulcinea is the
+daughter of her own works, and that virtues rectify blood, and that
+lowly virtue is more to be regarded and esteemed than exalted vice.
+Dulcinea, besides, has that within her that may raise her to be a
+crowned and sceptred queen; for the merit of a fair and virtuous woman
+is capable of performing greater miracles; and virtually, though not
+formally, she has in herself higher fortunes."
+
+"I protest, Senor Don Quixote," said the duchess, "that in all you
+say, you go most cautiously and lead in hand, as the saying is;
+henceforth I will believe myself, and I will take care that everyone
+in my house believes, even my lord the duke if needs be, that there is
+a Dulcinea in El Toboso, and that she is living to-day, and that she
+is beautiful and nobly born and deserves to have such a knight as
+Senor Don Quixote in her service, and that is the highest praise
+that it is in my power to give her or that I can think of. But I
+cannot help entertaining a doubt, and having a certain grudge
+against Sancho Panza; the doubt is this, that the aforesaid history
+declares that the said Sancho Panza, when he carried a letter on
+your worship's behalf to the said lady Dulcinea, found her sifting a
+sack of wheat; and more by token it says it was red wheat; a thing
+which makes me doubt the loftiness of her lineage."
+
+To this Don Quixote made answer, "Senora, your highness must know
+that everything or almost everything that happens me transcends the
+ordinary limits of what happens to other knights-errant; whether it he
+that it is directed by the inscrutable will of destiny, or by the
+malice of some jealous enchanter. Now it is an established fact that
+all or most famous knights-errant have some special gift, one that
+of being proof against enchantment, another that of being made of such
+invulnerable flesh that he cannot be wounded, as was the famous
+Roland, one of the twelve peers of France, of whom it is related
+that he could not be wounded except in the sole of his left foot,
+and that it must be with the point of a stout pin and not with any
+other sort of weapon whatever; and so, when Bernardo del Carpio slew
+him at Roncesvalles, finding that he could not wound him with steel,
+he lifted him up from the ground in his arms and strangled him,
+calling to mind seasonably the death which Hercules inflicted on
+Antaeus, the fierce giant that they say was the son of Terra. I
+would infer from what I have mentioned that perhaps I may have some
+gift of this kind, not that of being invulnerable, because
+experience has many times proved to me that I am of tender flesh and
+not at all impenetrable; nor that of being proof against
+enchantment, for I have already seen myself thrust into a cage, in
+which all the world would not have been able to confine me except by
+force of enchantments. But as I delivered myself from that one, I am
+inclined to believe that there is no other that can hurt me; and so,
+these enchanters, seeing that they cannot exert their vile craft
+against my person, revenge themselves on what I love most, and seek to
+rob me of life by maltreating that of Dulcinea in whom I live; and
+therefore I am convinced that when my squire carried my message to
+her, they changed her into a common peasant girl, engaged in such a
+mean occupation as sifting wheat; I have already said, however, that
+that wheat was not red wheat, nor wheat at all, but grains of orient
+pearl. And as a proof of all this, I must tell your highnesses that,
+coming to El Toboso a short time back, I was altogether unable to
+discover the palace of Dulcinea; and that the next day, though Sancho,
+my squire, saw her in her own proper shape, which is the fairest in
+the world, to me she appeared to be a coarse, ill-favoured farm-wench,
+and by no means a well-spoken one, she who is propriety itself. And
+so, as I am not and, so far as one can judge, cannot be enchanted, she
+it is that is enchanted, that is smitten, that is altered, changed,
+and transformed; in her have my enemies revenged themselves upon me,
+and for her shall I live in ceaseless tears, until I see her in her
+pristine state. I have mentioned this lest anybody should mind what
+Sancho said about Dulcinea's winnowing or sifting; for, as they
+changed her to me, it is no wonder if they changed her to him.
+Dulcinea is illustrious and well-born, and of one of the gentle
+families of El Toboso, which are many, ancient, and good. Therein,
+most assuredly, not small is the share of the peerless Dulcinea,
+through whom her town will be famous and celebrated in ages to come,
+as Troy was through Helen, and Spain through La Cava, though with a
+better title and tradition. For another thing; I would have your
+graces understand that Sancho Panza is one of the drollest squires
+that ever served knight-errant; sometimes there is a simplicity
+about him so acute that it is an amusement to try and make out whether
+he is simple or sharp; he has mischievous tricks that stamp him rogue,
+and blundering ways that prove him a booby; he doubts everything and
+believes everything; when I fancy he is on the point of coming down
+headlong from sheer stupidity, he comes out with something shrewd that
+sends him up to the skies. After all, I would not exchange him for
+another squire, though I were given a city to boot, and therefore I am
+in doubt whether it will be well to send him to the government your
+highness has bestowed upon him; though I perceive in him a certain
+aptitude for the work of governing, so that, with a little trimming of
+his understanding, he would manage any government as easily as the
+king does his taxes; and moreover, we know already ample experience
+that it does not require much cleverness or much learning to be a
+governor, for there are a hundred round about us that scarcely know
+how to read, and govern like gerfalcons. The main point is that they
+should have good intentions and be desirous of doing right in all
+things, for they will never be at a loss for persons to advise and
+direct them in what they have to do, like those knight-governors
+who, being no lawyers, pronounce sentences with the aid of an
+assessor. My advice to him will be to take no bribe and surrender no
+right, and I have some other little matters in reserve, that shall
+be produced in due season for Sancho's benefit and the advantage of
+the island he is to govern."
+
+The duke, duchess, and Don Quixote had reached this point in their
+conversation, when they heard voices and a great hubbub in the palace,
+and Sancho burst abruptly into the room all glowing with anger, with a
+straining-cloth by way of a bib, and followed by several servants, or,
+more properly speaking, kitchen-boys and other underlings, one of whom
+carried a small trough full of water, that from its colour and
+impurity was plainly dishwater. The one with the trough pursued him
+and followed him everywhere he went, endeavouring with the utmost
+persistence to thrust it under his chin, while another kitchen-boy
+seemed anxious to wash his beard.
+
+"What is all this, brothers?" asked the duchess. "What is it? What
+do you want to do to this good man? Do you forget he is a
+governor-elect?"
+
+To which the barber kitchen-boy replied, "The gentleman will not let
+himself be washed as is customary, and as my lord the and the senor
+his master have been."
+
+"Yes, I will," said Sancho, in a great rage; "but I'd like it to
+be with cleaner towels, clearer lye, and not such dirty hands; for
+there's not so much difference between me and my master that he should
+be washed with angels' water and I with devil's lye. The customs of
+countries and princes' palaces are only good so long as they give no
+annoyance; but the way of washing they have here is worse than doing
+penance. I have a clean beard, and I don't require to be refreshed
+in that fashion, and whoever comes to wash me or touch a hair of my
+head, I mean to say my beard, with all due respect be it said, I'll
+give him a punch that will leave my fist sunk in his skull; for
+cirimonies and soapings of this sort are more like jokes than the
+polite attentions of one's host."
+
+The duchess was ready to die with laughter when she saw Sancho's
+rage and heard his words; but it was no pleasure to Don Quixote to see
+him in such a sorry trim, with the dingy towel about him, and the
+hangers-on of the kitchen all round him; so making a low bow to the
+duke and duchess, as if to ask their permission to speak, he addressed
+the rout in a dignified tone: "Holloa, gentlemen! you let that youth
+alone, and go back to where you came from, or anywhere else if you
+like; my squire is as clean as any other person, and those troughs are
+as bad as narrow thin-necked jars to him; take my advice and leave him
+alone, for neither he nor I understand joking."
+
+Sancho took the word out of his mouth and went on, "Nay, let them
+come and try their jokes on the country bumpkin, for it's about as
+likely I'll stand them as that it's now midnight! Let them bring me
+a comb here, or what they please, and curry this beard of mine, and if
+they get anything out of it that offends against cleanliness, let them
+clip me to the skin."
+
+Upon this, the duchess, laughing all the while, said, "Sancho
+Panza is right, and always will be in all he says; he is clean, and,
+as he says himself, he does not require to be washed; and if our
+ways do not please him, he is free to choose. Besides, you promoters
+of cleanliness have been excessively careless and thoughtless, I don't
+know if I ought not to say audacious, to bring troughs and wooden
+utensils and kitchen dishclouts, instead of basins and jugs of pure
+gold and towels of holland, to such a person and such a beard; but,
+after all, you are ill-conditioned and ill-bred, and spiteful as you
+are, you cannot help showing the grudge you have against the squires
+of knights-errant."
+
+The impudent servitors, and even the seneschal who came with them,
+took the duchess to be speaking in earnest, so they removed the
+straining-cloth from Sancho's neck, and with something like shame
+and confusion of face went off all of them and left him; whereupon he,
+seeing himself safe out of that extreme danger, as it seemed to him,
+ran and fell on his knees before the duchess, saying, "From great
+ladies great favours may be looked for; this which your grace has done
+me today cannot be requited with less than wishing I was dubbed a
+knight-errant, to devote myself all the days of my life to the service
+of so exalted a lady. I am a labouring man, my name is Sancho Panza, I
+am married, I have children, and I am serving as a squire; if in any
+one of these ways I can serve your highness, I will not he longer in
+obeying than your grace in commanding."
+
+"It is easy to see, Sancho," replied the duchess, "that you have
+learned to he polite in the school of politeness itself; I mean to say
+it is easy to see that you have been nursed in the bosom of Senor
+Don Quixote, who is, of course, the cream of good breeding and
+flower of ceremony- or cirimony, as you would say yourself. Fair be
+the fortunes of such a master and such a servant, the one the cynosure
+of knight-errantry, the other the star of squirely fidelity! Rise,
+Sancho, my friend; I will repay your courtesy by taking care that my
+lord the duke makes good to you the promised gift of the government as
+soon as possible."
+
+With this, the conversation came to an end, and Don Quixote
+retired to take his midday sleep; but the duchess begged Sancho,
+unless he had a very great desire to go to sleep, to come and spend
+the afternoon with her and her damsels in a very cool chamber.
+Sancho replied that, though he certainly had the habit of sleeping
+four or five hours in the heat of the day in summer, to serve her
+excellence he would try with all his might not to sleep even one
+that day, and that he would come in obedience to her command, and with
+that he went off. The duke gave fresh orders with respect to
+treating Don Quixote as a knight-errant, without departing even in
+smallest particular from the style in which, as the stories tell us,
+they used to treat the knights of old.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+OF THE DELECTABLE DISCOURSE WHICH THE DUCHESS AND HER DAMSELS HELD
+WITH SANCHO PANZA, WELL WORTH READING AND NOTING
+
+The history records that Sancho did not sleep that afternoon, but in
+order to keep his word came, before he had well done dinner, to
+visit the duchess, who, finding enjoyment in listening to him, made
+him sit down beside her on a low seat, though Sancho, out of pure good
+breeding, wanted not to sit down; the duchess, however, told him he
+was to sit down as governor and talk as squire, as in both respects he
+was worthy of even the chair of the Cid Ruy Diaz the Campeador. Sancho
+shrugged his shoulders, obeyed, and sat down, and all the duchess's
+damsels and duennas gathered round him, waiting in profound silence to
+hear what he would say. It was the duchess, however, who spoke
+first, saying:
+
+"Now that we are alone, and that there is nobody here to overhear
+us, I should be glad if the senor governor would relieve me of certain
+doubts I have, rising out of the history of the great Don Quixote that
+is now in print. One is: inasmuch as worthy Sancho never saw Dulcinea,
+I mean the lady Dulcinea del Toboso, nor took Don Quixote's letter
+to her, for it was left in the memorandum book in the Sierra Morena,
+how did he dare to invent the answer and all that about finding her
+sifting wheat, the whole story being a deception and falsehood, and so
+much to the prejudice of the peerless Dulcinea's good name, a thing
+that is not at all becoming the character and fidelity of a good
+squire?"
+
+At these words, Sancho, without uttering one in reply, got up from
+his chair, and with noiseless steps, with his body bent and his finger
+on his lips, went all round the room lifting up the hangings; and this
+done, he came back to his seat and said, "Now, senora, that I have
+seen that there is no one except the bystanders listening to us on the
+sly, I will answer what you have asked me, and all you may ask me,
+without fear or dread. And the first thing I have got to say is,
+that for my own part I hold my master Don Quixote to be stark mad,
+though sometimes he says things that, to my mind, and indeed
+everybody's that listens to him, are so wise, and run in such a
+straight furrow, that Satan himself could not have said them better;
+but for all that, really, and beyond all question, it's my firm belief
+he is cracked. Well, then, as this is clear to my mind, I can
+venture to make him believe things that have neither head nor tail,
+like that affair of the answer to the letter, and that other of six or
+eight days ago, which is not yet in history, that is to say, the
+affair of the enchantment of my lady Dulcinea; for I made him
+believe she is enchanted, though there's no more truth in it than over
+the hills of Ubeda.
+
+The duchess begged him to tell her about the enchantment or
+deception, so Sancho told the whole story exactly as it had
+happened, and his hearers were not a little amused by it; and then
+resuming, the duchess said, "In consequence of what worthy Sancho
+has told me, a doubt starts up in my mind, and there comes a kind of
+whisper to my ear that says, 'If Don Quixote be mad, crazy, and
+cracked, and Sancho Panza his squire knows it, and, notwithstanding,
+serves and follows him, and goes trusting to his empty promises, there
+can be no doubt he must be still madder and sillier than his master;
+and that being so, it will be cast in your teeth, senora duchess, if
+you give the said Sancho an island to govern; for how will he who does
+not know how to govern himself know how to govern others?'"
+
+"By God, senora," said Sancho, "but that doubt comes timely; but
+your grace may say it out, and speak plainly, or as you like; for I
+know what you say is true, and if I were wise I should have left my
+master long ago; but this was my fate, this was my bad luck; I can't
+help it, I must follow him; we're from the same village, I've eaten
+his bread, I'm fond of him, I'm grateful, he gave me his ass-colts,
+and above all I'm faithful; so it's quite impossible for anything to
+separate us, except the pickaxe and shovel. And if your highness
+does not like to give me the government you promised, God made me
+without it, and maybe your not giving it to me will be all the
+better for my conscience, for fool as I am I know the proverb 'to
+her hurt the ant got wings,' and it may be that Sancho the squire will
+get to heaven sooner than Sancho the governor. 'They make as good
+bread here as in France,' and 'by night all cats are grey,' and 'a
+hard case enough his, who hasn't broken his fast at two in the
+afternoon,' and 'there's no stomach a hand's breadth bigger than
+another,' and the same can he filled 'with straw or hay,' as the
+saying is, and 'the little birds of the field have God for their
+purveyor and caterer,' and 'four yards of Cuenca frieze keep one
+warmer than four of Segovia broad-cloth,' and 'when we quit this world
+and are put underground the prince travels by as narrow a path as
+the journeyman,' and 'the Pope's body does not take up more feet of
+earth than the sacristan's,' for all that the one is higher than the
+other; for when we go to our graves we all pack ourselves up and
+make ourselves small, or rather they pack us up and make us small in
+spite of us, and then- good night to us. And I say once more, if
+your ladyship does not like to give me the island because I'm a
+fool, like a wise man I will take care to give myself no trouble about
+it; I have heard say that 'behind the cross there's the devil,' and
+that 'all that glitters is not gold,' and that from among the oxen,
+and the ploughs, and the yokes, Wamba the husbandman was taken to be
+made King of Spain, and from among brocades, and pleasures, and
+riches, Roderick was taken to be devoured by adders, if the verses
+of the old ballads don't lie."
+
+"To be sure they don't lie!" exclaimed Dona Rodriguez, the duenna,
+who was one of the listeners. "Why, there's a ballad that says they
+put King Rodrigo alive into a tomb full of toads, and adders, and
+lizards, and that two days afterwards the king, in a plaintive, feeble
+voice, cried out from within the tomb-
+
+They gnaw me now, they gnaw me now,
+There where I most did sin.
+
+And according to that the gentleman has good reason to say he would
+rather be a labouring man than a king, if vermin are to eat him."
+
+The duchess could not help laughing at the simplicity of her duenna,
+or wondering at the language and proverbs of Sancho, to whom she said,
+"Worthy Sancho knows very well that when once a knight has made a
+promise he strives to keep it, though it should cost him his life.
+My lord and husband the duke, though not one of the errant sort, is
+none the less a knight for that reason, and will keep his word about
+the promised island, in spite of the envy and malice of the world. Let
+Sancho he of good cheer; for when he least expects it he will find
+himself seated on the throne of his island and seat of dignity, and
+will take possession of his government that he may discard it for
+another of three-bordered brocade. The charge I give him is to be
+careful how he governs his vassals, bearing in mind that they are
+all loyal and well-born."
+
+"As to governing them well," said Sancho, "there's no need of
+charging me to do that, for I'm kind-hearted by nature, and full of
+compassion for the poor; there's no stealing the loaf from him who
+kneads and bakes;' and by my faith it won't do to throw false dice
+with me; I am an old dog, and I know all about 'tus, tus;' I can be
+wide-awake if need be, and I don't let clouds come before my eyes, for
+I know where the shoe pinches me; I say so, because with me the good
+will have support and protection, and the bad neither footing nor
+access. And it seems to me that, in governments, to make a beginning
+is everything; and maybe, after having been governor a fortnight, I'll
+take kindly to the work and know more about it than the field labour I
+have been brought up to."
+
+"You are right, Sancho," said the duchess, "for no one is born ready
+taught, and the bishops are made out of men and not out of stones. But
+to return to the subject we were discussing just now, the
+enchantment of the lady Dulcinea, I look upon it as certain, and
+something more than evident, that Sancho's idea of practising a
+deception upon his master, making him believe that the peasant girl
+was Dulcinea and that if he did not recognise her it must be because
+she was enchanted, was all a device of one of the enchanters that
+persecute Don Quixote. For in truth and earnest, I know from good
+authority that the coarse country wench who jumped up on the ass was
+and is Dulcinea del Toboso, and that worthy Sancho, though he
+fancies himself the deceiver, is the one that is deceived; and that
+there is no more reason to doubt the truth of this, than of anything
+else we never saw. Senor Sancho Panza must know that we too have
+enchanters here that are well disposed to us, and tell us what goes on
+in the world, plainly and distinctly, without subterfuge or deception;
+and believe me, Sancho, that agile country lass was and is Dulcinea
+del Toboso, who is as much enchanted as the mother that bore her;
+and when we least expect it, we shall see her in her own proper
+form, and then Sancho will he disabused of the error he is under at
+present."
+
+"All that's very possible," said Sancho Panza; "and now I'm
+willing to believe what my master says about what he saw in the cave
+of Montesinos, where he says he saw the lady Dulcinea del Toboso in
+the very same dress and apparel that I said I had seen her in when I
+enchanted her all to please myself. It must be all exactly the other
+way, as your ladyship says; because it is impossible to suppose that
+out of my poor wit such a cunning trick could be concocted in a
+moment, nor do I think my master is so mad that by my weak and
+feeble persuasion he could be made to believe a thing so out of all
+reason. But, senora, your excellence must not therefore think me
+ill-disposed, for a dolt like me is not bound to see into the thoughts
+and plots of those vile enchanters. I invented all that to escape my
+master's scolding, and not with any intention of hurting him; and if
+it has turned out differently, there is a God in heaven who judges our
+hearts."
+
+"That is true," said the duchess; "but tell me, Sancho, what is this
+you say about the cave of Montesinos, for I should like to know."
+
+Sancho upon this related to her, word for word, what has been said
+already touching that adventure, and having heard it the duchess said,
+"From this occurrence it may be inferred that, as the great Don
+Quixote says he saw there the same country wench Sancho saw on the way
+from El Toboso, it is, no doubt, Dulcinea, and that there are some
+very active and exceedingly busy enchanters about."
+
+"So I say," said Sancho, "and if my lady Dulcinea is enchanted, so
+much the worse for her, and I'm not going to pick a quarrel with my
+master's enemies, who seem to be many and spiteful. The truth is
+that the one I saw was a country wench, and I set her down to be a
+country wench; and if that was Dulcinea it must not be laid at my
+door, nor should I be called to answer for it or take the
+consequences. But they must go nagging at me at every step- 'Sancho
+said it, Sancho did it, Sancho here, Sancho there,' as if Sancho was
+nobody at all, and not that same Sancho Panza that's now going all
+over the world in books, so Samson Carrasco told me, and he's at any
+rate one that's a bachelor of Salamanca; and people of that sort can't
+lie, except when the whim seizes them or they have some very good
+reason for it. So there's no occasion for anybody to quarrel with
+me; and then I have a good character, and, as I have heard my master
+say, 'a good name is better than great riches;' let them only stick me
+into this government and they'll see wonders, for one who has been a
+good squire will be a good governor."
+
+"All worthy Sancho's observations," said the duchess, "are
+Catonian sentences, or at any rate out of the very heart of Michael
+Verino himself, who florentibus occidit annis. In fact, to speak in
+his own style, 'under a bad cloak there's often a good drinker.'"
+
+"Indeed, senora," said Sancho, "I never yet drank out of wickedness;
+from thirst I have very likely, for I have nothing of the hypocrite in
+me; I drink when I'm inclined, or, if I'm not inclined, when they
+offer it to me, so as not to look either strait-laced or ill-bred; for
+when a friend drinks one's health what heart can be so hard as not
+to return it? But if I put on my shoes I don't dirty them; besides,
+squires to knights-errant mostly drink water, for they are always
+wandering among woods, forests and meadows, mountains and crags,
+without a drop of wine to be had if they gave their eyes for it."
+
+"So I believe," said the duchess; "and now let Sancho go and take
+his sleep, and we will talk by-and-by at greater length, and settle
+how he may soon go and stick himself into the government, as he says."
+
+Sancho once more kissed the duchess's hand, and entreated her to let
+good care be taken of his Dapple, for he was the light of his eyes.
+
+"What is Dapple?" said the duchess.
+
+"My ass," said Sancho, "which, not to mention him by that name,
+I'm accustomed to call Dapple; I begged this lady duenna here to
+take care of him when I came into the castle, and she got as angry
+as if I had said she was ugly or old, though it ought to be more
+natural and proper for duennas to feed asses than to ornament
+chambers. God bless me! what a spite a gentleman of my village had
+against these ladies!"
+
+"He must have been some clown," said Dona Rodriguez the duenna; "for
+if he had been a gentleman and well-born he would have exalted them
+higher than the horns of the moon."
+
+"That will do," said the duchess; "no more of this; hush, Dona
+Rodriguez, and let Senor Panza rest easy and leave the treatment of
+Dapple in my charge, for as he is a treasure of Sancho's, I'll put him
+on the apple of my eye."
+
+"It will be enough for him to he in the stable," said Sancho, "for
+neither he nor I are worthy to rest a moment in the apple of your
+highness's eye, and I'd as soon stab myself as consent to it; for
+though my master says that in civilities it is better to lose by a
+card too many than a card too few, when it comes to civilities to
+asses we must mind what we are about and keep within due bounds."
+
+"Take him to your government, Sancho," said the duchess, "and
+there you will be able to make as much of him as you like, and even
+release him from work and pension him off."
+
+"Don't think, senora duchess, that you have said anything absurd,"
+said Sancho; "I have seen more than two asses go to governments, and
+for me to take mine with me would he nothing new."
+
+Sancho's words made the duchess laugh again and gave her fresh
+amusement, and dismissing him to sleep she went away to tell the
+duke the conversation she had had with him, and between them they
+plotted and arranged to play a joke upon Don Quixote that was to be
+a rare one and entirely in knight-errantry style, and in that same
+style they practised several upon him, so much in keeping and so
+clever that they form the best adventures this great history contains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+WHICH RELATES HOW THEY LEARNED THE WAY IN WHICH THEY WERE TO
+DISENCHANT THE PEERLESS DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO, WHICH IS ONE OF THE
+RAREST ADVENTURES IN THIS BOOK
+
+Great was the pleasure the duke and duchess took in the conversation
+of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; and, more bent than ever upon the
+plan they had of practising some jokes upon them that should have
+the look and appearance of adventures, they took as their basis of
+action what Don Quixote had already told them about the cave of
+Montesinos, in order to play him a famous one. But what the duches
+marvelled at above all was that Sancho's simplicity could be so
+great as to make him believe as absolute truth that Dulcinea had
+been enchanted, when it was he himself who had been the enchanter
+and trickster in the business. Having, therefore, instructed their
+servants in everything they were to do, six days afterwards they
+took him out to hunt, with as great a retinue of huntsmen and
+beaters as a crowned king.
+
+They presented Don Quixote with a hunting suit, and Sancho with
+another of the finest green cloth; but Don Quixote declined to put his
+on, saying that he must soon return to the hard pursuit of arms, and
+could not carry wardrobes or stores with him. Sancho, however, took
+what they gave him, meaning to sell it the first opportunity.
+
+The appointed day having arrived, Don Quixote armed himself, and
+Sancho arrayed himself, and mounted on his Dapple (for he would not
+give him up though they offered him a horse), he placed himself in the
+midst of the troop of huntsmen. The duchess came out splendidly
+attired, and Don Quixote, in pure courtesy and politeness, held the
+rein of her palfrey, though the duke wanted not to allow him; and at
+last they reached a wood that lay between two high mountains, where,
+after occupying various posts, ambushes, and paths, and distributing
+the party in different positions, the hunt began with great noise,
+shouting, and hallooing, so that, between the baying of the hounds and
+the blowing of the horns, they could not hear one another. The duchess
+dismounted, and with a sharp boar-spear in her hand posted herself
+where she knew the wild boars were in the habit of passing. The duke
+and Don Quixote likewise dismounted and placed themselves one at
+each side of her. Sancho took up a position in the rear of all without
+dismounting from Dapple, whom he dared not desert lest some mischief
+should befall him. Scarcely had they taken their stand in a line
+with several of their servants, when they saw a huge boar, closely
+pressed by the hounds and followed by the huntsmen, making towards
+them, grinding his teeth and tusks, and scattering foam from his
+mouth. As soon as he saw him Don Quixote, bracing his shield on his
+arm, and drawing his sword, advanced to meet him; the duke with
+boar-spear did the same; but the duchess would have gone in front of
+them all had not the duke prevented her. Sancho alone, deserting
+Dapple at the sight of the mighty beast, took to his heels as hard
+as he could and strove in vain to mount a tall oak. As he was clinging
+to a branch, however, half-way up in his struggle to reach the top,
+the bough, such was his ill-luck and hard fate, gave way, and caught
+in his fall by a broken limb of the oak, he hung suspended in the
+air unable to reach the ground. Finding himself in this position,
+and that the green coat was beginning to tear, and reflecting that
+if the fierce animal came that way he might be able to get at him,
+he began to utter such cries, and call for help so earnestly, that all
+who heard him and did not see him felt sure he must be in the teeth of
+some wild beast. In the end the tusked boar fell pierced by the blades
+of the many spears they held in front of him; and Don Quixote, turning
+round at the cries of Sancho, for he knew by them that it was he,
+saw him hanging from the oak head downwards, with Dapple, who did
+not forsake him in his distress, close beside him; and Cide Hamete
+observes that he seldom saw Sancho Panza without seeing Dapple, or
+Dapple without seeing Sancho Panza; such was their attachment and
+loyalty one to the other. Don Quixote went over and unhooked Sancho,
+who, as soon as he found himself on the ground, looked at the rent
+in his huntingcoat and was grieved to the heart, for he thought he had
+got a patrimonial estate in that suit.
+
+Meanwhile they had slung the mighty boar across the back of a
+mule, and having covered it with sprigs of rosemary and branches of
+myrtle, they bore it away as the spoils of victory to some large
+field-tents which had been pitched in the middle of the wood, where
+they found the tables laid and dinner served, in such grand and
+sumptuous style that it was easy to see the rank and magnificence of
+those who had provided it. Sancho, as he showed the rents in his
+torn suit to the duchess, observed, "If we had been hunting hares,
+or after small birds, my coat would have been safe from being in the
+plight it's in; I don't know what pleasure one can find in lying in
+wait for an animal that may take your life with his tusk if he gets at
+you. I recollect having heard an old ballad sung that says,
+
+By bears be thou devoured, as erst
+  Was famous Favila."
+
+
+"That," said Don Quixote, "was a Gothic king, who, going
+a-hunting, was devoured by a bear."
+
+"Just so," said Sancho; "and I would not have kings and princes
+expose themselves to such dangers for the sake of a pleasure which, to
+my mind, ought not to be one, as it consists in killing an animal that
+has done no harm whatever."
+
+"Quite the contrary, Sancho; you are wrong there," said the duke;
+"for hunting is more suitable and requisite for kings and princes than
+for anybody else. The chase is the emblem of war; it has stratagems,
+wiles, and crafty devices for overcoming the enemy in safety; in it
+extreme cold and intolerable heat have to be borne, indolence and
+sleep are despised, the bodily powers are invigorated, the limbs of
+him who engages in it are made supple, and, in a word, it is a pursuit
+which may be followed without injury to anyone and with enjoyment to
+many; and the best of it is, it is not for everybody, as
+field-sports of other sorts are, except hawking, which also is only
+for kings and great lords. Reconsider your opinion therefore,
+Sancho, and when you are governor take to hunting, and you will find
+the good of it."
+
+"Nay," said Sancho, "the good governor should have a broken leg
+and keep at home;" it would be a nice thing if, after people had
+been at the trouble of coming to look for him on business, the
+governor were to be away in the forest enjoying himself; the
+government would go on badly in that fashion. By my faith, senor,
+hunting and amusements are more fit for idlers than for governors;
+what I intend to amuse myself with is playing all fours at Eastertime,
+and bowls on Sundays and holidays; for these huntings don't suit my
+condition or agree with my conscience."
+
+"God grant it may turn out so," said the duke; "because it's a
+long step from saying to doing."
+
+"Be that as it may," said Sancho, "'pledges don't distress a good
+payer,' and 'he whom God helps does better than he who gets up early,'
+and 'it's the tripes that carry the feet and not the feet the tripes;'
+I mean to say that if God gives me help and I do my duty honestly,
+no doubt I'll govern better than a gerfalcon. Nay, let them only put a
+finger in my mouth, and they'll see whether I can bite or not."
+
+"The curse of God and all his saints upon thee, thou accursed
+Sancho!" exclaimed Don Quixote; "when will the day come- as I have
+often said to thee- when I shall hear thee make one single coherent,
+rational remark without proverbs? Pray, your highnesses, leave this
+fool alone, for he will grind your souls between, not to say two,
+but two thousand proverbs, dragged in as much in season, and as much
+to the purpose as- may God grant as much health to him, or to me if
+I want to listen to them!"
+
+"Sancho Panza's proverbs," said the duchess, "though more in
+number than the Greek Commander's, are not therefore less to be
+esteemed for the conciseness of the maxims. For my own part, I can say
+they give me more pleasure than others that may be better brought in
+and more seasonably introduced."
+
+In pleasant conversation of this sort they passed out of the tent
+into the wood, and the day was spent in visiting some of the posts and
+hiding-places, and then night closed in, not, however, as
+brilliantly or tranquilly as might have been expected at the season,
+for it was then midsummer; but bringing with it a kind of haze that
+greatly aided the project of the duke and duchess; and thus, as
+night began to fall, and a little after twilight set in, suddenly
+the whole wood on all four sides seemed to be on fire, and shortly
+after, here, there, on all sides, a vast number of trumpets and
+other military instruments were heard, as if several troops of cavalry
+were passing through the wood. The blaze of the fire and the noise
+of the warlike instruments almost blinded the eyes and deafened the
+ears of those that stood by, and indeed of all who were in the wood.
+Then there were heard repeated lelilies after the fashion of the Moors
+when they rush to battle; trumpets and clarions brayed, drums beat,
+fifes played, so unceasingly and so fast that he could not have had
+any senses who did not lose them with the confused din of so many
+instruments. The duke was astounded, the duchess amazed, Don Quixote
+wondering, Sancho Panza trembling, and indeed, even they who were
+aware of the cause were frightened. In their fear, silence fell upon
+them, and a postillion, in the guise of a demon, passed in front of
+them, blowing, in lieu of a bugle, a huge hollow horn that gave out
+a horrible hoarse note.
+
+"Ho there! brother courier," cried the duke, "who are you? Where are
+you going? What troops are these that seem to be passing through the
+wood?"
+
+To which the courier replied in a harsh, discordant voice, "I am the
+devil; I am in search of Don Quixote of La Mancha; those who are
+coming this way are six troops of enchanters, who are bringing on a
+triumphal car the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso; she comes under
+enchantment, together with the gallant Frenchman Montesinos, to give
+instructions to Don Quixote as to how, she the said lady, may be
+disenchanted."
+
+"If you were the devil, as you say and as your appearance
+indicates," said the duke, "you would have known the said knight Don
+Quixote of La Mancha, for you have him here before you."
+
+"By God and upon my conscience," said the devil, "I never observed
+it, for my mind is occupied with so many different things that I was
+forgetting the main thing I came about."
+
+"This demon must be an honest fellow and a good Christian," said
+Sancho; "for if he wasn't he wouldn't swear by God and his conscience;
+I feel sure now there must be good souls even in hell itself."
+
+Without dismounting, the demon then turned to Don Quixote and
+said, "The unfortunate but valiant knight Montesinos sends me to thee,
+the Knight of the Lions (would that I saw thee in their claws),
+bidding me tell thee to wait for him wherever I may find thee, as he
+brings with him her whom they call Dulcinea del Toboso, that he may
+show thee what is needful in order to disenchant her; and as I came
+for no more I need stay no longer; demons of my sort be with thee, and
+good angels with these gentles;" and so saying he blew his huge
+horn, turned about and went off without waiting for a reply from
+anyone.
+
+They all felt fresh wonder, but particularly Sancho and Don Quixote;
+Sancho to see how, in defiance of the truth, they would have it that
+Dulcinea was enchanted; Don Quixote because he could not feel sure
+whether what had happened to him in the cave of Montesinos was true or
+not; and as he was deep in these cogitations the duke said to him, "Do
+you mean to wait, Senor Don Quixote?"
+
+"Why not?" replied he; "here will I wait, fearless and firm,
+though all hell should come to attack me."
+
+"Well then, if I see another devil or hear another horn like the
+last, I'll wait here as much as in Flanders," said Sancho.
+
+Night now closed in more completely, and many lights began to flit
+through the wood, just as those fiery exhalations from the earth, that
+look like shooting-stars to our eyes, flit through the heavens; a
+frightful noise, too, was heard, like that made by the solid wheels
+the ox-carts usually have, by the harsh, ceaseless creaking of
+which, they say, the bears and wolves are put to flight, if there
+happen to be any where they are passing. In addition to all this
+commotion, there came a further disturbance to increase the tumult,
+for now it seemed as if in truth, on all four sides of the wood,
+four encounters or battles were going on at the same time; in one
+quarter resounded the dull noise of a terrible cannonade, in another
+numberless muskets were being discharged, the shouts of the combatants
+sounded almost close at hand, and farther away the Moorish lelilies
+were raised again and again. In a word, the bugles, the horns, the
+clarions, the trumpets, the drums, the cannon, the musketry, and above
+all the tremendous noise of the carts, all made up together a din so
+confused and terrific that Don Quixote had need to summon up all his
+courage to brave it; but Sancho's gave way, and he fell fainting on
+the skirt of the duchess's robe, who let him lie there and promptly
+bade them throw water in his face. This was done, and he came to
+himself by the time that one of the carts with the creaking wheels
+reached the spot. It was drawn by four plodding oxen all covered
+with black housings; on each horn they had fixed a large lighted wax
+taper, and on the top of the cart was constructed a raised seat, on
+which sat a venerable old man with a beard whiter than the very
+snow, and so long that it fell below his waist; he was dressed in a
+long robe of black buckram; for as the cart was thickly set with a
+multitude of candles it was easy to make out everything that was on
+it. Leading it were two hideous demons, also clad in buckram, with
+countenances so frightful that Sancho, having once seen them, shut his
+eyes so as not to see them again. As soon as the cart came opposite
+the spot the old man rose from his lofty seat, and standing up said in
+a loud voice, "I am the sage Lirgandeo," and without another word
+the cart then passed on. Behind it came another of the same form, with
+another aged man enthroned, who, stopping the cart, said in a voice no
+less solemn than that of the first, "I am the sage Alquife, the
+great friend of Urganda the Unknown," and passed on. Then another cart
+came by at the same pace, but the occupant of the throne was not old
+like the others, but a man stalwart and robust, and of a forbidding
+countenance, who as he came up said in a voice far hoarser and more
+devilish, "I am the enchanter Archelaus, the mortal enemy of Amadis of
+Gaul and all his kindred," and then passed on. Having gone a short
+distance the three carts halted and the monotonous noise of their
+wheels ceased, and soon after they heard another, not noise, but sound
+of sweet, harmonious music, of which Sancho was very glad, taking it
+to be a good sign; and said he to the duchess, from whom he did not
+stir a step, or for a single instant, "Senora, where there's music
+there can't be mischief."
+
+"Nor where there are lights and it is bright," said the duchess;
+to which Sancho replied, "Fire gives light, and it's bright where
+there are bonfires, as we see by those that are all round us and
+perhaps may burn us; but music is a sign of mirth and merrymaking."
+
+"That remains to be seen," said Don Quixote, who was listening to
+all that passed; and he was right, as is shown in the following
+chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO DON QUIXOTE TOUCHING
+THE DISENCHANTMENT OF DULCINEA, TOGETHER WITH OTHER MARVELLOUS INCIDENTS
+
+They saw advancing towards them, to the sound of this pleasing
+music, what they call a triumphal car, drawn by six grey mules with
+white linen housings, on each of which was mounted a penitent, robed
+also in white, with a large lighted wax taper in his hand. The car was
+twice or, perhaps, three times as large as the former ones, and in
+front and on the sides stood twelve more penitents, all as white as
+snow and all with lighted tapers, a spectacle to excite fear as well
+as wonder; and on a raised throne was seated a nymph draped in a
+multitude of silver-tissue veils with an embroidery of countless
+gold spangles glittering all over them, that made her appear, if not
+richly, at least brilliantly, apparelled. She had her face covered
+with thin transparent sendal, the texture of which did not prevent the
+fair features of a maiden from being distinguished, while the numerous
+lights made it possible to judge of her beauty and of her years, which
+seemed to be not less than seventeen but not to have yet reached
+twenty. Beside her was a figure in a robe of state, as they call it,
+reaching to the feet, while the head was covered with a black veil.
+But the instant the car was opposite the duke and duchess and Don
+Quixote the music of the clarions ceased, and then that of the lutes
+and harps on the car, and the figure in the robe rose up, and flinging
+it apart and removing the veil from its face, disclosed to their
+eyes the shape of Death itself, fleshless and hideous, at which
+sight Don Quixote felt uneasy, Sancho frightened, and the duke and
+duchess displayed a certain trepidation. Having risen to its feet,
+this living death, in a sleepy voice and with a tongue hardly awake,
+held forth as follows:
+
+
+I am that Merlin who the legends say
+The devil had for father, and the lie
+Hath gathered credence with the lapse of time.
+Of magic prince, of Zoroastric lore
+Monarch and treasurer, with jealous eye
+I view the efforts of the age to hide
+The gallant deeds of doughty errant knights,
+Who are, and ever have been, dear to me.
+  Enchanters and magicians and their kind
+
+Are mostly hard of heart; not so am I;
+For mine is tender, soft, compassionate,
+And its delight is doing good to all.
+In the dim caverns of the gloomy Dis,
+Where, tracing mystic lines and characters,
+My soul abideth now, there came to me
+The sorrow-laden plaint of her, the fair,
+The peerless Dulcinea del Toboso.
+I knew of her enchantment and her fate,
+From high-born dame to peasant wench transformed
+And touched with pity, first I turned the leaves
+Of countless volumes of my devilish craft,
+And then, in this grim grisly skeleton
+Myself encasing, hither have I come
+To show where lies the fitting remedy
+To give relief in such a piteous case.
+  O thou, the pride and pink of all that wear
+
+The adamantine steel! O shining light,
+O beacon, polestar, path and guide of all
+Who, scorning slumber and the lazy down,
+Adopt the toilsome life of bloodstained arms!
+To thee, great hero who all praise transcends,
+La Mancha's lustre and Iberia's star,
+Don Quixote, wise as brave, to thee I say-
+For peerless Dulcinea del Toboso
+Her pristine form and beauty to regain,
+'T is needful that thy esquire Sancho shall,
+On his own sturdy buttocks bared to heaven,
+Three thousand and three hundred lashes lay,
+And that they smart and sting and hurt him well.
+Thus have the authors of her woe resolved.
+And this is, gentles, wherefore I have come.
+
+
+"By all that's good," exclaimed Sancho at this, "I'll just as soon
+give myself three stabs with a dagger as three, not to say three
+thousand, lashes. The devil take such a way of disenchanting! I
+don't see what my backside has got to do with enchantments. By God, if
+Senor Merlin has not found out some other way of disenchanting the
+lady Dulcinea del Toboso, she may go to her grave enchanted."
+
+"But I'll take you, Don Clown stuffed with garlic," said Don
+Quixote, "and tie you to a tree as naked as when your mother brought
+you forth, and give you, not to say three thousand three hundred,
+but six thousand six hundred lashes, and so well laid on that they
+won't be got rid of if you try three thousand three hundred times;
+don't answer me a word or I'll tear your soul out."
+
+On hearing this Merlin said, "That will not do, for the lashes
+worthy Sancho has to receive must be given of his own free will and
+not by force, and at whatever time he pleases, for there is no fixed
+limit assigned to him; but it is permitted him, if he likes to commute
+by half the pain of this whipping, to let them be given by the hand of
+another, though it may be somewhat weighty."
+
+"Not a hand, my own or anybody else's, weighty or weighable, shall
+touch me," said Sancho. "Was it I that gave birth to the lady Dulcinea
+del Toboso, that my backside is to pay for the sins of her eyes? My
+master, indeed, that's a part of her- for,he's always calling her
+'my life' and 'my soul,' and his stay and prop- may and ought to
+whip himself for her and take all the trouble required for her
+disenchantment. But for me to whip myself! Abernuncio!"
+
+As soon as Sancho had done speaking the nymph in silver that was
+at the side of Merlin's ghost stood up, and removing the thin veil
+from her face disclosed one that seemed to all something more than
+exceedingly beautiful; and with a masculine freedom from embarrassment
+and in a voice not very like a lady's, addressing Sancho directly,
+said, "Thou wretched squire, soul of a pitcher, heart of a cork
+tree, with bowels of flint and pebbles; if, thou impudent thief,
+they bade thee throw thyself down from some lofty tower; if, enemy
+of mankind, they asked thee to swallow a dozen of toads, two of
+lizards, and three of adders; if they wanted thee to slay thy wife and
+children with a sharp murderous scimitar, it would be no wonder for
+thee to show thyself stubborn and squeamish. But to make a piece of
+work about three thousand three hundred lashes, what every poor little
+charity-boy gets every month- it is enough to amaze, astonish, astound
+the compassionate bowels of all who hear it, nay, all who come to hear
+it in the course of time. Turn, O miserable, hard-hearted animal,
+turn, I say, those timorous owl's eyes upon these of mine that are
+compared to radiant stars, and thou wilt see them weeping trickling
+streams and rills, and tracing furrows, tracks, and paths over the
+fair fields of my cheeks. Let it move thee, crafty, ill-conditioned
+monster, to see my blooming youth- still in its teens, for I am not
+yet twenty- wasting and withering away beneath the husk of a rude
+peasant wench; and if I do not appear in that shape now, it is a
+special favour Senor Merlin here has granted me, to the sole end
+that my beauty may soften thee; for the tears of beauty in distress
+turn rocks into cotton and tigers into ewes. Lay on to that hide of
+thine, thou great untamed brute, rouse up thy lusty vigour that only
+urges thee to eat and eat, and set free the softness of my flesh,
+the gentleness of my nature, and the fairness of my face. And if
+thou wilt not relent or come to reason for me, do so for the sake of
+that poor knight thou hast beside thee; thy master I mean, whose
+soul I can this moment see, how he has it stuck in his throat not
+ten fingers from his lips, and only waiting for thy inflexible or
+yielding reply to make its escape by his mouth or go back again into
+his stomach."
+
+Don Quixote on hearing this felt his throat, and turning to the duke
+he said, "By God, senor, Dulcinea says true, I have my soul stuck here
+in my throat like the nut of a crossbow."
+
+"What say you to this, Sancho?" said the duchess.
+
+"I say, senora," returned Sancho, "what I said before; as for the
+lashes, abernuncio!"
+
+"Abrenuncio, you should say, Sancho, and not as you do," said the
+duke.
+
+"Let me alone, your highness," said Sancho. "I'm not in a humour now
+to look into niceties or a letter more or less, for these lashes
+that are to be given me, or I'm to give myself, have so upset me, that
+I don't know what I'm saying or doing. But I'd like to know of this
+lady, my lady Dulcinea del Toboso, where she learned this way she
+has of asking favours. She comes to ask me to score my flesh with
+lashes, and she calls me soul of a pitcher, and great untamed brute,
+and a string of foul names that the devil is welcome to. Is my flesh
+brass? or is it anything to me whether she is enchanted or not? Does
+she bring with her a basket of fair linen, shirts, kerchiefs, socks-
+not that wear any- to coax me? No, nothing but one piece of abuse
+after another, though she knows the proverb they have here that 'an
+ass loaded with gold goes lightly up a mountain,' and that 'gifts
+break rocks,' and 'praying to God and plying the hammer,' and that
+'one "take" is better than two "I'll give thee's."' Then there's my
+master, who ought to stroke me down and pet me to make me turn wool
+and carded cotton; he says if he gets hold of me he'll tie me naked to
+a tree and double the tale of lashes on me. These tender-hearted
+gentry should consider that it's not merely a squire, but a governor
+they are asking to whip himself; just as if it was 'drink with
+cherries.' Let them learn, plague take them, the right way to ask, and
+beg, and behave themselves; for all times are not alike, nor are
+people always in good humour. I'm now ready to burst with grief at
+seeing my green coat torn, and they come to ask me to whip myself of
+my own free will, I having as little fancy for it as for turning
+cacique."
+
+"Well then, the fact is, friend Sancho," said the duke, "that unless
+you become softer than a ripe fig, you shall not get hold of the
+government. It would be a nice thing for me to send my islanders a
+cruel governor with flinty bowels, who won't yield to the tears of
+afflicted damsels or to the prayers of wise, magisterial, ancient
+enchanters and sages. In short, Sancho, either you must be whipped
+by yourself, or they must whip you, or you shan't be governor."
+
+"Senor," said Sancho, "won't two days' grace be given me in which to
+consider what is best for me?"
+
+"No, certainly not," said Merlin; "here, this minute, and on the
+spot, the matter must be settled; either Dulcinea will return to the
+cave of Montesinos and to her former condition of peasant wench, or
+else in her present form shall be carried to the Elysian fields, where
+she will remain waiting until the number of stripes is completed."
+
+"Now then, Sancho!" said the duchess, "show courage, and gratitude
+for your master Don Quixote's bread that you have eaten; we are all
+bound to oblige and please him for his benevolent disposition and
+lofty chivalry. Consent to this whipping, my son; to the devil with
+the devil, and leave fear to milksops, for 'a stout heart breaks bad
+luck,' as you very well know."
+
+To this Sancho replied with an irrelevant remark, which,
+addressing Merlin, he made to him, "Will your worship tell me, Senor
+Merlin- when that courier devil came up he gave my master a message
+from Senor Montesinos, charging him to wait for him here, as he was
+coming to arrange how the lady Dona Dulcinea del Toboso was to be
+disenchanted; but up to the present we have not seen Montesinos, nor
+anything like him."
+
+To which Merlin made answer, "The devil, Sancho, is a blockhead
+and a great scoundrel; I sent him to look for your master, but not
+with a message from Montesinos but from myself; for Montesinos is in
+his cave expecting, or more properly speaking, waiting for his
+disenchantment; for there's the tail to be skinned yet for him; if
+he owes you anything, or you have any business to transact with him,
+I'll bring him to you and put him where you choose; but for the
+present make up your mind to consent to this penance, and believe me
+it will be very good for you, for soul as well for body- for your soul
+because of the charity with which you perform it, for your body
+because I know that you are of a sanguine habit and it will do you
+no harm to draw a little blood."
+
+"There are a great many doctors in the world; even the enchanters
+are doctors," said Sancho; "however, as everybody tells me the same
+thing -though I can't see it myself- I say I am willing to give myself
+the three thousand three hundred lashes, provided I am to lay them
+on whenever I like, without any fixing of days or times; and I'll
+try and get out of debt as quickly as I can, that the world may
+enjoy the beauty of the lady Dulcinea del Toboso; as it seems,
+contrary to what I thought, that she is beautiful after all. It must
+be a condition, too, that I am not to be bound to draw blood with
+the scourge, and that if any of the lashes happen to he fly-flappers
+they are to count. Item, that, in case I should make any mistake in
+the reckoning, Senor Merlin, as he knows everything, is to keep count,
+and let me know how many are still wanting or over the number."
+
+"There will be no need to let you know of any over," said Merlin,
+"because, when you reach the full number, the lady Dulcinea will at
+once, and that very instant, be disenchanted, and will come in her
+gratitude to seek out the worthy Sancho, and thank him, and even
+reward him for the good work. So you have no cause to be uneasy
+about stripes too many or too few; heaven forbid I should cheat anyone
+of even a hair of his head."
+
+"Well then, in God's hands be it," said Sancho; "in the hard case
+I'm in I give in; I say I accept the penance on the conditions laid
+down."
+
+The instant Sancho uttered these last words the music of the
+clarions struck up once more, and again a host of muskets were
+discharged, and Don Quixote hung on Sancho's neck kissing him again
+and again on the forehead and cheeks. The duchess and the duke
+expressed the greatest satisfaction, the car began to move on, and
+as it passed the fair Dulcinea bowed to the duke and duchess and
+made a low curtsey to Sancho.
+
+And now bright smiling dawn came on apace; the flowers of the field,
+revived, raised up their heads, and the crystal waters of the
+brooks, murmuring over the grey and white pebbles, hastened to pay
+their tribute to the expectant rivers; the glad earth, the unclouded
+sky, the fresh breeze, the clear light, each and all showed that the
+day that came treading on the skirts of morning would be calm and
+bright. The duke and duchess, pleased with their hunt and at having
+carried out their plans so cleverly and successfully, returned to
+their castle resolved to follow up their joke; for to them there was
+no reality that could afford them more amusement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+WHEREIN IS RELATED THE STRANGE AND UNDREAMT-OF ADVENTURE OF THE
+DISTRESSED DUENNA, ALIAS THE COUNTESS TRIFALDI, TOGETHER WITH A LETTER
+WHICH SANCHO PANZA WROTE TO HIS WIFE, TERESA PANZA
+
+The duke had a majordomo of a very facetious and sportive turn,
+and he it was that played the part of Merlin, made all the
+arrangements for the late adventure, composed the verses, and got a
+page to represent Dulcinea; and now, with the assistance of his master
+and mistress, he got up another of the drollest and strangest
+contrivances that can be imagined.
+
+The duchess asked Sancho the next day if he had made a beginning
+with his penance task which he had to perform for the disenchantment
+of Dulcinea. He said he had, and had given himself five lashes
+overnight.
+
+The duchess asked him what he had given them with.
+
+He said with his hand.
+
+"That," said the duchess, "is more like giving oneself slaps than
+lashes; I am sure the sage Merlin will not be satisfied with such
+tenderness; worthy Sancho must make a scourge with claws, or a
+cat-o'-nine tails, that will make itself felt; for it's with blood
+that letters enter, and the release of so great a lady as Dulcinea
+will not be granted so cheaply, or at such a paltry price; and
+remember, Sancho, that works of charity done in a lukewarm and
+half-hearted way are without merit and of no avail."
+
+To which Sancho replied, "If your ladyship will give me a proper
+scourge or cord, I'll lay on with it, provided it does not hurt too
+much; for you must know, boor as I am, my flesh is more cotton than
+hemp, and it won't do for me to destroy myself for the good of anybody
+else."
+
+"So be it by all means," said the duchess; "tomorrow I'll give you a
+scourge that will be just the thing for you, and will accommodate
+itself to the tenderness of your flesh, as if it was its own sister."
+
+Then said Sancho, "Your highness must know, dear lady of my soul,
+that I have a letter written to my wife, Teresa Panza, giving her an
+account of all that has happened me since I left her; I have it here
+in my bosom, and there's nothing wanting but to put the address to it;
+I'd be glad if your discretion would read it, for I think it runs in
+the governor style; I mean the way governors ought to write."
+
+"And who dictated it?" asked the duchess.
+
+"Who should have dictated but myself, sinner as I am?" said Sancho.
+
+"And did you write it yourself?" said the duchess.
+
+"That I didn't," said Sancho; "for I can neither read nor write,
+though I can sign my name."
+
+"Let us see it," said the duchess, "for never fear but you display
+in it the quality and quantity of your wit."
+
+Sancho drew out an open letter from his bosom, and the duchess,
+taking it, found it ran in this fashion:
+
+
+SANCHO PANZA'S LETTER TO HIS WIFE, TERESA PANZA
+
+
+If I was well whipped I went mounted like a gentleman; if I have got
+a good government it is at the cost of a good whipping. Thou wilt
+not understand this just now, my Teresa; by-and-by thou wilt know what
+it means. I may tell thee, Teresa, I mean thee to go in a coach, for
+that is a matter of importance, because every other way of going is
+going on all-fours. Thou art a governor's wife; take care that
+nobody speaks evil of thee behind thy back. I send thee here a green
+hunting suit that my lady the duchess gave me; alter it so as to
+make a petticoat and bodice for our daughter. Don Quixote, my
+master, if I am to believe what I hear in these parts, is a madman
+of some sense, and a droll blockhead, and I am no way behind him. We
+have been in the cave of Montesinos, and the sage Merlin has laid hold
+of me for the disenchantment of Dulcinea del Toboso, her that is
+called Aldonza Lorenzo over there. With three thousand three hundred
+lashes, less five, that I'm to give myself, she will be left as
+entirely disenchanted as the mother that bore her. Say nothing of this
+to anyone; for, make thy affairs public, and some will say they are
+white and others will say they are black. I shall leave this in a
+few days for my government, to which I am going with a mighty great
+desire to make money, for they tell me all new governors set out
+with the same desire; I will feel the pulse of it and will let thee
+know if thou art to come and live with me or not. Dapple is well and
+sends many remembrances to thee; I am not going to leave him behind
+though they took me away to be Grand Turk. My lady the duchess
+kisses thy hands a thousand times; do thou make a return with two
+thousand, for as my master says, nothing costs less or is cheaper than
+civility. God has not been pleased to provide another valise for me
+with another hundred crowns, like the one the other day; but never
+mind, my Teresa, the bell-ringer is in safe quarters, and all will
+come out in the scouring of the government; only it troubles me
+greatly what they tell me- that once I have tasted it I will eat my
+hands off after it; and if that is so it will not come very cheap to
+me; though to be sure the maimed have a benefice of their own in the
+alms they beg for; so that one way or another thou wilt be rich and in
+luck. God give it to thee as he can, and keep me to serve thee. From
+this castle, the 20th of July, 1614.
+
+Thy husband, the governor.
+
+SANCHO PANZA
+
+
+
+When she had done reading the letter the duchess said to Sancho, "On
+two points the worthy governor goes rather astray; one is in saying or
+hinting that this government has been bestowed upon him for the lashes
+that he is to give himself, when he knows (and he cannot deny it) that
+when my lord the duke promised it to him nobody ever dreamt of such
+a thing as lashes; the other is that he shows himself here to he
+very covetous; and I would not have him a money-seeker, for
+'covetousness bursts the bag,' and the covetous governor does
+ungoverned justice."
+
+"I don't mean it that way, senora," said Sancho; "and if you think
+the letter doesn't run as it ought to do, it's only to tear it up
+and make another; and maybe it will be a worse one if it is left to my
+gumption."
+
+"No, no," said the duchess, "this one will do, and I wish the duke
+to see it."
+
+With this they betook themselves to a garden where they were to
+dine, and the duchess showed Sancho's letter to the duke, who was
+highly delighted with it. They dined, and after the cloth had been
+removed and they had amused themselves for a while with Sancho's
+rich conversation, the melancholy sound of a fife and harsh discordant
+drum made itself heard. All seemed somewhat put out by this dull,
+confused, martial harmony, especially Don Quixote, who could not
+keep his seat from pure disquietude; as to Sancho, it is needless to
+say that fear drove him to his usual refuge, the side or the skirts of
+the duchess; and indeed and in truth the sound they heard was a most
+doleful and melancholy one. While they were still in uncertainty
+they saw advancing towards them through the garden two men clad in
+mourning robes so long and flowing that they trailed upon the
+ground. As they marched they beat two great drums which were
+likewise draped in black, and beside them came the fife player,
+black and sombre like the others. Following these came a personage
+of gigantic stature enveloped rather than clad in a gown of the
+deepest black, the skirt of which was of prodigious dimensions. Over
+the gown, girdling or crossing his figure, he had a broad baldric
+which was also black, and from which hung a huge scimitar with a black
+scabbard and furniture. He had his face covered with a transparent
+black veil, through which might be descried a very long beard as white
+as snow. He came on keeping step to the sound of the drums with
+great gravity and dignity; and, in short, his stature, his gait, the
+sombreness of his appearance and his following might well have
+struck with astonishment, as they did, all who beheld him without
+knowing who he was. With this measured pace and in this guise he
+advanced to kneel before the duke, who, with the others, awaited him
+standing. The duke, however, would not on any account allow him to
+speak until he had risen. The prodigious scarecrow obeyed, and
+standing up, removed the veil from his face and disclosed the most
+enormous, the longest, the whitest and the thickest beard that human
+eyes had ever beheld until that moment, and then fetching up a
+grave, sonorous voice from the depths of his broad, capacious chest,
+and fixing his eyes on the duke, he said:
+
+"Most high and mighty senor, my name is Trifaldin of the White
+Beard; I am squire to the Countess Trifaldi, otherwise called the
+Distressed Duenna, on whose behalf I bear a message to your
+highness, which is that your magnificence will be pleased to grant her
+leave and permission to come and tell you her trouble, which is one of
+the strangest and most wonderful that the mind most familiar with
+trouble in the world could have imagined; but first she desires to
+know if the valiant and never vanquished knight, Don Quixote of La
+Mancha, is in this your castle, for she has come in quest of him on
+foot and without breaking her fast from the kingdom of Kandy to your
+realms here; a thing which may and ought to be regarded as a miracle
+or set down to enchantment; she is even now at the gate of this
+fortress or plaisance, and only waits for your permission to enter.
+I have spoken." And with that he coughed, and stroked down his beard
+with both his hands, and stood very tranquilly waiting for the
+response of the duke, which was to this effect: "Many days ago, worthy
+squire Trifaldin of the White Beard, we heard of the misfortune of
+my lady the Countess Trifaldi, whom the enchanters have caused to be
+called the Distressed Duenna. Bid her enter, O stupendous squire,
+and tell her that the valiant knight Don Quixote of La Mancha is here,
+and from his generous disposition she may safely promise herself every
+protection and assistance; and you may tell her, too, that if my aid
+be necessary it will not be withheld, for I am bound to give it to her
+by my quality of knight, which involves the protection of women of all
+sorts, especially widowed, wronged, and distressed dames, such as
+her ladyship seems to be."
+
+On hearing this Trifaldin bent the knee to the ground, and making
+a sign to the fifer and drummers to strike up, he turned and marched
+out of the garden to the same notes and at the same pace as when he
+entered, leaving them all amazed at his bearing and solemnity. Turning
+to Don Quixote, the duke said, "After all, renowned knight, the
+mists of malice and ignorance are unable to hide or obscure the
+light of valour and virtue. I say so, because your excellence has been
+barely six days in this castle, and already the unhappy and the
+afflicted come in quest of you from lands far distant and remote,
+and not in coaches or on dromedaries, but on foot and fasting,
+confident that in that mighty arm they will find a cure for their
+sorrows and troubles; thanks to your great achievements, which are
+circulated all over the known earth."
+
+"I wish, senor duke," replied Don Quixote, "that blessed
+ecclesiastic, who at table the other day showed such ill-will and
+bitter spite against knights-errant, were here now to see with his own
+eyes whether knights of the sort are needed in the world; he would
+at any rate learn by experience that those suffering any extraordinary
+affliction or sorrow, in extreme cases and unusual misfortunes do
+not go to look for a remedy to the houses of jurists or village
+sacristans, or to the knight who has never attempted to pass the
+bounds of his own town, or to the indolent courtier who only seeks for
+news to repeat and talk of, instead of striving to do deeds and
+exploits for others to relate and record. Relief in distress, help
+in need, protection for damsels, consolation for widows, are to be
+found in no sort of persons better than in knights-errant; and I
+give unceasing thanks to heaven that I am one, and regard any
+misfortune or suffering that may befall me in the pursuit of so
+honourable a calling as endured to good purpose. Let this duenna
+come and ask what she will, for I will effect her relief by the
+might of my arm and the dauntless resolution of my bold heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE NOTABLE ADVENTURE OF THE DISTRESSED DUENNA
+
+The duke and duchess were extremely glad to see how readily Don
+Quixote fell in with their scheme; but at this moment Sancho observed,
+"I hope this senora duenna won't be putting any difficulties in the
+way of the promise of my government; for I have heard a Toledo
+apothecary, who talked like a goldfinch, say that where duennas were
+mixed up nothing good could happen. God bless me, how he hated them,
+that same apothecary! And so what I'm thinking is, if all duennas,
+of whatever sort or condition they may be, are plagues and busybodies,
+what must they be that are distressed, like this Countess Three-skirts
+or Three-tails!- for in my country skirts or tails, tails or skirts,
+it's all one."
+
+"Hush, friend Sancho," said Don Quixote; "since this lady duenna
+comes in quest of me from such a distant land she cannot be one of
+those the apothecary meant; moreover this is a countess, and when
+countesses serve as duennas it is in the service of queens and
+empresses, for in their own houses they are mistresses paramount and
+have other duennas to wait on them."
+
+To this Dona Rodriguez, who was present, made answer, "My lady the
+duchess has duennas in her service that might be countesses if it
+was the will of fortune; 'but laws go as kings like;' let nobody speak
+ill of duennas, above all of ancient maiden ones; for though I am
+not one myself, I know and am aware of the advantage a maiden duenna
+has over one that is a widow; but 'he who clipped us has kept the
+scissors.'"
+
+"For all that," said Sancho, "there's so much to be clipped about
+duennas, so my barber said, that 'it will be better not to stir the
+rice even though it sticks.'"
+
+"These squires," returned Dona Rodriguez, "are always our enemies;
+and as they are the haunting spirits of the antechambers and watch
+us at every step, whenever they are not saying their prayers (and
+that's often enough) they spend their time in tattling about us,
+digging up our bones and burying our good name. But I can tell these
+walking blocks that we will live in spite of them, and in great houses
+too, though we die of hunger and cover our flesh, be it delicate or
+not, with widow's weeds, as one covers or hides a dunghill on a
+procession day. By my faith, if it were permitted me and time allowed,
+I could prove, not only to those here present, but to all the world,
+that there is no virtue that is not to be found in a duenna."
+
+"I have no doubt," said the duchess, "that my good Dona Rodriguez is
+right, and very much so; but she had better bide her time for fighting
+her own battle and that of the rest of the duennas, so as to crush the
+calumny of that vile apothecary, and root out the prejudice in the
+great Sancho Panza's mind."
+
+To which Sancho replied, "Ever since I have sniffed the governorship
+I have got rid of the humours of a squire, and I don't care a wild fig
+for all the duennas in the world."
+
+They would have carried on this duenna dispute further had they
+not heard the notes of the fife and drums once more, from which they
+concluded that the Distressed Duenna was making her entrance. The
+duchess asked the duke if it would be proper to go out to receive her,
+as she was a countess and a person of rank.
+
+"In respect of her being a countess," said Sancho, before the duke
+could reply, "I am for your highnesses going out to receive her; but
+in respect of her being a duenna, it is my opinion you should not stir
+a step."
+
+"Who bade thee meddle in this, Sancho?" said Don Quixote.
+
+"Who, senor?" said Sancho; "I meddle for I have a right to meddle,
+as a squire who has learned the rules of courtesy in the school of
+your worship, the most courteous and best-bred knight in the whole
+world of courtliness; and in these things, as I have heard your
+worship say, as much is lost by a card too many as by a card too
+few, and to one who has his ears open, few words."
+
+"Sancho is right," said the duke; "we'll see what the countess is
+like, and by that measure the courtesy that is due to her."
+
+And now the drums and fife made their entrance as before; and here
+the author brought this short chapter to an end and began the next,
+following up the same adventure, which is one of the most notable in
+the history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+WHEREIN IS TOLD THE DISTRESSED DUENNA'S TALE OF HER MISFORTUNES
+
+Following the melancholy musicians there filed into the garden as
+many as twelve duennas, in two lines, all dressed in ample mourning
+robes apparently of milled serge, with hoods of fine white gauze so
+long that they allowed only the border of the robe to be seen.
+Behind them came the Countess Trifaldi, the squire Trifaldin of the
+White Beard leading her by the hand, clad in the finest unnapped black
+baize, such that, had it a nap, every tuft would have shown as big
+as a Martos chickpea; the tail, or skirt, or whatever it might be
+called, ended in three points which were borne up by the hands of
+three pages, likewise dressed in mourning, forming an elegant
+geometrical figure with the three acute angles made by the three
+points, from which all who saw the peaked skirt concluded that it must
+be because of it the countess was called Trifaldi, as though it were
+Countess of the Three Skirts; and Benengeli says it was so, and that
+by her right name she was called the Countess Lobuna, because wolves
+bred in great numbers in her country; and if, instead of wolves,
+they had been foxes, she would have been called the Countess
+Zorruna, as it was the custom in those parts for lords to take
+distinctive titles from the thing or things most abundant in their
+dominions; this countess, however, in honour of the new fashion of her
+skirt, dropped Lobuna and took up Trifaldi.
+
+The twelve duennas and the lady came on at procession pace, their
+faces being covered with black veils, not transparent ones like
+Trifaldin's, but so close that they allowed nothing to be seen through
+them. As soon as the band of duennas was fully in sight, the duke, the
+duchess, and Don Quixote stood up, as well as all who were watching
+the slow-moving procession. The twelve duennas halted and formed a
+lane, along which the Distressed One advanced, Trifaldin still holding
+her hand. On seeing this the duke, the duchess, and Don Quixote went
+some twelve paces forward to meet her. She then, kneeling on the
+ground, said in a voice hoarse and rough, rather than fine and
+delicate, "May it please your highnesses not to offer such
+courtesies to this your servant, I should say to this your handmaid,
+for I am in such distress that I shall never be able to make a
+proper return, because my strange and unparalleled misfortune has
+carried off my wits, and I know not whither; but it must be a long way
+off, for the more I look for them the less I find them."
+
+"He would be wanting in wits, senora countess," said the duke,
+"who did not perceive your worth by your person, for at a glance it
+may be seen it deserves all the cream of courtesy and flower of polite
+usage;" and raising her up by the hand he led her to a seat beside the
+duchess, who likewise received her with great urbanity. Don Quixote
+remained silent, while Sancho was dying to see the features of
+Trifaldi and one or two of her many duennas; but there was no
+possibility of it until they themselves displayed them of their own
+accord and free will.
+
+All kept still, waiting to see who would break silence, which the
+Distressed Duenna did in these words: "I am confident, most mighty
+lord, most fair lady, and most discreet company, that my most
+miserable misery will be accorded a reception no less dispassionate
+than generous and condolent in your most valiant bosoms, for it is one
+that is enough to melt marble, soften diamonds, and mollify the
+steel of the most hardened hearts in the world; but ere it is
+proclaimed to your hearing, not to say your ears, I would fain be
+enlightened whether there be present in this society, circle, or
+company, that knight immaculatissimus, Don Quixote de la
+Manchissima, and his squirissimus Panza."
+
+"The Panza is here," said Sancho, before anyone could reply, "and
+Don Quixotissimus too; and so, most distressedest Duenissima, you
+may say what you willissimus, for we are all readissimus to do you any
+servissimus."
+
+On this Don Quixote rose, and addressing the Distressed Duenna,
+said, "If your sorrows, afflicted lady, can indulge in any hope of
+relief from the valour or might of any knight-errant, here are mine,
+which, feeble and limited though they be, shall be entirely devoted to
+your service. I am Don Quixote of La Mancha, whose calling it is to
+give aid to the needy of all sorts; and that being so, it is not
+necessary for you, senora, to make any appeal to benevolence, or
+deal in preambles, only to tell your woes plainly and
+straightforwardly: for you have hearers that will know how, if not
+to remedy them, to sympathise with them."
+
+On hearing this, the Distressed Duenna made as though she would
+throw herself at Don Quixote's feet, and actually did fall before them
+and said, as she strove to embrace them, "Before these feet and legs I
+cast myself, O unconquered knight, as before, what they are, the
+foundations and pillars of knight-errantry; these feet I desire to
+kiss, for upon their steps hangs and depends the sole remedy for my
+misfortune, O valorous errant, whose veritable achievements leave
+behind and eclipse the fabulous ones of the Amadises, Esplandians, and
+Belianises!" Then turning from Don Quixote to Sancho Panza, and
+grasping his hands, she said, "O thou, most loyal squire that ever
+served knight-errant in this present age or ages past, whose
+goodness is more extensive than the beard of Trifaldin my companion
+here of present, well mayest thou boast thyself that, in serving the
+great Don Quixote, thou art serving, summed up in one, the whole
+host of knights that have ever borne arms in the world. I conjure
+thee, by what thou owest to thy most loyal goodness, that thou wilt
+become my kind intercessor with thy master, that he speedily give
+aid to this most humble and most unfortunate countess."
+
+To this Sancho made answer, "As to my goodness, senora, being as
+long and as great as your squire's beard, it matters very little to
+me; may I have my soul well bearded and moustached when it comes to
+quit this life, that's the point; about beards here below I care
+little or nothing; but without all these blandishments and prayers,
+I will beg my master (for I know he loves me, and, besides, he has
+need of me just now for a certain business) to help and aid your
+worship as far as he can; unpack your woes and lay them before us, and
+leave us to deal with them, for we'll be all of one mind."
+
+The duke and duchess, as it was they who had made the experiment
+of this adventure, were ready to burst with laughter at all this,
+and between themselves they commended the clever acting of the
+Trifaldi, who, returning to her seat, said, "Queen Dona Maguncia
+reigned over the famous kingdom of Kandy, which lies between the great
+Trapobana and the Southern Sea, two leagues beyond Cape Comorin. She
+was the widow of King Archipiela, her lord and husband, and of their
+marriage they had issue the Princess Antonomasia, heiress of the
+kingdom; which Princess Antonomasia was reared and brought up under my
+care and direction, I being the oldest and highest in rank of her
+mother's duennas. Time passed, and the young Antonomasia reached the
+age of fourteen, and such a perfection of beauty, that nature could
+not raise it higher. Then, it must not be supposed her intelligence
+was childish; she was as intelligent as she was fair, and she was
+fairer than all the world; and is so still, unless the envious fates
+and hard-hearted sisters three have cut for her the thread of life.
+But that they have not, for Heaven will not suffer so great a wrong to
+Earth, as it would be to pluck unripe the grapes of the fairest
+vineyard on its surface. Of this beauty, to which my poor feeble
+tongue has failed to do justice, countless princes, not only of that
+country, but of others, were enamoured, and among them a private
+gentleman, who was at the court, dared to raise his thoughts to the
+heaven of so great beauty, trusting to his youth, his gallant bearing,
+his numerous accomplishments and graces, and his quickness and
+readiness of wit; for I may tell your highnesses, if I am not wearying
+you, that he played the guitar so as to make it speak, and he was,
+besides, a poet and a great dancer, and he could make birdcages so
+well, that by making them alone he might have gained a livelihood, had
+he found himself reduced to utter poverty; and gifts and graces of
+this kind are enough to bring down a mountain, not to say a tender
+young girl. But all his gallantry, wit, and gaiety, all his graces and
+accomplishments, would have been of little or no avail towards gaining
+the fortress of my pupil, had not the impudent thief taken the
+precaution of gaining me over first. First, the villain and
+heartless vagabond sought to win my good-will and purchase my
+compliance, so as to get me, like a treacherous warder, to deliver
+up to him the keys of the fortress I had in charge. In a word, he
+gained an influence over my mind, and overcame my resolutions with I
+know not what trinkets and jewels he gave me; but it was some verses I
+heard him singing one night from a grating that opened on the street
+where he lived, that, more than anything else, made me give way and
+led to my fall; and if I remember rightly they ran thus:
+
+From that sweet enemy of mine
+  My bleeding heart hath had its wound;
+  And to increase the pain I'm bound
+To suffer and to make no sign.
+
+The lines seemed pearls to me and his voice sweet as syrup; and
+afterwards, I may say ever since then, looking at the misfortune
+into which I have fallen, I have thought that poets, as Plato advised,
+ought to he banished from all well-ordered States; at least the
+amatory ones, for they write verses, not like those of 'The Marquis of
+Mantua,' that delight and draw tears from the women and children,
+but sharp-pointed conceits that pierce the heart like soft thorns, and
+like the lightning strike it, leaving the raiment uninjured. Another
+time he sang:
+
+Come Death, so subtly veiled that I
+  Thy coming know not, how or when,
+  Lest it should give me life again
+To find how sweet it is to die.
+
+-and other verses and burdens of the same sort, such as enchant when
+sung and fascinate when written. And then, when they condescend to
+compose a sort of verse that was at that time in vogue in Kandy, which
+they call seguidillas! Then it is that hearts leap and laughter breaks
+forth, and the body grows restless and all the senses turn
+quicksilver. And so I say, sirs, that these troubadours richly deserve
+to be banished to the isles of the lizards. Though it is not they that
+are in fault, but the simpletons that extol them, and the fools that
+believe in them; and had I been the faithful duenna I should have
+been, his stale conceits would have never moved me, nor should I
+have been taken in by such phrases as 'in death I live,' 'in ice I
+burn,' 'in flames I shiver,' 'hopeless I hope,' 'I go and stay,' and
+paradoxes of that sort which their writings are full of. And then when
+they promise the Phoenix of Arabia, the crown of Ariadne, the horses
+of the Sun, the pearls of the South, the gold of Tibar, and the balsam
+of Panchaia! Then it is they give a loose to their pens, for it
+costs them little to make promises they have no intention or power
+of fulfilling. But where am I wandering to? Woe is me, unfortunate
+being! What madness or folly leads me to speak of the faults of
+others, when there is so much to be said about my own? Again, woe is
+me, hapless that I am! it was not verses that conquered me, but my own
+simplicity; it was not music made me yield, but my own imprudence;
+my own great ignorance and little caution opened the way and cleared
+the path for Don Clavijo's advances, for that was the name of the
+gentleman I have referred to; and so, with my help as go-between, he
+found his way many a time into the chamber of the deceived Antonomasia
+(deceived not by him but by me) under the title of a lawful husband;
+for, sinner though I was, would not have allowed him to approach the
+edge of her shoe-sole without being her husband. No, no, not that;
+marriage must come first in any business of this sort that I take in
+hand. But there was one hitch in this case, which was that of
+inequality of rank, Don Clavijo being a private gentleman, and the
+Princess Antonomasia, as I said, heiress to the kingdom. The
+entanglement remained for some time a secret, kept hidden by my
+cunning precautions, until I perceived that a certain expansion of
+waist in Antonomasia must before long disclose it, the dread of
+which made us all there take counsel together, and it was agreed
+that before the mischief came to light, Don Clavijo should demand
+Antonomasia as his wife before the Vicar, in virtue of an agreement to
+marry him made by the princess, and drafted by my wit in such
+binding terms that the might of Samson could not have broken it. The
+necessary steps were taken; the Vicar saw the agreement, and took
+the lady's confession; she confessed everything in full, and he
+ordered her into the custody of a very worthy alguacil of the court."
+
+"Are there alguacils of the court in Kandy, too," said Sancho at
+this, "and poets, and seguidillas? I swear I think the world is the
+same all over! But make haste, Senora Trifaldi; for it is late, and
+I am dying to know the end of this long story."
+
+"I will," replied the countess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+IN WHICH THE TRIFALDI CONTINUES HER MARVELLOUS AND MEMORABLE STORY
+
+By every word that Sancho uttered, the duchess was as much delighted
+as Don Quixote was driven to desperation. He bade him hold his tongue,
+and the Distressed One went on to say: "At length, after much
+questioning and answering, as the princess held to her story,
+without changing or varying her previous declaration, the Vicar gave
+his decision in favour of Don Clavijo, and she was delivered over to
+him as his lawful wife; which the Queen Dona Maguncia, the Princess
+Antonomasia's mother, so took to heart, that within the space of three
+days we buried her."
+
+"She died, no doubt," said Sancho.
+
+"Of course," said Trifaldin; "they don't bury living people in
+Kandy, only the dead."
+
+"Senor Squire," said Sancho, "a man in a swoon has been known to
+be buried before now, in the belief that he was dead; and it struck me
+that Queen Maguncia ought to have swooned rather than died; because
+with life a great many things come right, and the princess's folly was
+not so great that she need feel it so keenly. If the lady had
+married some page of hers, or some other servant of the house, as many
+another has done, so I have heard say, then the mischief would have
+been past curing. But to marry such an elegant accomplished
+gentleman as has been just now described to us- indeed, indeed, though
+it was a folly, it was not such a great one as you think; for
+according to the rules of my master here- and he won't allow me to
+lie- as of men of letters bishops are made, so of gentlemen knights,
+specially if they be errant, kings and emperors may be made."
+
+"Thou art right, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "for with a
+knight-errant, if he has but two fingers' breadth of good fortune,
+it is on the cards to become the mightiest lord on earth. But let
+senora the Distressed One proceed; for I suspect she has got yet to
+tell us the bitter part of this so far sweet story."
+
+"The bitter is indeed to come," said the countess; "and such
+bitter that colocynth is sweet and oleander toothsome in comparison.
+The queen, then, being dead, and not in a swoon, we buried her; and
+hardly had we covered her with earth, hardly had we said our last
+farewells, when, quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis? over the
+queen's grave there appeared, mounted upon a wooden horse, the giant
+Malambruno, Maguncia's first cousin, who besides being cruel is an
+enchanter; and he, to revenge the death of his cousin, punish the
+audacity of Don Clavijo, and in wrath at the contumacy of Antonomasia,
+left them both enchanted by his art on the grave itself; she being
+changed into an ape of brass, and he into a horrible crocodile of some
+unknown metal; while between the two there stands a pillar, also of
+metal, with certain characters in the Syriac language inscribed upon
+it, which, being translated into Kandian, and now into Castilian,
+contain the following sentence: 'These two rash lovers shall not
+recover their former shape until the valiant Manchegan comes to do
+battle with me in single combat; for the Fates reserve this unexampled
+adventure for his mighty valour alone.' This done, he drew from its
+sheath a huge broad scimitar, and seizing me by the hair he made as
+though he meant to cut my throat and shear my head clean off. I was
+terror-stricken, my voice stuck in my throat, and I was in the deepest
+distress; nevertheless I summoned up my strength as well as I could,
+and in a trembling and piteous voice I addressed such words to him
+as induced him to stay the infliction of a punishment so severe. He
+then caused all the duennas of the palace, those that are here
+present, to be brought before him; and after having dwelt upon the
+enormity of our offence, and denounced duennas, their characters,
+their evil ways and worse intrigues, laying to the charge of all
+what I alone was guilty of, he said he would not visit us with capital
+punishment, but with others of a slow nature which would be in
+effect civil death for ever; and the very instant he ceased speaking
+we all felt the pores of our faces opening, and pricking us, as if
+with the points of needles. We at once put our hands up to our faces
+and found ourselves in the state you now see."
+
+Here the Distressed One and the other duennas raised the veils
+with which they were covered, and disclosed countenances all bristling
+with beards, some red, some black, some white, and some grizzled, at
+which spectacle the duke and duchess made a show of being filled
+with wonder. Don Quixote and Sancho were overwhelmed with amazement,
+and the bystanders lost in astonishment, while the Trifaldi went on to
+say: "Thus did that malevolent villain Malambruno punish us,
+covering the tenderness and softness of our faces with these rough
+bristles! Would to heaven that he had swept off our heads with his
+enormous scimitar instead of obscuring the light of our countenances
+with these wool-combings that cover us! For if we look into the
+matter, sirs (and what I am now going to say I would say with eyes
+flowing like fountains, only that the thought of our misfortune and
+the oceans they have already wept, keep them as dry as barley
+spears, and so I say it without tears), where, I ask, can a duenna
+with a beard to to? What father or mother will feel pity for her?
+Who will help her? For, if even when she has a smooth skin, and a face
+tortured by a thousand kinds of washes and cosmetics, she can hardly
+get anybody to love her, what will she do when she shows a
+countenace turned into a thicket? Oh duennas, companions mine! it
+was an unlucky moment when we were born and an ill-starred hour when
+our fathers begot us!" And as she said this she showed signs of
+being about to faint.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+OF MATTERS RELATING AND BELONGING TO THIS ADVENTURE AND TO THIS
+MEMORABLE HISTORY
+
+Verily and truly all those who find pleasure in histories like
+this ought show their gratitude to Cide Hamete, its original author,
+for the scrupulous care he has taken to set before us all its minute
+particulars, not leaving anything, however trifling it may be, that he
+does not make clear and plain. He portrays the thoughts, he reveals
+the fancies, he answers implied questions, clears up doubts, sets
+objections at rest, and, in a word, makes plain the smallest points
+the most inquisitive can desire to know. O renowned author! O happy
+Don Quixote! O famous famous droll Sancho! All and each, may ye live
+countless ages for the delight and amusement of the dwellers on earth!
+
+The history goes on to say that when Sancho saw the Distressed One
+faint he exclaimed: "I swear by the faith of an honest man and the
+shades of all my ancestors the Panzas, that never I did see or hear
+of, nor has my master related or conceived in his mind, such an
+adventure as this. A thousand devils- not to curse thee- take thee,
+Malambruno, for an enchanter and a giant! Couldst thou find no other
+sort of punishment for these sinners but bearding them? Would it not
+have been better- it would have been better for them- to have taken
+off half their noses from the middle upwards, even though they'd
+have snuffled when they spoke, than to have put beards on them? I'll
+bet they have not the means of paying anybody to shave them."
+
+"That is the truth, senor," said one of the twelve; "we have not the
+money to get ourselves shaved, and so we have, some of us, taken to
+using sticking-plasters by way of an economical remedy, for by
+applying them to our faces and plucking them off with a jerk we are
+left as bare and smooth as the bottom of a stone mortar. There are, to
+be sure, women in Kandy that go about from house to house to remove
+down, and trim eyebrows, and make cosmetics for the use of the
+women, but we, the duennas of my lady, would never let them in, for
+most of them have a flavour of agents that have ceased to be
+principals; and if we are not relieved by Senor Don Quixote we shall
+be carried to our graves with beards."
+
+"I will pluck out my own in the land of the Moors," said Don
+Quixote, "if I don't cure yours."
+
+At this instant the Trifaldi recovered from her swoon and said, "The
+chink of that promise, valiant knight, reached my ears in the midst of
+my swoon, and has been the means of reviving me and bringing back my
+senses; and so once more I implore you, illustrious errant,
+indomitable sir, to let your gracious promises be turned into deeds."
+
+"There shall be no delay on my part," said Don Quixote. "Bethink
+you, senora, of what I must do, for my heart is most eager to serve
+you."
+
+"The fact is," replied the Distressed One, "it is five thousand
+leagues, a couple more or less, from this to the kingdom of Kandy,
+if you go by land; but if you go through the air and in a straight
+line, it is three thousand two hundred and twenty-seven. You must
+know, too, that Malambruno told me that, whenever fate provided the
+knight our deliverer, he himself would send him a steed far better and
+with less tricks than a post-horse; for he will be that same wooden
+horse on which the valiant Pierres carried off the fair Magalona;
+which said horse is guided by a peg he has in his forehead that serves
+for a bridle, and flies through the air with such rapidity that you
+would fancy the very devils were carrying him. This horse, according
+to ancient tradition, was made by Merlin. He lent him to Pierres,
+who was a friend of his, and who made long journeys with him, and,
+as has been said, carried off the fair Magalona, bearing her through
+the air on its haunches and making all who beheld them from the
+earth gape with astonishment; and he never lent him save to those whom
+he loved or those who paid him well; and since the great Pierres we
+know of no one having mounted him until now. From him Malambruno stole
+him by his magic art, and he has him now in his possession, and
+makes use of him in his journeys which he constantly makes through
+different parts of the world; he is here to-day, to-morrow in
+France, and the next day in Potosi; and the best of it is the said
+horse neither eats nor sleeps nor wears out shoes, and goes at an
+ambling pace through the air without wings, so that he whom he has
+mounted upon him can carry a cup full of water in his hand without
+spilling a drop, so smoothly and easily does he go, for which reason
+the fair Magalona enjoyed riding him greatly."
+
+"For going smoothly and easily," said Sancho at this, "give me my
+Dapple, though he can't go through the air; but on the ground I'll
+back him against all the amblers in the world."
+
+They all laughed, and the Distressed One continued: "And this same
+horse, if so be that Malambruno is disposed to put an end to our
+sufferings, will be here before us ere the night shall have advanced
+half an hour; for he announced to me that the sign he would give me
+whereby I might know that I had found the knight I was in quest of,
+would be to send me the horse wherever he might be, speedily and
+promptly."
+
+"And how many is there room for on this horse?" asked Sancho.
+
+"Two," said the Distressed One, "one in the saddle, and the other on
+the croup; and generally these two are knight and squire, when there
+is no damsel that's being carried off."
+
+"I'd like to know, Senora Distressed One," said Sancho, "what is the
+name of this horse?"
+
+"His name," said the Distressed One, "is not the same as
+Bellerophon's horse that was called Pegasus, or Alexander the Great's,
+called Bucephalus, or Orlando Furioso's, the name of which was
+Brigliador, nor yet Bayard, the horse of Reinaldos of Montalvan, nor
+Frontino like Ruggiero's, nor Bootes or Peritoa, as they say the
+horses of the sun were called, nor is he called Orelia, like the horse
+on which the unfortunate Rodrigo, the last king of the Goths, rode
+to the battle where he lost his life and his kingdom."
+
+"I'll bet," said Sancho, "that as they have given him none of
+these famous names of well-known horses, no more have they given him
+the name of my master's Rocinante, which for being apt surpasses all
+that have been mentioned."
+
+"That is true," said the bearded countess, "still it fits him very
+well, for he is called Clavileno the Swift, which name is in
+accordance with his being made of wood, with the peg he has in his
+forehead, and with the swift pace at which he travels; and so, as
+far as name goes, he may compare with the famous Rocinante."
+
+"I have nothing to say against his name," said Sancho; "but with
+what sort of bridle or halter is he managed?"
+
+"I have said already," said the Trifaldi, "that it is with a peg, by
+turning which to one side or the other the knight who rides him
+makes him go as he pleases, either through the upper air, or
+skimming and almost sweeping the earth, or else in that middle
+course that is sought and followed in all well-regulated proceedings."
+
+"I'd like to see him," said Sancho; "but to fancy I'm going to mount
+him, either in the saddle or on the croup, is to ask pears of the
+elm tree. A good joke indeed! I can hardly keep my seat upon Dapple,
+and on a pack-saddle softer than silk itself, and here they'd have
+me hold on upon haunches of plank without pad or cushion of any
+sort! Gad, I have no notion of bruising myself to get rid of
+anyone's beard; let each one shave himself as best he can; I'm not
+going to accompany my master on any such long journey; besides, I
+can't give any help to the shaving of these beards as I can to the
+disenchantment of my lady Dulcinea."
+
+"Yes, you can, my friend," replied the Trifaldi; "and so much,
+that without you, so I understand, we shall be able to do nothing."
+
+"In the king's name!" exclaimed Sancho, "what have squires got to do
+with the adventures of their masters? Are they to have the fame of
+such as they go through, and we the labour? Body o' me! if the
+historians would only say, 'Such and such a knight finished such and
+such an adventure, but with the help of so and so, his squire, without
+which it would have been impossible for him to accomplish it;' but
+they write curtly, "Don Paralipomenon of the Three Stars
+accomplished the adventure of the six monsters;' without mentioning
+such a person as his squire, who was there all the time, just as if
+there was no such being. Once more, sirs, I say my master may go
+alone, and much good may it do him; and I'll stay here in the
+company of my lady the duchess; and maybe when he comes back, he
+will find the lady Dulcinea's affair ever so much advanced; for I mean
+in leisure hours, and at idle moments, to give myself a spell of
+whipping without so much as a hair to cover me."
+
+"For all that you must go if it be necessary, my good Sancho,"
+said the duchess, "for they are worthy folk who ask you; and the faces
+of these ladies must not remain overgrown in this way because of
+your idle fears; that would be a hard case indeed."
+
+"In the king's name, once more!" said Sancho; "If this charitable
+work were to be done for the sake of damsels in confinement or
+charity-girls, a man might expose himself to some hardships; but to
+bear it for the sake of stripping beards off duennas! Devil take it!
+I'd sooner see them all bearded, from the highest to the lowest, and
+from the most prudish to the most affected."
+
+"You are very hard on duennas, Sancho my friend," said the
+duchess; "you incline very much to the opinion of the Toledo
+apothecary. But indeed you are wrong; there are duennas in my house
+that may serve as patterns of duennas; and here is my Dona
+Rodriguez, who will not allow me to say otherwise."
+
+"Your excellence may say it if you like," said the Rodriguez; "for
+God knows the truth of everything; and whether we duennas are good
+or bad, bearded or smooth, we are our mothers' daughters like other
+women; and as God sent us into the world, he knows why he did, and
+on his mercy I rely, and not on anybody's beard."
+
+"Well, Senora Rodriguez, Senora Trifaldi, and present company," said
+Don Quixote, "I trust in Heaven that it will look with kindly eyes
+upon your troubles, for Sancho will do as I bid him. Only let
+Clavileno come and let me find myself face to face with Malambruno,
+and I am certain no razor will shave you more easily than my sword
+shall shave Malambruno's head off his shoulders; for 'God bears with
+the wicked, but not for ever."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the Distressed One at this, "may all the stars of
+the celestial regions look down upon your greatness with benign
+eyes, valiant knight, and shed every prosperity and valour upon your
+heart, that it may be the shield and safeguard of the abused and
+downtrodden race of duennas, detested by apothecaries, sneered at by
+squires, and made game of by pages. Ill betide the jade that in the
+flower of her youth would not sooner become a nun than a duenna!
+Unfortunate beings that we are, we duennas! Though we may be descended
+in the direct male line from Hector of Troy himself, our mistresses
+never fail to address us as 'you' if they think it makes queens of
+them. O giant Malambruno, though thou art an enchanter, thou art
+true to thy promises. Send us now the peerless Clavileno, that our
+misfortune may be brought to an end; for if the hot weather sets in
+and these beards of ours are still there, alas for our lot!"
+
+The Trifaldi said this in such a pathetic way that she drew tears
+from the eyes of all and even Sancho's filled up; and he resolved in
+his heart to accompany his master to the uttermost ends of the
+earth, if so be the removal of the wool from those venerable
+countenances depended upon it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+OF THE ARRIVAL OF CLAVILENO AND THE END OF THIS PROTRACTED ADVENTURE
+
+And now night came, and with it the appointed time for the arrival
+of the famous horse Clavileno, the non-appearance of which was already
+beginning to make Don Quixote uneasy, for it struck him that, as
+Malambruno was so long about sending it, either he himself was not the
+knight for whom the adventure was reserved, or else Malambruno did not
+dare to meet him in single combat. But lo! suddenly there came into
+the garden four wild-men all clad in green ivy bearing on their
+shoulders a great wooden horse. They placed it on its feet on the
+ground, and one of the wild-men said, "Let the knight who has heart
+for it mount this machine."
+
+Here Sancho exclaimed, "I don't mount, for neither have I the
+heart nor am I a knight."
+
+"And let the squire, if he has one," continued the wild-man, "take
+his seat on the croup, and let him trust the valiant Malambruno; for
+by no sword save his, nor by the malice of any other, shall he be
+assailed. It is but to turn this peg the horse has in his neck, and he
+will bear them through the air to where Malambruno awaits them; but
+lest the vast elevation of their course should make them giddy,
+their eyes must be covered until the horse neighs, which will be the
+sign of their having completed their journey."
+
+With these words, leaving Clavileno behind them, they retired with
+easy dignity the way they came. As soon as the Distressed One saw
+the horse, almost in tears she exclaimed to Don Quixote, "Valiant
+knight, the promise of Malambruno has proved trustworthy; the horse
+has come, our beards are growing, and by every hair in them all of
+us implore thee to shave and shear us, as it is only mounting him with
+thy squire and making a happy beginning with your new journey."
+
+"That I will, Senora Countess Trifaldi," said Don Quixote, "most
+gladly and with right goodwill, without stopping to take a cushion
+or put on my spurs, so as not to lose time, such is my desire to see
+you and all these duennas shaved clean."
+
+"That I won't," said Sancho, "with good-will or bad-will, or any way
+at all; and if this shaving can't be done without my mounting on the
+croup, my master had better look out for another squire to go with
+him, and these ladies for some other way of making their faces smooth;
+I'm no witch to have a taste for travelling through the air. What
+would my islanders say when they heard their governor was going,
+strolling about on the winds? And another thing, as it is three
+thousand and odd leagues from this to Kandy, if the horse tires, or
+the giant takes huff, we'll he half a dozen years getting back, and
+there won't be isle or island in the world that will know me: and
+so, as it is a common saying 'in delay there's danger,' and 'when they
+offer thee a heifer run with a halter,' these ladies' beards must
+excuse me; 'Saint Peter is very well in Rome;' I mean I am very well
+in this house where so much is made of me, and I hope for such a
+good thing from the master as to see myself a governor."
+
+"Friend Sancho," said the duke at this, "the island that I have
+promised you is not a moving one, or one that will run away; it has
+roots so deeply buried in the bowels of the earth that it will be no
+easy matter to pluck it up or shift it from where it is; you know as
+well as I do that there is no sort of office of any importance that is
+not obtained by a bribe of some kind, great or small; well then,
+that which I look to receive for this government is that you go with
+your master Don Quixote, and bring this memorable adventure to a
+conclusion; and whether you return on Clavileno as quickly as his
+speed seems to promise, or adverse fortune brings you back on foot
+travelling as a pilgrim from hostel to hostel and from inn to inn, you
+will always find your island on your return where you left it, and
+your islanders with the same eagerness they have always had to receive
+you as their governor, and my good-will will remain the same; doubt
+not the truth of this, Senor Sancho, for that would be grievously
+wronging my disposition to serve you."
+
+"Say no more, senor," said Sancho; "I am a poor squire and not equal
+to carrying so much courtesy; let my master mount; bandage my eyes and
+commit me to God's care, and tell me if I may commend myself to our
+Lord or call upon the angels to protect me when we go towering up
+there."
+
+To this the Trifaldi made answer, "Sancho, you may freely commend
+yourself to God or whom you will; for Malambruno though an enchanter
+is a Christian, and works his enchantments with great
+circumspection, taking very good care not to fall out with anyone."
+
+"Well then," said Sancho, "God and the most holy Trinity of Gaeta
+give me help!"
+
+"Since the memorable adventure of the fulling mills," said Don
+Quixote, "I have never seen Sancho in such a fright as now; were I
+as superstitious as others his abject fear would cause me some
+little trepidation of spirit. But come here, Sancho, for with the
+leave of these gentles I would say a word or two to thee in
+private;" and drawing Sancho aside among the trees of the garden and
+seizing both his hands he said, "Thou seest, brother Sancho, the
+long journey we have before us, and God knows when we shall return, or
+what leisure or opportunities this business will allow us; I wish thee
+therefore to retire now to thy chamber, as though thou wert going to
+fetch something required for the road, and in a trice give thyself
+if it be only five hundred lashes on account of the three thousand
+three hundred to which thou art bound; it will be all to the good, and
+to make a beginning with a thing is to have it half finished."
+
+"By God," said Sancho, "but your worship must be out of your senses!
+This is like the common saying, 'You see me with child, and you want
+me a virgin.' Just as I'm about to go sitting on a bare board, your
+worship would have me score my backside! Indeed, your worship is not
+reasonable. Let us be off to shave these duennas; and on our return
+I promise on my word to make such haste to wipe off all that's due
+as will satisfy your worship; I can't say more."
+
+"Well, I will comfort myself with that promise, my good Sancho,"
+replied Don Quixote, "and I believe thou wilt keep it; for indeed
+though stupid thou art veracious."
+
+"I'm not voracious," said Sancho, "only peckish; but even if I was a
+little, still I'd keep my word."
+
+With this they went back to mount Clavileno, and as they were
+about to do so Don Quixote said, "Cover thine eyes, Sancho, and mount;
+for one who sends for us from lands so far distant cannot mean to
+deceive us for the sake of the paltry glory to be derived from
+deceiving persons who trust in him; though all should turn out the
+contrary of what I hope, no malice will be able to dim the glory of
+having undertaken this exploit."
+
+"Let us be off, senor," said Sancho, "for I have taken the beards
+and tears of these ladies deeply to heart, and I shan't eat a bit to
+relish it until I have seen them restored to their former
+smoothness. Mount, your worship, and blindfold yourself, for if I am
+to go on the croup, it is plain the rider in the saddle must mount
+first."
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote, and, taking a handkerchief out
+of his pocket, he begged the Distressed One to bandage his eyes very
+carefully; but after having them bandaged he uncovered them again,
+saying, "If my memory does not deceive me, I have read in Virgil of
+the Palladium of Troy, a wooden horse the Greeks offered to the
+goddess Pallas, which was big with armed knights, who were
+afterwards the destruction of Troy; so it would he as well to see,
+first of all, what Clavileno has in his stomach."
+
+"There is no occasion," said the Distressed One; "I will be bail for
+him, and I know that Malambruno has nothing tricky or treacherous
+about him; you may mount without any fear, Senor Don Quixote; on my
+head be it if any harm befalls you."
+
+Don Quixote thought that to say anything further with regard to
+his safety would be putting his courage in an unfavourable light;
+and so, without more words, he mounted Clavileno, and tried the peg,
+which turned easily; and as he had no stirrups and his legs hung down,
+he looked like nothing so much as a figure in some Roman triumph
+painted or embroidered on a Flemish tapestry.
+
+Much against the grain, and very slowly, Sancho proceeded to
+mount, and, after settling himself as well as he could on the croup,
+found it rather hard, and not at all soft, and asked the duke if it
+would be possible to oblige him with a pad of some kind, or a cushion;
+even if it were off the couch of his lady the duchess, or the bed of
+one of the pages; as the haunches of that horse were more like
+marble than wood. On this the Trifaldi observed that Clavileno would
+not bear any kind of harness or trappings, and that his best plan
+would be to sit sideways like a woman, as in that way he would not
+feel the hardness so much.
+
+Sancho did so, and, bidding them farewell, allowed his eyes to he
+bandaged, but immediately afterwards uncovered them again, and looking
+tenderly and tearfully on those in the garden, bade them help him in
+his present strait with plenty of Paternosters and Ave Marias, that
+God might provide some one to say as many for them, whenever they
+found themselves in a similar emergency.
+
+At this Don Quixote exclaimed, "Art thou on the gallows, thief, or
+at thy last moment, to use pitiful entreaties of that sort?
+Cowardly, spiritless creature, art thou not in the very place the fair
+Magalona occupied, and from which she descended, not into the grave,
+but to become Queen of France; unless the histories lie? And I who
+am here beside thee, may I not put myself on a par with the valiant
+Pierres, who pressed this very spot that I now press? Cover thine
+eyes, cover thine eyes, abject animal, and let not thy fear escape thy
+lips, at least in my presence."
+
+"Blindfold me," said Sancho; "as you won't let me commend myself
+or be commended to God, is it any wonder if I am afraid there is a
+region of devils about here that will carry us off to Peralvillo?"
+
+They were then blindfolded, and Don Quixote, finding himself settled
+to his satisfaction, felt for the peg, and the instant he placed his
+fingers on it, all the duennas and all who stood by lifted up their
+voices exclaiming, "God guide thee, valiant knight! God be with
+thee, intrepid squire! Now, now ye go cleaving the air more swiftly
+than an arrow! Now ye begin to amaze and astonish all who are gazing
+at you from the earth! Take care not to wobble about, valiant
+Sancho! Mind thou fall not, for thy fall will be worse than that
+rash youth's who tried to steer the chariot of his father the Sun!"
+
+As Sancho heard the voices, clinging tightly to his master and
+winding his arms round him, he said, "Senor, how do they make out we
+are going up so high, if their voices reach us here and they seem to
+be speaking quite close to us?"
+
+"Don't mind that, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "for as affairs of this
+sort, and flights like this are out of the common course of things,
+you can see and hear as much as you like a thousand leagues off; but
+don't squeeze me so tight or thou wilt upset me; and really I know not
+what thou hast to be uneasy or frightened at, for I can safely swear I
+never mounted a smoother-going steed all the days of my life; one
+would fancy we never stirred from one place. Banish fear, my friend,
+for indeed everything is going as it ought, and we have the wind
+astern."
+
+"That's true," said Sancho, "for such a strong wind comes against me
+on this side, that it seems as if people were blowing on me with a
+thousand pair of bellows;" which was the case; they were puffing at
+him with a great pair of bellows; for the whole adventure was so
+well planned by the duke, the duchess, and their majordomo, that
+nothing was omitted to make it perfectly successful.
+
+Don Quixote now, feeling the blast, said, "Beyond a doubt, Sancho,
+we must have already reached the second region of the air, where the
+hail and snow are generated; the thunder, the lightning, and the
+thunderbolts are engendered in the third region, and if we go on
+ascending at this rate, we shall shortly plunge into the region of
+fire, and I know not how to regulate this peg, so as not to mount up
+where we shall be burned."
+
+And now they began to warm their faces, from a distance, with tow
+that could be easily set on fire and extinguished again, fixed on
+the end of a cane. On feeling the heat Sancho said, "May I die if we
+are not already in that fire place, or very near it, for a good part
+of my beard has been singed, and I have a mind, senor, to uncover
+and see whereabouts we are."
+
+"Do nothing of the kind," said Don Quixote; "remember the true story
+of the licentiate Torralva that the devils carried flying through
+the air riding on a stick with his eyes shut; who in twelve hours
+reached Rome and dismounted at Torre di Nona, which is a street of the
+city, and saw the whole sack and storming and the death of Bourbon,
+and was back in Madrid the next morning, where he gave an account of
+all he had seen; and he said moreover that as he was going through the
+air, the devil bade him open his eyes, and he did so, and saw
+himself so near the body of the moon, so it seemed to him, that he
+could have laid hold of it with his hand, and that he did not dare
+to look at the earth lest he should be seized with giddiness. So that,
+Sancho, it will not do for us to uncover ourselves, for he who has
+us in charge will be responsible for us; and perhaps we are gaining an
+altitude and mounting up to enable us to descend at one swoop on the
+kingdom of Kandy, as the saker or falcon does on the heron, so as to
+seize it however high it may soar; and though it seems to us not
+half an hour since we left the garden, believe me we must have
+travelled a great distance."
+
+"I don't know how that may be," said Sancho; "all I know is that
+if the Senora Magallanes or Magalona was satisfied with this croup,
+she could not have been very tender of flesh."
+
+The duke, the duchess, and all in the garden were listening to the
+conversation of the two heroes, and were beyond measure amused by
+it; and now, desirous of putting a finishing touch to this rare and
+well-contrived adventure, they applied a light to Clavileno's tail
+with some tow, and the horse, being full of squibs and crackers,
+immediately blew up with a prodigious noise, and brought Don Quixote
+and Sancho Panza to the ground half singed. By this time the bearded
+band of duennas, the Trifaldi and all, had vanished from the garden,
+and those that remained lay stretched on the ground as if in a
+swoon. Don Quixote and Sancho got up rather shaken, and, looking about
+them, were filled with amazement at finding themselves in the same
+garden from which they had started, and seeing such a number of people
+stretched on the ground; and their astonishment was increased when
+at one side of the garden they perceived a tall lance planted in the
+ground, and hanging from it by two cords of green silk a smooth
+white parchment on which there was the following inscription in
+large gold letters: "The illustrious knight Don Quixote of La Mancha
+has, by merely attempting it, finished and concluded the adventure
+of the Countess Trifaldi, otherwise called the Distressed Duenna;
+Malambruno is now satisfied on every point, the chins of the duennas
+are now smooth and clean, and King Don Clavijo and Queen Antonomasia
+in their original form; and when the squirely flagellation shall
+have been completed, the white dove shall find herself delivered
+from the pestiferous gerfalcons that persecute her, and in the arms of
+her beloved mate; for such is the decree of the sage Merlin,
+arch-enchanter of enchanters."
+
+As soon as Don Quixote had read the inscription on the parchment
+he perceived clearly that it referred to the disenchantment of
+Dulcinea, and returning hearty thanks to heaven that he had with so
+little danger achieved so grand an exploit as to restore to their
+former complexion the countenances of those venerable duennas, he
+advanced towards the duke and duchess, who had not yet come to
+themselves, and taking the duke by the hand he said, "Be of good
+cheer, worthy sir, be of good cheer; it's nothing at all; the
+adventure is now over and without any harm done, as the inscription
+fixed on this post shows plainly."
+
+The duke came to himself slowly and like one recovering
+consciousness after a heavy sleep, and the duchess and all who had
+fallen prostrate about the garden did the same, with such
+demonstrations of wonder and amazement that they would have almost
+persuaded one that what they pretended so adroitly in jest had
+happened to them in reality. The duke read the placard with
+half-shut eyes, and then ran to embrace Don Quixote with-open arms,
+declaring him to be the best knight that had ever been seen in any
+age. Sancho kept looking about for the Distressed One, to see what her
+face was like without the beard, and if she was as fair as her elegant
+person promised; but they told him that, the instant Clavileno
+descended flaming through the air and came to the ground, the whole
+band of duennas with the Trifaldi vanished, and that they were already
+shaved and without a stump left.
+
+The duchess asked Sancho how he had fared on that long journey, to
+which Sancho replied, "I felt, senora, that we were flying through the
+region of fire, as my master told me, and I wanted to uncover my
+eyes for a bit; but my master, when I asked leave to uncover myself,
+would not let me; but as I have a little bit of curiosity about me,
+and a desire to know what is forbidden and kept from me, quietly and
+without anyone seeing me I drew aside the handkerchief covering my
+eyes ever so little, close to my nose, and from underneath looked
+towards the earth, and it seemed to me that it was altogether no
+bigger than a grain of mustard seed, and that the men walking on it
+were little bigger than hazel nuts; so you may see how high we must
+have got to then."
+
+To this the duchess said, "Sancho, my friend, mind what you are
+saying; it seems you could not have seen the earth, but only the men
+walking on it; for if the earth looked to you like a grain of
+mustard seed, and each man like a hazel nut, one man alone would
+have covered the whole earth."
+
+"That is true," said Sancho, "but for all that I got a glimpse of
+a bit of one side of it, and saw it all."
+
+"Take care, Sancho," said the duchess, "with a bit of one side one
+does not see the whole of what one looks at."
+
+"I don't understand that way of looking at things," said Sancho;
+"I only know that your ladyship will do well to bear in mind that as
+we were flying by enchantment so I might have seen the whole earth and
+all the men by enchantment whatever way I looked; and if you won't
+believe this, no more will you believe that, uncovering myself
+nearly to the eyebrows, I saw myself so close to the sky that there
+was not a palm and a half between me and it; and by everything that
+I can swear by, senora, it is mighty great! And it so happened we came
+by where the seven goats are, and by God and upon my soul, as in my
+youth I was a goatherd in my own country, as soon as I saw them I felt
+a longing to be among them for a little, and if I had not given way to
+it I think I'd have burst. So I come and take, and what do I do?
+without saying anything to anybody, not even to my master, softly
+and quietly I got down from Clavileno and amused myself with the
+goats- which are like violets, like flowers- for nigh three-quarters
+of an hour; and Clavileno never stirred or moved from one spot."
+
+"And while the good Sancho was amusing himself with the goats," said
+the duke, "how did Senor Don Quixote amuse himself?"
+
+To which Don Quixote replied, "As all these things and such like
+occurrences are out of the ordinary course of nature, it is no
+wonder that Sancho says what he does; for my own part I can only say
+that I did not uncover my eyes either above or below, nor did I see
+sky or earth or sea or shore. It is true I felt that I was passing
+through the region of the air, and even that I touched that of fire;
+but that we passed farther I cannot believe; for the region of fire
+being between the heaven of the moon and the last region of the air,
+we could not have reached that heaven where the seven goats Sancho
+speaks of are without being burned; and as we were not burned,
+either Sancho is lying or Sancho is dreaming."
+
+"I am neither lying nor dreaming," said Sancho; "only ask me the
+tokens of those same goats, and you'll see by that whether I'm telling
+the truth or not."
+
+"Tell us them then, Sancho," said the duchess.
+
+"Two of them," said Sancho, "are green, two blood-red, two blue, and
+one a mixture of all colours."
+
+"An odd sort of goat, that," said the duke; "in this earthly
+region of ours we have no such colours; I mean goats of such colours."
+
+"That's very plain," said Sancho; "of course there must be a
+difference between the goats of heaven and the goats of the earth."
+
+"Tell me, Sancho," said the duke, "did you see any he-goat among
+those goats?"
+
+"No, senor," said Sancho; "but I have heard say that none ever
+passed the horns of the moon."
+
+They did not care to ask him anything more about his journey, for
+they saw he was in the vein to go rambling all over the heavens giving
+an account of everything that went on there, without having ever
+stirred from the garden. Such, in short, was the end of the
+adventure of the Distressed Duenna, which gave the duke and duchess
+laughing matter not only for the time being, but for all their
+lives, and Sancho something to talk about for ages, if he lived so
+long; but Don Quixote, coming close to his ear, said to him,
+"Sancho, as you would have us believe what you saw in heaven, I
+require you to believe me as to what I saw in the cave of
+Montesinos; I say no more."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+OF THE COUNSELS WHICH DON QUIXOTE GAVE SANCHO PANZA BEFORE HE SET
+OUT TO GOVERN THE ISLAND, TOGETHER WITH OTHER WELL-CONSIDERED MATTERS
+
+The duke and duchess were so well pleased with the successful and
+droll result of the adventure of the Distressed One, that they
+resolved to carry on the joke, seeing what a fit subject they had to
+deal with for making it all pass for reality. So having laid their
+plans and given instructions to their servants and vassals how to
+behave to Sancho in his government of the promised island, the next
+day, that following Clavileno's flight, the duke told Sancho to
+prepare and get ready to go and be governor, for his islanders were
+already looking out for him as for the showers of May.
+
+Sancho made him an obeisance, and said, "Ever since I came down from
+heaven, and from the top of it beheld the earth, and saw how little it
+is, the great desire I had to be a governor has been partly cooled
+in me; for what is there grand in being ruler on a grain of mustard
+seed, or what dignity or authority in governing half a dozen men about
+as big as hazel nuts; for, so far as I could see, there were no more
+on the whole earth? If your lordship would be so good as to give me
+ever so small a bit of heaven, were it no more than half a league, I'd
+rather have it than the best island in the world."
+
+"Recollect, Sancho," said the duke, "I cannot give a bit of
+heaven, no not so much as the breadth of my nail, to anyone; rewards
+and favours of that sort are reserved for God alone. What I can give I
+give you, and that is a real, genuine island, compact, well
+proportioned, and uncommonly fertile and fruitful, where, if you
+know how to use your opportunities, you may, with the help of the
+world's riches, gain those of heaven."
+
+"Well then," said Sancho, "let the island come; and I'll try and
+be such a governor, that in spite of scoundrels I'll go to heaven; and
+it's not from any craving to quit my own humble condition or better
+myself, but from the desire I have to try what it tastes like to be
+a governor."
+
+"If you once make trial of it, Sancho," said the duke, "you'll eat
+your fingers off after the government, so sweet a thing is it to
+command and be obeyed. Depend upon it when your master comes to be
+emperor (as he will beyond a doubt from the course his affairs are
+taking), it will be no easy matter to wrest the dignity from him,
+and he will be sore and sorry at heart to have been so long without
+becoming one."
+
+"Senor," said Sancho, "it is my belief it's a good thing to be in
+command, if it's only over a drove of cattle."
+
+"May I be buried with you, Sancho," said the duke, "but you know
+everything; I hope you will make as good a governor as your sagacity
+promises; and that is all I have to say; and now remember to-morrow is
+the day you must set out for the government of the island, and this
+evening they will provide you with the proper attire for you to
+wear, and all things requisite for your departure."
+
+"Let them dress me as they like," said Sancho; "however I'm
+dressed I'll be Sancho Panza."
+
+"That's true," said the duke; "but one's dress must be suited to the
+office or rank one holds; for it would not do for a jurist to dress
+like a soldier, or a soldier like a priest. You, Sancho, shall go
+partly as a lawyer, partly as a captain, for, in the island I am
+giving you, arms are needed as much as letters, and letters as much as
+arms."
+
+"Of letters I know but little," said Sancho, "for I don't even
+know the A B C; but it is enough for me to have the Christus in my
+memory to be a good governor. As for arms, I'll handle those they give
+me till I drop, and then, God be my help!"
+
+"With so good a memory," said the duke, "Sancho cannot go wrong in
+anything."
+
+Here Don Quixote joined them; and learning what passed, and how soon
+Sancho was to go to his government, he with the duke's permission took
+him by the hand, and retired to his room with him for the purpose of
+giving him advice as to how he was to demean himself in his office. As
+soon as they had entered the chamber he closed the door after him, and
+almost by force made Sancho sit down beside him, and in a quiet tone
+thus addressed him: "I give infinite thanks to heaven, friend
+Sancho, that, before I have met with any good luck, fortune has come
+forward to meet thee. I who counted upon my good fortune to
+discharge the recompense of thy services, find myself still waiting
+for advancement, while thou, before the time, and contrary to all
+reasonable expectation, seest thyself blessed in the fulfillment of
+thy desires. Some will bribe, beg, solicit, rise early, entreat,
+persist, without attaining the object of their suit; while another
+comes, and without knowing why or wherefore, finds himself invested
+with the place or office so many have sued for; and here it is that
+the common saying, 'There is good luck as well as bad luck in
+suits,' applies. Thou, who, to my thinking, art beyond all doubt a
+dullard, without early rising or night watching or taking any trouble,
+with the mere breath of knight-errantry that has breathed upon thee,
+seest thyself without more ado governor of an island, as though it
+were a mere matter of course. This I say, Sancho, that thou
+attribute not the favour thou hast received to thine own merits, but
+give thanks to heaven that disposes matters beneficently, and secondly
+thanks to the great power the profession of knight-errantry contains
+in itself. With a heart, then, inclined to believe what I have said to
+thee, attend, my son, to thy Cato here who would counsel thee and be
+thy polestar and guide to direct and pilot thee to a safe haven out of
+this stormy sea wherein thou art about to ingulf thyself; for
+offices and great trusts are nothing else but a mighty gulf of
+troubles.
+
+"First of all, my son, thou must fear God, for in the fear of him is
+wisdom, and being wise thou canst not err in aught.
+
+"Secondly, thou must keep in view what thou art, striving to know
+thyself, the most difficult thing to know that the mind can imagine.
+If thou knowest thyself, it will follow thou wilt not puff thyself
+up like the frog that strove to make himself as large as the ox; if
+thou dost, the recollection of having kept pigs in thine own country
+will serve as the ugly feet for the wheel of thy folly."
+
+"That's the truth," said Sancho; "but that was when I was a boy;
+afterwards when I was something more of a man it was geese I kept, not
+pigs. But to my thinking that has nothing to do with it; for all who
+are governors don't come of a kingly stock."
+
+"True," said Don Quixote, "and for that reason those who are not
+of noble origin should take care that the dignity of the office they
+hold he accompanied by a gentle suavity, which wisely managed will
+save them from the sneers of malice that no station escapes.
+
+"Glory in thy humble birth, Sancho, and he not ashamed of saying
+thou art peasant-born; for when it is seen thou art not ashamed no one
+will set himself to put thee to the blush; and pride thyself rather
+upon being one of lowly virtue than a lofty sinner. Countless are they
+who, born of mean parentage, have risen to the highest dignities,
+pontifical and imperial, and of the truth of this I could give thee
+instances enough to weary thee.
+
+"Remember, Sancho, if thou make virtue thy aim, and take a pride
+in doing virtuous actions, thou wilt have no cause to envy those who
+have princely and lordly ones, for blood is an inheritance, but virtue
+an acquisition, and virtue has in itself alone a worth that blood does
+not possess.
+
+"This being so, if perchance anyone of thy kinsfolk should come to
+see thee when thou art in thine island, thou art not to repel or
+slight him, but on the contrary to welcome him, entertain him, and
+make much of him; for in so doing thou wilt be approved of heaven
+(which is not pleased that any should despise what it hath made),
+and wilt comply with the laws of well-ordered nature.
+
+"If thou carriest thy wife with thee (and it is not well for those
+that administer governments to be long without their wives), teach and
+instruct her, and strive to smooth down her natural roughness; for all
+that may be gained by a wise governor may be lost and wasted by a
+boorish stupid wife.
+
+"If perchance thou art left a widower- a thing which may happen- and
+in virtue of thy office seekest a consort of higher degree, choose not
+one to serve thee for a hook, or for a fishing-rod, or for the hood of
+thy 'won't have it;' for verily, I tell thee, for all the judge's wife
+receives, the husband will be held accountable at the general
+calling to account; where he will have repay in death fourfold,
+items that in life he regarded as naught.
+
+"Never go by arbitrary law, which is so much favoured by ignorant
+men who plume themselves on cleverness.
+
+"Let the tears of the poor man find with thee more compassion, but
+not more justice, than the pleadings of the rich.
+
+"Strive to lay bare the truth, as well amid the promises and
+presents of the rich man, as amid the sobs and entreaties of the poor.
+
+"When equity may and should be brought into play, press not the
+utmost rigour of the law against the guilty; for the reputation of the
+stern judge stands not higher than that of the compassionate.
+
+"If perchance thou permittest the staff of justice to swerve, let it
+be not by the weight of a gift, but by that of mercy.
+
+"If it should happen thee to give judgment in the cause of one who
+is thine enemy, turn thy thoughts away from thy injury and fix them on
+the justice of the case.
+
+"Let not thine own passion blind thee in another man's cause; for
+the errors thou wilt thus commit will be most frequently irremediable;
+or if not, only to be remedied at the expense of thy good name and
+even of thy fortune.
+
+"If any handsome woman come to seek justice of thee, turn away thine
+eyes from her tears and thine ears from her lamentations, and consider
+deliberately the merits of her demand, if thou wouldst not have thy
+reason swept away by her weeping, and thy rectitude by her sighs.
+
+"Abuse not by word him whom thou hast to punish in deed, for the
+pain of punishment is enough for the unfortunate without the
+addition of thine objurgations.
+
+"Bear in mind that the culprit who comes under thy jurisdiction is
+but a miserable man subject to all the propensities of our depraved
+nature, and so far as may be in thy power show thyself lenient and
+forbearing; for though the attributes of God are all equal, to our
+eyes that of mercy is brighter and loftier than that of justice.
+
+"If thou followest these precepts and rules, Sancho, thy days will
+be long, thy fame eternal, thy reward abundant, thy felicity
+unutterable; thou wilt marry thy children as thou wouldst; they and
+thy grandchildren will bear titles; thou wilt live in peace and
+concord with all men; and, when life draws to a close, death will come
+to thee in calm and ripe old age, and the light and loving hands of
+thy great-grandchildren will close thine eyes.
+
+"What I have thus far addressed to thee are instructions for the
+adornment of thy mind; listen now to those which tend to that of the
+body."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+OF THE SECOND SET OF COUNSELS DON QUIXOTE GAVE SANCHO PANZA
+
+Who, hearing the foregoing discourse of Don Quixote, would not
+have set him down for a person of great good sense and greater
+rectitude of purpose? But, as has been frequently observed in the
+course of this great history, he only talked nonsense when he
+touched on chivalry, and in discussing all other subjects showed
+that he had a clear and unbiassed understanding; so that at every turn
+his acts gave the lie to his intellect, and his intellect to his acts;
+but in the case of these second counsels that he gave Sancho he showed
+himself to have a lively turn of humour, and displayed conspicuously
+his wisdom, and also his folly.
+
+Sancho listened to him with the deepest attention, and endeavoured
+to fix his counsels in his memory, like one who meant to follow them
+and by their means bring the full promise of his government to a happy
+issue. Don Quixote, then, went on to say:
+
+"With regard to the mode in which thou shouldst govern thy person
+and thy house, Sancho, the first charge I have to give thee is to be
+clean, and to cut thy nails, not letting them grow as some do, whose
+ignorance makes them fancy that long nails are an ornament to their
+hands, as if those excrescences they neglect to cut were nails, and
+not the talons of a lizard-catching kestrel- a filthy and unnatural
+abuse.
+
+"Go not ungirt and loose, Sancho; for disordered attire is a sign of
+an unstable mind, unless indeed the slovenliness and slackness is to
+he set down to craft, as was the common opinion in the case of
+Julius Caesar.
+
+"Ascertain cautiously what thy office may be worth; and if it will
+allow thee to give liveries to thy servants, give them respectable and
+serviceable, rather than showy and gay ones, and divide them between
+thy servants and the poor; that is to say, if thou canst clothe six
+pages, clothe three and three poor men, and thus thou wilt have
+pages for heaven and pages for earth; the vainglorious never think
+of this new mode of giving liveries.
+
+"Eat not garlic nor onions, lest they find out thy boorish origin by
+the smell; walk slowly and speak deliberately, but not in such a way
+as to make it seem thou art listening to thyself, for all
+affectation is bad.
+
+"Dine sparingly and sup more sparingly still; for the health of
+the whole body is forged in the workshop of the stomach.
+
+"Be temperate in drinking, bearing in mind that wine in excess keeps
+neither secrets nor promises.
+
+"Take care, Sancho, not to chew on both sides, and not to eruct in
+anybody's presence."
+
+"Eruct!" said Sancho; "I don't know what that means."
+
+"To eruct, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "means to belch, and that is
+one of the filthiest words in the Spanish language, though a very
+expressive one; and therefore nice folk have had recourse to the
+Latin, and instead of belch say eruct, and instead of belches say
+eructations; and if some do not understand these terms it matters
+little, for custom will bring them into use in the course of time,
+so that they will be readily understood; this is the way a language is
+enriched; custom and the public are all-powerful there."
+
+"In truth, senor," said Sancho, "one of the counsels and cautions
+I mean to bear in mind shall be this, not to belch, for I'm constantly
+doing it."
+
+"Eruct, Sancho, not belch," said Don Quixote.
+
+"Eruct, I shall say henceforth, and I swear not to forget it,"
+said Sancho.
+
+"Likewise, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "thou must not mingle such a
+quantity of proverbs in thy discourse as thou dost; for though
+proverbs are short maxims, thou dost drag them in so often by the head
+and shoulders that they savour more of nonsense than of maxims."
+
+"God alone can cure that," said Sancho; "for I have more proverbs in
+me than a book, and when I speak they come so thick together into my
+mouth that they fall to fighting among themselves to get out; that's
+why my tongue lets fly the first that come, though they may not be pat
+to the purpose. But I'll take care henceforward to use such as befit
+the dignity of my office; for 'in a house where there's plenty, supper
+is soon cooked,' and 'he who binds does not wrangle,' and 'the
+bell-ringer's in a safe berth,' and 'giving and keeping require
+brains.'"
+
+"That's it, Sancho!" said Don Quixote; "pack, tack, string
+proverbs together; nobody is hindering thee! 'My mother beats me,
+and I go on with my tricks.' I am bidding thee avoid proverbs, and
+here in a second thou hast shot out a whole litany of them, which have
+as much to do with what we are talking about as 'over the hills of
+Ubeda.' Mind, Sancho, I do not say that a proverb aptly brought in
+is objectionable; but to pile up and string together proverbs at
+random makes conversation dull and vulgar.
+
+"When thou ridest on horseback, do not go lolling with thy body on
+the back of the saddle, nor carry thy legs stiff or sticking out
+from the horse's belly, nor yet sit so loosely that one would
+suppose thou wert on Dapple; for the seat on a horse makes gentlemen
+of some and grooms of others.
+
+"Be moderate in thy sleep; for he who does not rise early does not
+get the benefit of the day; and remember, Sancho, diligence is the
+mother of good fortune, and indolence, its opposite, never yet
+attained the object of an honest ambition.
+
+"The last counsel I will give thee now, though it does not tend to
+bodily improvement, I would have thee carry carefully in thy memory,
+for I believe it will be no less useful to thee than those I have
+given thee already, and it is this- never engage in a dispute about
+families, at least in the way of comparing them one with another;
+for necessarily one of those compared will be better than the other,
+and thou wilt be hated by the one thou hast disparaged, and get
+nothing in any shape from the one thou hast exalted.
+
+"Thy attire shall be hose of full length, a long jerkin, and a cloak
+a trifle longer; loose breeches by no means, for they are becoming
+neither for gentlemen nor for governors.
+
+"For the present, Sancho, this is all that has occurred to me to
+advise thee; as time goes by and occasions arise my instructions shall
+follow, if thou take care to let me know how thou art circumstanced."
+
+"Senor," said Sancho, "I see well enough that all these things
+your worship has said to me are good, holy, and profitable; but what
+use will they be to me if I don't remember one of them? To be sure
+that about not letting my nails grow, and marrying again if I have the
+chance, will not slip out of my head; but all that other hash, muddle,
+and jumble- I don't and can't recollect any more of it than of last
+year's clouds; so it must be given me in writing; for though I can't
+either read or write, I'll give it to my confessor, to drive it into
+me and remind me of it whenever it is necessary."
+
+"Ah, sinner that I am!" said Don Quixote, "how bad it looks in
+governors not to know how to read or write; for let me tell thee,
+Sancho, when a man knows not how to read, or is left-handed, it argues
+one of two things; either that he was the son of exceedingly mean
+and lowly parents, or that he himself was so incorrigible and
+ill-conditioned that neither good company nor good teaching could make
+any impression on him. It is a great defect that thou labourest under,
+and therefore I would have thee learn at any rate to sign thy name."
+ "I can sign my name well enough," said Sancho, "for when I was
+steward of the brotherhood in my village I learned to make certain
+letters, like the marks on bales of goods, which they told me made out
+my name. Besides I can pretend my right hand is disabled and make some
+one else sign for me, for 'there's a remedy for everything except
+death;' and as I shall be in command and hold the staff, I can do as I
+like; moreover, 'he who has the alcalde for his father-,' and I'll
+be governor, and that's higher than alcalde. Only come and see! Let
+them make light of me and abuse me; 'they'll come for wool and go back
+shorn;' 'whom God loves, his house is known to Him;' 'the silly
+sayings of the rich pass for saws in the world;' and as I'll be
+rich, being a governor, and at the same time generous, as I mean to
+be, no fault will he seen in me. 'Only make yourself honey and the
+flies will suck you;' 'as much as thou hast so much art thou worth,'
+as my grandmother used to say; and 'thou canst have no revenge of a
+man of substance.'"
+
+"Oh, God's curse upon thee, Sancho!" here exclaimed Don Quixote;
+"sixty thousand devils fly away with thee and thy proverbs! For the
+last hour thou hast been stringing them together and inflicting the
+pangs of torture on me with every one of them. Those proverbs will
+bring thee to the gallows one day, I promise thee; thy subjects will
+take the government from thee, or there will be revolts among them.
+Tell me, where dost thou pick them up, thou booby? How dost thou apply
+them, thou blockhead? For with me, to utter one and make it apply
+properly, I have to sweat and labour as if I were digging."
+
+"By God, master mine," said Sancho, "your worship is making a fuss
+about very little. Why the devil should you be vexed if I make use
+of what is my own? And I have got nothing else, nor any other stock in
+trade except proverbs and more proverbs; and here are three just
+this instant come into my head, pat to the purpose and like pears in a
+basket; but I won't repeat them, for 'sage silence is called Sancho.'"
+
+"That, Sancho, thou art not," said Don Quixote; "for not only art
+thou not sage silence, but thou art pestilent prate and perversity;
+still I would like to know what three proverbs have just now come into
+thy memory, for I have been turning over mine own- and it is a good
+one- and none occurs to me."
+
+"What can be better," said Sancho, "than 'never put thy thumbs
+between two back teeth;' and 'to "get out of my house" and "what do
+you want with my wife?" there is no answer;' and 'whether the
+pitcher hits the stove, or the stove the pitcher, it's a bad
+business for the pitcher;' all which fit to a hair? For no one
+should quarrel with his governor, or him in authority over him,
+because he will come off the worst, as he does who puts his finger
+between two back and if they are not back teeth it makes no
+difference, so long as they are teeth; and to whatever the governor
+may say there's no answer, any more than to 'get out of my house'
+and 'what do you want with my wife?' and then, as for that about the
+stone and the pitcher, a blind man could see that. So that he 'who
+sees the mote in another's eye had need to see the beam in his own,'
+that it be not said of himself, 'the dead woman was frightened at
+the one with her throat cut;' and your worship knows well that 'the
+fool knows more in his own house than the wise man in another's.'"
+
+"Nay, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "the fool knows nothing, either
+in his own house or in anybody else's, for no wise structure of any
+sort can stand on a foundation of folly; but let us say no more
+about it, Sancho, for if thou governest badly, thine will he the fault
+and mine the shame; but I comfort myself with having done my duty in
+advising thee as earnestly and as wisely as I could; and thus I am
+released from my obligations and my promise. God guide thee, Sancho,
+and govern thee in thy government, and deliver me from the misgiving I
+have that thou wilt turn the whole island upside down, a thing I might
+easily prevent by explaining to the duke what thou art and telling him
+that all that fat little person of thine is nothing else but a sack
+full of proverbs and sauciness."
+
+"Senor," said Sancho, "if your worship thinks I'm not fit for this
+government, I give it up on the spot; for the mere black of the nail
+of my soul is dearer to me than my whole body; and I can live just
+as well, simple Sancho, on bread and onions, as governor, on
+partridges and capons; and what's more, while we're asleep we're all
+equal, great and small, rich and poor. But if your worship looks
+into it, you will see it was your worship alone that put me on to this
+business of governing; for I know no more about the government of
+islands than a buzzard; and if there's any reason to think that
+because of my being a governor the devil will get hold of me, I'd
+rather go Sancho to heaven than governor to hell."
+
+"By God, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "for those last words thou
+hast uttered alone, I consider thou deservest to be governor of a
+thousand islands. Thou hast good natural instincts, without which no
+knowledge is worth anything; commend thyself to God, and try not to
+swerve in the pursuit of thy main object; I mean, always make it thy
+aim and fixed purpose to do right in all matters that come before
+thee, for heaven always helps good intentions; and now let us go to
+dinner, for I think my lord and lady are waiting for us."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+
+HOW SANCHO PANZA WAS CONDUCTED TO HIS GOVERNMENT, AND OF THE STRANGE
+ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE IN THE CASTLE
+
+It is stated, they say, in the true original of this history, that
+when Cide Hamete came to write this chapter, his interpreter did not
+translate it as he wrote it- that is, as a kind of complaint the
+Moor made against himself for having taken in hand a story so dry
+and of so little variety as this of Don Quixote, for he found
+himself forced to speak perpetually of him and Sancho, without
+venturing to indulge in digressions and episodes more serious and more
+interesting. He said, too, that to go on, mind, hand, pen always
+restricted to writing upon one single subject, and speaking through
+the mouths of a few characters, was intolerable drudgery, the result
+of which was never equal to the author's labour, and that to avoid
+this he had in the First Part availed himself of the device of novels,
+like "The Ill-advised Curiosity," and "The Captive Captain," which
+stand, as it were, apart from the story; the others are given there
+being incidents which occurred to Don Quixote himself and could not be
+omitted. He also thought, he says, that many, engrossed by the
+interest attaching to the exploits of Don Quixote, would take none
+in the novels, and pass them over hastily or impatiently without
+noticing the elegance and art of their composition, which would be
+very manifest were they published by themselves and not as mere
+adjuncts to the crazes of Don Quixote or the simplicities of Sancho.
+Therefore in this Second Part he thought it best not to insert novels,
+either separate or interwoven, but only episodes, something like them,
+arising out of the circumstances the facts present; and even these
+sparingly, and with no more words than suffice to make them plain; and
+as he confines and restricts himself to the narrow limits of the
+narrative, though he has ability; capacity, and brains enough to
+deal with the whole universe, he requests that his labours may not
+be despised, and that credit be given him, not alone for what he
+writes, but for what he has refrained from writing.
+
+And so he goes on with his story, saying that the day Don Quixote
+gave the counsels to Sancho, the same afternoon after dinner he handed
+them to him in writing so that he might get some one to read them to
+him. They had scarcely, however, been given to him when he let them
+drop, and they fell into the hands of the duke, who showed them to the
+duchess and they were both amazed afresh at the madness and wit of Don
+Quixote. To carry on the joke, then, the same evening they
+despatched Sancho with a large following to the village that was to
+serve him for an island. It happened that the person who had him in
+charge was a majordomo of the duke's, a man of great discretion and
+humour- and there can be no humour without discretion- and the same
+who played the part of the Countess Trifaldi in the comical way that
+has been already described; and thus qualified, and instructed by
+his master and mistress as to how to deal with Sancho, he carried
+out their scheme admirably. Now it came to pass that as soon as Sancho
+saw this majordomo he seemed in his features to recognise those of the
+Trifaldi, and turning to his master, he said to him, "Senor, either
+the devil will carry me off, here on this spot, righteous and
+believing, or your worship will own to me that the face of this
+majordomo of the duke's here is the very face of the Distressed One."
+
+Don Quixote regarded the majordomo attentively, and having done
+so, said to Sancho, "There is no reason why the devil should carry
+thee off, Sancho, either righteous or believing- and what thou meanest
+by that I know not; the face of the Distressed One is that of the
+majordomo, but for all that the majordomo is not the Distressed One;
+for his being so would involve a mighty contradiction; but this is not
+the time for going into questions of the sort, which would be
+involving ourselves in an inextricable labyrinth. Believe me, my
+friend, we must pray earnestly to our Lord that he deliver us both
+from wicked wizards and enchanters."
+
+"It is no joke, senor," said Sancho, "for before this I heard him
+speak, and it seemed exactly as if the voice of the Trifaldi was
+sounding in my ears. Well, I'll hold my peace; but I'll take care to
+be on the look-out henceforth for any sign that may be seen to confirm
+or do away with this suspicion."
+
+"Thou wilt do well, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and thou wilt let me
+know all thou discoverest, and all that befalls thee in thy
+government."
+
+Sancho at last set out attended by a great number of people. He
+was dressed in the garb of a lawyer, with a gaban of tawny watered
+camlet over all and a montera cap of the same material, and mounted
+a la gineta upon a mule. Behind him, in accordance with the duke's
+orders, followed Dapple with brand new ass-trappings and ornaments
+of silk, and from time to time Sancho turned round to look at his ass,
+so well pleased to have him with him that he would not have changed
+places with the emperor of Germany. On taking leave he kissed the
+hands of the duke and duchess and got his master's blessing, which Don
+Quixote gave him with tears, and he received blubbering.
+
+Let worthy Sancho go in peace, and good luck to him, Gentle
+Reader; and look out for two bushels of laughter, which the account of
+how he behaved himself in office will give thee. In the meantime
+turn thy attention to what happened his master the same night, and
+if thou dost not laugh thereat, at any rate thou wilt stretch thy
+mouth with a grin; for Don Quixote's adventures must be honoured
+either with wonder or with laughter.
+
+It is recorded, then, that as soon as Sancho had gone, Don Quixote
+felt his loneliness, and had it been possible for him to revoke the
+mandate and take away the government from him he would have done so.
+The duchess observed his dejection and asked him why he was
+melancholy; because, she said, if it was for the loss of Sancho, there
+were squires, duennas, and damsels in her house who would wait upon
+him to his full satisfaction.
+
+"The truth is, senora," replied Don Quixote, "that I do feel the
+loss of Sancho; but that is not the main cause of my looking sad;
+and of all the offers your excellence makes me, I accept only the
+good-will with which they are made, and as to the remainder I
+entreat of your excellence to permit and allow me alone to wait upon
+myself in my chamber."
+
+"Indeed, Senor Don Quixote," said the duchess, "that must not be;
+four of my damsels, as beautiful as flowers, shall wait upon you."
+
+"To me," said Don Quixote, "they will not be flowers, but thorns
+to pierce my heart. They, or anything like them, shall as soon enter
+my chamber as fly. If your highness wishes to gratify me still
+further, though I deserve it not, permit me to please myself, and wait
+upon myself in my own room; for I place a barrier between my
+inclinations and my virtue, and I do not wish to break this rule
+through the generosity your highness is disposed to display towards
+me; and, in short, I will sleep in my clothes, sooner than allow
+anyone to undress me."
+
+"Say no more, Senor Don Quixote, say no more," said the duchess;
+"I assure you I will give orders that not even a fly, not to say a
+damsel, shall enter your room. I am not the one to undermine the
+propriety of Senor Don Quixote, for it strikes me that among his
+many virtues the one that is pre-eminent is that of modesty. Your
+worship may undress and dress in private and in your own way, as you
+please and when you please, for there will be no one to hinder you;
+and in your chamber you will find all the utensils requisite to supply
+the wants of one who sleeps with his door locked, to the end that no
+natural needs compel you to open it. May the great Dulcinea del Toboso
+live a thousand years, and may her fame extend all over the surface of
+the globe, for she deserves to be loved by a knight so valiant and
+so virtuous; and may kind heaven infuse zeal into the heart of our
+governor Sancho Panza to finish off his discipline speedily, so that
+the world may once more enjoy the beauty of so grand a lady."
+
+To which Don Quixote replied, "Your highness has spoken like what
+you are; from the mouth of a noble lady nothing bad can come; and
+Dulcinea will be more fortunate, and better known to the world by
+the praise of your highness than by all the eulogies the greatest
+orators on earth could bestow upon her."
+
+"Well, well, Senor Don Quixote," said the duchess, is nearly
+supper-time, and the duke is is probably waiting; come let us go to
+supper, and retire to rest early, for the journey you made yesterday
+from Kandy was not such a short one but that it must have caused you
+some fatigue."
+
+"I feel none, senora," said Don Quixote, "for I would go so far as
+to swear to your excellence that in all my life I never mounted a
+quieter beast, or a pleasanter paced one, than Clavileno; and I
+don't know what could have induced Malambruno to discard a steed so
+swift and so gentle, and burn it so recklessly as he did."
+
+"Probably," said the duchess, "repenting of the evil he had done
+to the Trifaldi and company, and others, and the crimes he must have
+committed as a wizard and enchanter, he resolved to make away with all
+the instruments of his craft; and so burned Clavileno as the chief
+one, and that which mainly kept him restless, wandering from land to
+land; and by its ashes and the trophy of the placard the valour of the
+great Don Quixote of La Mancha is established for ever."
+
+Don Quixote renewed his thanks to the duchess; and having supped,
+retired to his chamber alone, refusing to allow anyone to enter with
+him to wait on him, such was his fear of encountering temptations that
+might lead or drive him to forget his chaste fidelity to his lady
+Dulcinea; for he had always present to his mind the virtue of
+Amadis, that flower and mirror of knights-errant. He locked the door
+behind him, and by the light of two wax candles undressed himself, but
+as he was taking off his stockings- O disaster unworthy of such a
+personage!- there came a burst, not of sighs, or anything belying
+his delicacy or good breeding, but of some two dozen stitches in one
+of his stockings, that made it look like a window-lattice. The
+worthy gentleman was beyond measure distressed, and at that moment
+he would have given an ounce of silver to have had half a drachm of
+green silk there; I say green silk, because the stockings were green.
+
+Here Cide Hamete exclaimed as he was writing, "O poverty, poverty! I
+know not what could have possessed the great Cordovan poet to call
+thee 'holy gift ungratefully received.' Although a Moor, I know well
+enough from the intercourse I have had with Christians that holiness
+consists in charity, humility, faith, obedience, and poverty; but
+for all that, I say he must have a great deal of godliness who can
+find any satisfaction in being poor; unless, indeed, it be the kind of
+poverty one of their greatest saints refers to, saying, 'possess all
+things as though ye possessed them not;' which is what they call
+poverty in spirit. But thou, that other poverty- for it is of thee I
+am speaking now- why dost thou love to fall out with gentlemen and men
+of good birth more than with other people? Why dost thou compel them
+to smear the cracks in their shoes, and to have the buttons of their
+coats, one silk, another hair, and another glass? Why must their ruffs
+be always crinkled like endive leaves, and not crimped with a crimping
+iron?" (From this we may perceive the antiquity of starch and
+crimped ruffs.) Then he goes on: "Poor gentleman of good family!
+always cockering up his honour, dining miserably and in secret, and
+making a hypocrite of the toothpick with which he sallies out into the
+street after eating nothing to oblige him to use it! Poor fellow, I
+say, with his nervous honour, fancying they perceive a league off
+the patch on his shoe, the sweat-stains on his hat, the shabbiness
+of his cloak, and the hunger of his stomach!"
+
+All this was brought home to Don Quixote by the bursting of his
+stitches; however, he comforted himself on perceiving that Sancho
+had left behind a pair of travelling boots, which he resolved to
+wear the next day. At last he went to bed, out of spirits and heavy at
+heart, as much because he missed Sancho as because of the
+irreparable disaster to his stockings, the stitches of which he
+would have even taken up with silk of another colour, which is one
+of the greatest signs of poverty a gentleman can show in the course of
+his never-failing embarrassments. He put out the candles; but the
+night was warm and he could not sleep; he rose from his bed and opened
+slightly a grated window that looked out on a beautiful garden, and as
+he did so he perceived and heard people walking and talking in the
+garden. He set himself to listen attentively, and those below raised
+their voices so that he could hear these words:
+
+"Urge me not to sing, Emerencia, for thou knowest that ever since
+this stranger entered the castle and my eyes beheld him, I cannot sing
+but only weep; besides my lady is a light rather than a heavy sleeper,
+and I would not for all the wealth of the world that she found us
+here; and even if she were asleep and did not waken, my singing
+would be in vain, if this strange AEneas, who has come into my
+neighbourhood to flout me, sleeps on and wakens not to hear it."
+
+"Heed not that, dear Altisidora," replied a voice; "the duchess is
+no doubt asleep, and everybody in the house save the lord of thy heart
+and disturber of thy soul; for just now I perceived him open the
+grated window of his chamber, so he must be awake; sing, my poor
+sufferer, in a low sweet tone to the accompaniment of thy harp; and
+even if the duchess hears us we can lay the blame on the heat of the
+night."
+
+"That is not the point, Emerencia," replied Altisidora, "it is
+that I would not that my singing should lay bare my heart, and that
+I should be thought a light and wanton maiden by those who know not
+the mighty power of love; but come what may; better a blush on the
+cheeks than a sore in the heart;" and here a harp softly touched
+made itself heard. As he listened to all this Don Quixote was in a
+state of breathless amazement, for immediately the countless
+adventures like this, with windows, gratings, gardens, serenades,
+lovemakings, and languishings, that he had read of in his trashy books
+of chivalry, came to his mind. He at once concluded that some damsel
+of the duchess's was in love with him, and that her modesty forced her
+to keep her passion secret. He trembled lest he should fall, and
+made an inward resolution not to yield; and commending himself with
+all his might and soul to his lady Dulcinea he made up his mind to
+listen to the music; and to let them know he was there he gave a
+pretended sneeze, at which the damsels were not a little delighted,
+for all they wanted was that Don Quixote should hear them. So having
+tuned the harp, Altisidora, running her hand across the strings, began
+this ballad:
+
+O thou that art above in bed,
+  Between the holland sheets,
+A-lying there from night till morn,
+  With outstretched legs asleep;
+
+O thou, most valiant knight of all
+  The famed Manchegan breed,
+Of purity and virtue more
+  Than gold of Araby;
+
+Give ear unto a suffering maid,
+  Well-grown but evil-starr'd,
+For those two suns of thine have lit
+  A fire within her heart.
+
+Adventures seeking thou dost rove,
+  To others bringing woe;
+Thou scatterest wounds, but, ah, the balm
+  To heal them dost withhold!
+
+Say, valiant youth, and so may God
+  Thy enterprises speed,
+Didst thou the light mid Libya's sands
+  Or Jaca's rocks first see?
+
+Did scaly serpents give thee suck?
+  Who nursed thee when a babe?
+Wert cradled in the forest rude,
+  Or gloomy mountain cave?
+
+O Dulcinea may be proud,
+  That plump and lusty maid;
+For she alone hath had the power
+  A tiger fierce to tame.
+
+And she for this shall famous be
+  From Tagus to Jarama,
+From Manzanares to Genil,
+  From Duero to Arlanza.
+
+Fain would I change with her, and give
+  A petticoat to boot,
+The best and bravest that I have,
+  All trimmed with gold galloon.
+
+O for to be the happy fair
+  Thy mighty arms enfold,
+Or even sit beside thy bed
+  And scratch thy dusty poll!
+
+I rave,- to favours such as these
+  Unworthy to aspire;
+Thy feet to tickle were enough
+  For one so mean as I.
+
+What caps, what slippers silver-laced,
+  Would I on thee bestow!
+What damask breeches make for thee;
+  What fine long holland cloaks!
+
+And I would give thee pearls that should
+  As big as oak-galls show;
+So matchless big that each might well
+  Be called the great "Alone."
+
+Manchegan Nero, look not down
+  From thy Tarpeian Rock
+Upon this burning heart, nor add
+  The fuel of thy wrath.
+
+A virgin soft and young am I,
+  Not yet fifteen years old;
+(I'm only three months past fourteen,
+  I swear upon my soul).
+I hobble not nor do I limp,
+  All blemish I'm without,
+And as I walk my lily locks
+  Are trailing on the ground.
+
+And though my nose be rather flat,
+  And though my mouth be wide,
+My teeth like topazes exalt
+  My beauty to the sky.
+
+Thou knowest that my voice is sweet,
+  That is if thou dost hear;
+And I am moulded in a form
+  Somewhat below the mean.
+
+These charms, and many more, are thine,
+  Spoils to thy spear and bow all;
+A damsel of this house am I,
+  By name Altisidora.
+
+
+Here the lay of the heart-stricken Altisidora came to an end,
+while the warmly wooed Don Quixote began to feel alarm; and with a
+deep sigh he said to himself, "O that I should be such an unlucky
+knight that no damsel can set eyes on me but falls in love with me!
+O that the peerless Dulcinea should be so unfortunate that they cannot
+let her enjoy my incomparable constancy in peace! What would ye with
+her, ye queens? Why do ye persecute her, ye empresses? Why ye pursue
+her, ye virgins of from fourteen to fifteen? Leave the unhappy being
+to triumph, rejoice and glory in the lot love has been pleased to
+bestow upon her in surrendering my heart and yielding up my soul to
+her. Ye love-smitten host, know that to Dulcinea only I am dough and
+sugar-paste, flint to all others; for her I am honey, for you aloes.
+For me Dulcinea alone is beautiful, wise, virtuous, graceful, and
+high-bred, and all others are ill-favoured, foolish, light, and
+low-born. Nature sent me into the world to be hers and no other's;
+Altisidora may weep or sing, the lady for whose sake they belaboured
+me in the castle of the enchanted Moor may give way to despair, but
+I must be Dulcinea's, boiled or roast, pure, courteous, and chaste, in
+spite of all the magic-working powers on earth." And with that he shut
+the window with a bang, and, as much out of temper and out of sorts as
+if some great misfortune had befallen him, stretched himself on his
+bed, where we will leave him for the present, as the great Sancho
+Panza, who is about to set up his famous government, now demands our
+attention.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+
+OF HOW THE GREAT SANCHO PANZA TOOK POSSESSION OF HIS ISLAND, AND
+OF HOW HE MADE A BEGINNING IN GOVERNING
+
+O perpetual discoverer of the antipodes, torch of the world, eye
+of heaven, sweet stimulator of the water-coolers! Thimbraeus here,
+Phoebus there, now archer, now physician, father of poetry, inventor
+of music; thou that always risest and, notwithstanding appearances,
+never settest! To thee, O Sun, by whose aid man begetteth man, to thee
+I appeal to help me and lighten the darkness of my wit that I may be
+able to proceed with scrupulous exactitude in giving an account of the
+great Sancho Panza's government; for without thee I feel myself
+weak, feeble, and uncertain.
+
+To come to the point, then- Sancho with all his attendants arrived
+at a village of some thousand inhabitants, and one of the largest
+the duke possessed. They informed him that it was called the island of
+Barataria, either because the name of the village was Baratario, or
+because of the joke by way of which the government had been
+conferred upon him. On reaching the gates of the town, which was a
+walled one, the municipality came forth to meet him, the bells rang
+out a peal, and the inhabitants showed every sign of general
+satisfaction; and with great pomp they conducted him to the
+principal church to give thanks to God, and then with burlesque
+ceremonies they presented him with the keys of the town, and
+acknowledged him as perpetual governor of the island of Barataria. The
+costume, the beard, and the fat squat figure of the new governor
+astonished all those who were not in the secret, and even all who
+were, and they were not a few. Finally, leading him out of the
+church they carried him to the judgment seat and seated him on it, and
+the duke's majordomo said to him, "It is an ancient custom in this
+island, senor governor, that he who comes to take possession of this
+famous island is bound to answer a question which shall be put to him,
+and which must he a somewhat knotty and difficult one; and by his
+answer the people take the measure of their new governor's wit, and
+hail with joy or deplore his arrival accordingly."
+
+While the majordomo was making this speech Sancho was gazing at
+several large letters inscribed on the wall opposite his seat, and
+as he could not read he asked what that was that was painted on the
+wall. The answer was, "Senor, there is written and recorded the day on
+which your lordship took possession of this island, and the
+inscription says, 'This day, the so-and-so of such-and-such a month
+and year, Senor Don Sancho Panza took possession of this island;
+many years may he enjoy it.'"
+
+"And whom do they call Don Sancho Panza?" asked Sancho.
+
+"Your lordship," replied the majordomo; "for no other Panza but
+the one who is now seated in that chair has ever entered this island."
+
+"Well then, let me tell you, brother," said Sancho, "I haven't got
+the 'Don,' nor has any one of my family ever had it; my name is
+plain Sancho Panza, and Sancho was my father's name, and Sancho was my
+grandfather's and they were all Panzas, without any Dons or Donas
+tacked on; I suspect that in this island there are more Dons than
+stones; but never mind; God knows what I mean, and maybe if my
+government lasts four days I'll weed out these Dons that no doubt
+are as great a nuisance as the midges, they're so plenty. Let the
+majordomo go on with his question, and I'll give the best answer I
+can, whether the people deplore or not."
+
+At this instant there came into court two old men, one carrying a
+cane by way of a walking-stick, and the one who had no stick said,
+"Senor, some time ago I lent this good man ten gold-crowns in gold
+to gratify him and do him a service, on the condition that he was to
+return them to me whenever I should ask for them. A long time passed
+before I asked for them, for I would not put him to any greater
+straits to return them than he was in when I lent them to him; but
+thinking he was growing careless about payment I asked for them once
+and several times; and not only will he not give them back, but he
+denies that he owes them, and says I never lent him any such crowns;
+or if I did, that he repaid them; and I have no witnesses either of
+the loan, or the payment, for he never paid me; I want your worship to
+put him to his oath, and if he swears he returned them to me I forgive
+him the debt here and before God."
+
+"What say you to this, good old man, you with the stick?" said
+Sancho.
+
+To which the old man replied, "I admit, senor, that he lent them
+to me; but let your worship lower your staff, and as he leaves it to
+my oath, I'll swear that I gave them back, and paid him really and
+truly."
+
+The governor lowered the staff, and as he did so the old man who had
+the stick handed it to the other old man to hold for him while he
+swore, as if he found it in his way; and then laid his hand on the
+cross of the staff, saying that it was true the ten crowns that were
+demanded of him had been lent him; but that he had with his own hand
+given them back into the hand of the other, and that he, not
+recollecting it, was always asking for them.
+
+Seeing this the great governor asked the creditor what answer he had
+to make to what his opponent said. He said that no doubt his debtor
+had told the truth, for he believed him to be an honest man and a good
+Christian, and he himself must have forgotten when and how he had
+given him back the crowns; and that from that time forth he would make
+no further demand upon him.
+
+The debtor took his stick again, and bowing his head left the court.
+Observing this, and how, without another word, he made off, and
+observing too the resignation of the plaintiff, Sancho buried his head
+in his bosom and remained for a short space in deep thought, with
+the forefinger of his right hand on his brow and nose; then he
+raised his head and bade them call back the old man with the stick,
+for he had already taken his departure. They brought him back, and
+as soon as Sancho saw him he said, "Honest man, give me that stick,
+for I want it."
+
+"Willingly," said the old man; "here it is senor," and he put it
+into his hand.
+
+Sancho took it and, handing it to the other old man, said to him,
+"Go, and God be with you; for now you are paid."
+
+"I, senor!" returned the old man; "why, is this cane worth ten
+gold-crowns?"
+
+"Yes," said the governor, "or if not I am the greatest dolt in the
+world; now you will see whether I have got the headpiece to govern a
+whole kingdom;" and he ordered the cane to be broken in two, there, in
+the presence of all. It was done, and in the middle of it they found
+ten gold-crowns. All were filled with amazement, and looked upon their
+governor as another Solomon. They asked him how he had come to the
+conclusion that the ten crowns were in the cane; he replied, that
+observing how the old man who swore gave the stick to his opponent
+while he was taking the oath, and swore that he had really and truly
+given him the crowns, and how as soon as he had done swearing he asked
+for the stick again, it came into his head that the sum demanded
+must be inside it; and from this he said it might be seen that God
+sometimes guides those who govern in their judgments, even though they
+may be fools; besides he had himself heard the curate of his village
+mention just such another case, and he had so good a memory, that if
+it was not that he forgot everything he wished to remember, there
+would not be such a memory in all the island. To conclude, the old men
+went off, one crestfallen, and the other in high contentment, all
+who were present were astonished, and he who was recording the
+words, deeds, and movements of Sancho could not make up his mind
+whether he was to look upon him and set him down as a fool or as a man
+of sense.
+
+As soon as this case was disposed of, there came into court a
+woman holding on with a tight grip to a man dressed like a
+well-to-do cattle dealer, and she came forward making a great outcry
+and exclaiming, "Justice, senor governor, justice! and if I don't
+get it on earth I'll go look for it in heaven. Senor governor of my
+soul, this wicked man caught me in the middle of the fields here and
+used my body as if it was an ill-washed rag, and, woe is me! got
+from me what I had kept these three-and-twenty years and more,
+defending it against Moors and Christians, natives and strangers;
+and I always as hard as an oak, and keeping myself as pure as a
+salamander in the fire, or wool among the brambles, for this good
+fellow to come now with clean hands to handle me!"
+
+"It remains to be proved whether this gallant has clean hands or
+not," said Sancho; and turning to the man he asked him what he had
+to say in answer to the woman's charge.
+
+He all in confusion made answer, "Sirs, I am a poor pig dealer,
+and this morning I left the village to sell (saving your presence)
+four pigs, and between dues and cribbings they got out of me little
+less than the worth of them. As I was returning to my village I fell
+in on the road with this good dame, and the devil who makes a coil and
+a mess out of everything, yoked us together. I paid her fairly, but
+she not contented laid hold of me and never let go until she brought
+me here; she says I forced her, but she lies by the oath I swear or am
+ready to swear; and this is the whole truth and every particle of it."
+
+The governor on this asked him if he had any money in silver about
+him; he said he had about twenty ducats in a leather purse in his
+bosom. The governor bade him take it out and hand it to the
+complainant; he obeyed trembling; the woman took it, and making a
+thousand salaams to all and praying to God for the long life and
+health of the senor governor who had such regard for distressed
+orphans and virgins, she hurried out of court with the purse grasped
+in both her hands, first looking, however, to see if the money it
+contained was silver.
+
+As soon as she was gone Sancho said to the cattle dealer, whose
+tears were already starting and whose eyes and heart were following
+his purse, "Good fellow, go after that woman and take the purse from
+her, by force even, and come back with it here;" and he did not say it
+to one who was a fool or deaf, for the man was off like a flash of
+lightning, and ran to do as he was bid.
+
+All the bystanders waited anxiously to see the end of the case,
+and presently both man and woman came back at even closer grips than
+before, she with her petticoat up and the purse in the lap of it,
+and he struggling hard to take it from her, but all to no purpose,
+so stout was the woman's defence, she all the while crying out,
+"Justice from God and the world! see here, senor governor, the
+shamelessness and boldness of this villain, who in the middle of the
+town, in the middle of the street, wanted to take from me the purse
+your worship bade him give me."
+
+"And did he take it?" asked the governor.
+
+"Take it!" said the woman; "I'd let my life be taken from me
+sooner than the purse. A pretty child I'd be! It's another sort of cat
+they must throw in my face, and not that poor scurvy knave. Pincers
+and hammers, mallets and chisels would not get it out of my grip;
+no, nor lions' claws; the soul from out of my body first!"
+
+"She is right," said the man; "I own myself beaten and powerless;
+I confess I haven't the strength to take it from her;" and he let go
+his hold of her.
+
+Upon this the governor said to the woman, "Let me see that purse, my
+worthy and sturdy friend." She handed it to him at once, and the
+governor returned it to the man, and said to the unforced mistress
+of force, "Sister, if you had shown as much, or only half as much,
+spirit and vigour in defending your body as you have shown in
+defending that purse, the strength of Hercules could not have forced
+you. Be off, and God speed you, and bad luck to you, and don't show
+your face in all this island, or within six leagues of it on any side,
+under pain of two hundred lashes; be off at once, I say, you
+shameless, cheating shrew."
+
+The woman was cowed and went off disconsolately, hanging her head;
+and the governor said to the man, "Honest man, go home with your
+money, and God speed you; and for the future, if you don't want to
+lose it, see that you don't take it into your head to yoke with
+anybody." The man thanked him as clumsily as he could and went his
+way, and the bystanders were again filled with admiration at their new
+governor's judgments and sentences.
+
+Next, two men, one apparently a farm labourer, and the other a
+tailor, for he had a pair of shears in his hand, presented
+themselves before him, and the tailor said, "Senor governor, this
+labourer and I come before your worship by reason of this honest man
+coming to my shop yesterday (for saving everybody's presence I'm a
+passed tailor, God be thanked), and putting a piece of cloth into my
+hands and asking me, 'Senor, will there be enough in this cloth to
+make me a cap?' Measuring the cloth I said there would. He probably
+suspected- as I supposed, and I supposed right- that I wanted to steal
+some of the cloth, led to think so by his own roguery and the bad
+opinion people have of tailors; and he told me to see if there would
+he enough for two. I guessed what he would be at, and I said 'yes.'
+He, still following up his original unworthy notion, went on adding
+cap after cap, and I 'yes' after 'yes,' until we got as far as five.
+He has just this moment come for them; I gave them to him, but he
+won't pay me for the making; on the contrary, he calls upon me to
+pay him, or else return his cloth."
+
+"Is all this true, brother?" said Sancho.
+
+"Yes," replied the man; "but will your worship make him show the
+five caps he has made me?"
+
+"With all my heart," said the tailor; and drawing his hand from
+under his cloak he showed five caps stuck upon the five fingers of it,
+and said, "there are the caps this good man asks for; and by God and
+upon my conscience I haven't a scrap of cloth left, and I'll let the
+work be examined by the inspectors of the trade."
+
+All present laughed at the number of caps and the novelty of the
+suit; Sancho set himself to think for a moment, and then said, "It
+seems to me that in this case it is not necessary to deliver
+long-winded arguments, but only to give off-hand the judgment of an
+honest man; and so my decision is that the tailor lose the making
+and the labourer the cloth, and that the caps go to the prisoners in
+the gaol, and let there be no more about it."
+
+If the previous decision about the cattle dealer's purse excited the
+admiration of the bystanders, this provoked their laughter; however,
+the governor's orders were after all executed. All this, having been
+taken down by his chronicler, was at once despatched to the duke,
+who was looking out for it with great eagerness; and here let us leave
+the good Sancho; for his master, sorely troubled in mind by
+Altisidora's music, has pressing claims upon us now.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI
+
+OF THE TERRIBLE BELL AND CAT FRIGHT THAT DON QUIXOTE GOT IN THE
+COURSE OF THE ENAMOURED ALTISIDORA'S WOOING
+
+We left Don Quixote wrapped up in the reflections which the music of
+the enamourned maid Altisidora had given rise to. He went to bed
+with them, and just like fleas they would not let him sleep or get a
+moment's rest, and the broken stitches of his stockings helped them.
+But as Time is fleet and no obstacle can stay his course, he came
+riding on the hours, and morning very soon arrived. Seeing which Don
+Quixote quitted the soft down, and, nowise slothful, dressed himself
+in his chamois suit and put on his travelling boots to hide the
+disaster to his stockings. He threw over him his scarlet mantle, put
+on his head a montera of green velvet trimmed with silver edging,
+flung across his shoulder the baldric with his good trenchant sword,
+took up a large rosary that he always carried with him, and with great
+solemnity and precision of gait proceeded to the antechamber where the
+duke and duchess were already dressed and waiting for him. But as he
+passed through a gallery, Altisidora and the other damsel, her friend,
+were lying in wait for him, and the instant Altisidora saw him she
+pretended to faint, while her friend caught her in her lap, and
+began hastily unlacing the bosom of her dress.
+
+Don Quixote observed it, and approaching them said, "I know very
+well what this seizure arises from."
+
+"I know not from what," replied the friend, "for Altisidora is the
+healthiest damsel in all this house, and I have never heard her
+complain all the time I have known her. A plague on all the
+knights-errant in the world, if they be all ungrateful! Go away, Senor
+Don Quixote; for this poor child will not come to herself again so
+long as you are here."
+
+To which Don Quixote returned, "Do me the favour, senora, to let a
+lute be placed in my chamber to-night; and I will comfort this poor
+maiden to the best of my power; for in the early stages of love a
+prompt disillusion is an approved remedy;" and with this he retired,
+so as not to be remarked by any who might see him there.
+
+He had scarcely withdrawn when Altisidora, recovering from her
+swoon, said to her companion, "The lute must be left, for no doubt Don
+Quixote intends to give us some music; and being his it will not be
+bad."
+
+They went at once to inform the duchess of what was going on, and of
+the lute Don Quixote asked for, and she, delighted beyond measure,
+plotted with the duke and her two damsels to play him a trick that
+should be amusing but harmless; and in high glee they waited for
+night, which came quickly as the day had come; and as for the day, the
+duke and duchess spent it in charming conversation with Don Quixote.
+
+When eleven o'clock came, Don Quixote found a guitar in his chamber;
+he tried it, opened the window, and perceived that some persons were
+walking in the garden; and having passed his fingers over the frets of
+the guitar and tuned it as well as he could, he spat and cleared his
+chest, and then with a voice a little hoarse but full-toned, he sang
+the following ballad, which he had himself that day composed:
+
+Mighty Love the hearts of maidens
+  Doth unsettle and perplex,
+And the instrument he uses
+  Most of all is idleness.
+
+Sewing, stitching, any labour,
+  Having always work to do,
+To the poison Love instilleth
+  Is the antidote most sure.
+
+And to proper-minded maidens
+  Who desire the matron's name
+Modesty's a marriage portion,
+  Modesty their highest praise.
+
+Men of prudence and discretion,
+  Courtiers gay and gallant knights,
+With the wanton damsels dally,
+  But the modest take to wife.
+There are passions, transient, fleeting,
+  Loves in hostelries declar'd,
+Sunrise loves, with sunset ended,
+  When the guest hath gone his way.
+
+Love that springs up swift and sudden,
+  Here to-day, to-morrow flown,
+Passes, leaves no trace behind it,
+  Leaves no image on the soul.
+
+Painting that is laid on painting
+  Maketh no display or show;
+Where one beauty's in possession
+  There no other can take hold.
+
+Dulcinea del Toboso
+  Painted on my heart I wear;
+Never from its tablets, never,
+  Can her image be eras'd.
+
+The quality of all in lovers
+  Most esteemed is constancy;
+'T is by this that love works wonders,
+  This exalts them to the skies.
+
+
+Don Quixote had got so far with his song, to which the duke, the
+duchess, Altisidora, and nearly the whole household of the castle were
+listening, when all of a sudden from a gallery above that was
+exactly over his window they let down a cord with more than a
+hundred bells attached to it, and immediately after that discharged
+a great sack full of cats, which also had bells of smaller size tied
+to their tails. Such was the din of the bells and the squalling of the
+cats, that though the duke and duchess were the contrivers of the joke
+they were startled by it, while Don Quixote stood paralysed with fear;
+and as luck would have it, two or three of the cats made their way
+in through the grating of his chamber, and flying from one side to the
+other, made it seem as if there was a legion of devils at large in it.
+They extinguished the candles that were burning in the room, and
+rushed about seeking some way of escape; the cord with the large bells
+never ceased rising and falling; and most of the people of the castle,
+not knowing what was really the matter, were at their wits' end with
+astonishment. Don Quixote sprang to his feet, and drawing his sword,
+began making passes at the grating, shouting out, "Avaunt, malignant
+enchanters! avaunt, ye witchcraft-working rabble! I am Don Quixote
+of La Mancha, against whom your evil machinations avail not nor have
+any power." And turning upon the cats that were running about the
+room, he made several cuts at them. They dashed at the grating and
+escaped by it, save one that, finding itself hard pressed by the
+slashes of Don Quixote's sword, flew at his face and held on to his
+nose tooth and nail, with the pain of which he began to shout his
+loudest. The duke and duchess hearing this, and guessing what it
+was, ran with all haste to his room, and as the poor gentleman was
+striving with all his might to detach the cat from his face, they
+opened the door with a master-key and went in with lights and
+witnessed the unequal combat. The duke ran forward to part the
+combatants, but Don Quixote cried out aloud, "Let no one take him from
+me; leave me hand to hand with this demon, this wizard, this
+enchanter; I will teach him, I myself, who Don Quixote of La Mancha
+is." The cat, however, never minding these threats, snarled and held
+on; but at last the duke pulled it off and flung it out of the window.
+Don Quixote was left with a face as full of holes as a sieve and a
+nose not in very good condition, and greatly vexed that they did not
+let him finish the battle he had been so stoutly fighting with that
+villain of an enchanter. They sent for some oil of John's wort, and
+Altisidora herself with her own fair hands bandaged all the wounded
+parts; and as she did so she said to him in a low voice. "All these
+mishaps have befallen thee, hardhearted knight, for the sin of thy
+insensibility and obstinacy; and God grant thy squire Sancho may
+forget to whip himself, so that that dearly beloved Dulcinea of
+thine may never be released from her enchantment, that thou mayest
+never come to her bed, at least while I who adore thee am alive."
+
+To all this Don Quixote made no answer except to heave deep sighs,
+and then stretched himself on his bed, thanking the duke and duchess
+for their kindness, not because he stood in any fear of that
+bell-ringing rabble of enchanters in cat shape, but because he
+recognised their good intentions in coming to his rescue. The duke and
+duchess left him to repose and withdrew greatly grieved at the
+unfortunate result of the joke; as they never thought the adventure
+would have fallen so heavy on Don Quixote or cost him so dear, for
+it cost him five days of confinement to his bed, during which he had
+another adventure, pleasanter than the late one, which his
+chronicler will not relate just now in order that he may turn his
+attention to Sancho Panza, who was proceeding with great diligence and
+drollery in his government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII
+
+WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE ACCOUNT OF HOW SANCHO PANZA CONDUCTED
+HIMSELF IN HIS GOVERNMENT
+
+The history says that from the justice court they carried Sancho
+to a sumptuous palace, where in a spacious chamber there was a table
+laid out with royal magnificence. The clarions sounded as Sancho
+entered the room, and four pages came forward to present him with
+water for his hands, which Sancho received with great dignity. The
+music ceased, and Sancho seated himself at the head of the table,
+for there was only that seat placed, and no more than one cover
+laid. A personage, who it appeared afterwards was a physician,
+placed himself standing by his side with a whalebone wand in his hand.
+They then lifted up a fine white cloth covering fruit and a great
+variety of dishes of different sorts; one who looked like a student
+said grace, and a page put a laced bib on Sancho, while another who
+played the part of head carver placed a dish of fruit before him.
+But hardly had he tasted a morsel when the man with the wand touched
+the plate with it, and they took it away from before him with the
+utmost celerity. The carver, however, brought him another dish, and
+Sancho proceeded to try it; but before he could get at it, not to
+say taste it, already the wand had touched it and a page had carried
+it off with the same promptitude as the fruit. Sancho seeing this
+was puzzled, and looking from one to another asked if this dinner
+was to be eaten after the fashion of a jugglery trick.
+
+To this he with the wand replied, "It is not to be eaten, senor
+governor, except as is usual and customary in other islands where
+there are governors. I, senor, am a physician, and I am paid a
+salary in this island to serve its governors as such, and I have a
+much greater regard for their health than for my own, studying day and
+night and making myself acquainted with the governor's constitution,
+in order to be able to cure him when he falls sick. The chief thing
+I have to do is to attend at his dinners and suppers and allow him
+to eat what appears to me to be fit for him, and keep from him what
+I think will do him harm and be injurious to his stomach; and
+therefore I ordered that plate of fruit to be removed as being too
+moist, and that other dish I ordered to he removed as being too hot
+and containing many spices that stimulate thirst; for he who drinks
+much kills and consumes the radical moisture wherein life consists."
+
+"Well then," said Sancho, "that dish of roast partridges there
+that seems so savoury will not do me any harm."
+
+To this the physician replied, "Of those my lord the governor
+shall not eat so long as I live."
+
+"Why so?" said Sancho.
+
+"Because," replied the doctor, "our master Hippocrates, the polestar
+and beacon of medicine, says in one of his aphorisms omnis saturatio
+mala, perdicis autem pessima, which means 'all repletion is bad, but
+that of partridge is the worst of all."
+
+"In that case," said Sancho, "let senor doctor see among the
+dishes that are on the table what will do me most good and least harm,
+and let me eat it, without tapping it with his stick; for by the
+life of the governor, and so may God suffer me to enjoy it, but I'm
+dying of hunger; and in spite of the doctor and all he may say, to
+deny me food is the way to take my life instead of prolonging it."
+
+"Your worship is right, senor governor," said the physician; "and
+therefore your worship, I consider, should not eat of those stewed
+rabbits there, because it is a furry kind of food; if that veal were
+not roasted and served with pickles, you might try it; but it is out
+of the question."
+
+"That big dish that is smoking farther off," said Sancho, "seems
+to me to be an olla podrida, and out of the diversity of things in
+such ollas, I can't fail to light upon something tasty and good for
+me."
+
+"Absit," said the doctor; "far from us be any such base thought!
+There is nothing in the world less nourishing than an olla podrida; to
+canons, or rectors of colleges, or peasants' weddings with your
+ollas podridas, but let us have none of them on the tables of
+governors, where everything that is present should be delicate and
+refined; and the reason is, that always, everywhere and by
+everybody, simple medicines are more esteemed than compound ones,
+for we cannot go wrong in those that are simple, while in the compound
+we may, by merely altering the quantity of the things composing
+them. But what I am of opinion the governor should cat now in order to
+preserve and fortify his health is a hundred or so of wafer cakes
+and a few thin slices of conserve of quinces, which will settle his
+stomach and help his digestion."
+
+Sancho on hearing this threw himself back in his chair and
+surveyed the doctor steadily, and in a solemn tone asked him what
+his name was and where he had studied.
+
+He replied, "My name, senor governor, is Doctor Pedro Recio de
+Aguero I am a native of a place called Tirteafuera which lies
+between Caracuel and Almodovar del Campo, on the right-hand side,
+and I have the degree of doctor from the university of Osuna."
+
+To which Sancho, glowing all over with rage, returned, "Then let
+Doctor Pedro Recio de Malaguero, native of Tirteafuera, a place that's
+on the right-hand side as we go from Caracuel to Almodovar del
+Campo, graduate of Osuna, get out of my presence at once; or I swear
+by the sun I'll take a cudgel, and by dint of blows, beginning with
+him, I'll not leave a doctor in the whole island; at least of those
+I know to be ignorant; for as to learned, wise, sensible physicians,
+them I will reverence and honour as divine persons. Once more I say
+let Pedro Recio get out of this or I'll take this chair I am sitting
+on and break it over his head. And if they call me to account for
+it, I'll clear myself by saying I served God in killing a bad
+doctor- a general executioner. And now give me something to eat, or
+else take your government; for a trade that does not feed its master
+is not worth two beans."
+
+The doctor was dismayed when he saw the governor in such a
+passion, and he would have made a Tirteafuera out of the room but that
+the same instant a post-horn sounded in the street; and the carver
+putting his head out of the window turned round and said, "It's a
+courier from my lord the duke, no doubt with some despatch of
+importance."
+
+The courier came in all sweating and flurried, and taking a paper
+from his bosom, placed it in the governor's hands. Sancho handed it to
+the majordomo and bade him read the superscription, which ran thus: To
+Don Sancho Panza, Governor of the Island of Barataria, into his own
+hands or those of his secretary. Sancho when he heard this said,
+"Which of you is my secretary?" "I am, senor," said one of those
+present, "for I can read and write, and am a Biscayan." "With that
+addition," said Sancho, "you might be secretary to the emperor
+himself; open this paper and see what it says." The new-born secretary
+obeyed, and having read the contents said the matter was one to be
+discussed in private. Sancho ordered the chamber to be cleared, the
+majordomo and the carver only remaining; so the doctor and the
+others withdrew, and then the secretary read the letter, which was
+as follows:
+
+
+It has come to my knowledge, Senor Don Sancho Panza, that certain
+enemies of mine and of the island are about to make a furious attack
+upon it some night, I know not when. It behoves you to be on the alert
+and keep watch, that they surprise you not. I also know by trustworthy
+spies that four persons have entered the town in disguise in order
+to take your life, because they stand in dread of your great capacity;
+keep your eyes open and take heed who approaches you to address you,
+and eat nothing that is presented to you. I will take care to send you
+aid if you find yourself in difficulty, but in all things you will act
+as may be expected of your judgment. From this place, the Sixteenth of
+August, at four in the morning.
+
+Your friend,
+
+THE DUKE
+
+
+
+Sancho was astonished, and those who stood by made believe to be
+so too, and turning to the majordomo he said to him, "What we have got
+to do first, and it must be done at once, is to put Doctor Recio in
+the lock-up; for if anyone wants to kill me it is he, and by a slow
+death and the worst of all, which is hunger."
+
+"Likewise," said the carver, "it is my opinion your worship should
+not eat anything that is on this table, for the whole was a present
+from some nuns; and as they say, 'behind the cross there's the
+devil.'"
+
+"I don't deny it," said Sancho; "so for the present give me a
+piece of bread and four pounds or so of grapes; no poison can come
+in them; for the fact is I can't go on without eating; and if we are
+to be prepared for these battles that are threatening us we must be
+well provisioned; for it is the tripes that carry the heart and not
+the heart the tripes. And you, secretary, answer my lord the duke
+and tell him that all his commands shall be obeyed to the letter, as
+he directs; and say from me to my lady the duchess that I kiss her
+hands, and that I beg of her not to forget to send my letter and
+bundle to my wife Teresa Panza by a messenger; and I will take it as a
+great favour and will not fail to serve her in all that may lie within
+my power; and as you are about it you may enclose a kiss of the hand
+to my master Don Quixote that he may see I am grateful bread; and as a
+good secretary and a good Biscayan you may add whatever you like and
+whatever will come in best; and now take away this cloth and give me
+something to eat, and I'll be ready to meet all the spies and
+assassins and enchanters that may come against me or my island."
+
+At this instant a page entered saying, "Here is a farmer on
+business, who wants to speak to your lordship on a matter of great
+importance, he says."
+
+"It's very odd," said Sancho, "the ways of these men on business; is
+it possible they can be such fools as not to see that an hour like
+this is no hour for coming on business? We who govern and we who are
+judges- are we not men of flesh and blood, and are we not to be
+allowed the time required for taking rest, unless they'd have us
+made of marble? By God and on my conscience, if the government remains
+in my hands (which I have a notion it won't), I'll bring more than one
+man on business to order. However, tell this good man to come in;
+but take care first of all that he is not some spy or one of my
+assassins."
+
+"No, my lord," said the page, "for he looks like a simple fellow,
+and either I know very little or he is as good as good bread."
+
+"There is nothing to be afraid of," said the majordomo, "for we
+are all here."
+
+"Would it be possible, carver," said Sancho, "now that Doctor
+Pedro Recio is not here, to let me eat something solid and
+substantial, if it were even a piece of bread and an onion?"
+
+"To-night at supper," said the carver, "the shortcomings of the
+dinner shall be made good, and your lordship shall be fully
+contented."
+
+"God grant it," said Sancho.
+
+The farmer now came in, a well-favoured man that one might see a
+thousand leagues off was an honest fellow and a good soul. The first
+thing he said was, "Which is the lord governor here?"
+
+"Which should it be," said the secretary, "but he who is seated in
+the chair?"
+
+"Then I humble myself before him," said the farmer; and going on his
+knees he asked for his hand, to kiss it. Sancho refused it, and bade
+him stand up and say what he wanted. The farmer obeyed, and then said,
+"I am a farmer, senor, a native of Miguelturra, a village two
+leagues from Ciudad Real."
+
+"Another Tirteafuera!" said Sancho; "say on, brother; I know
+Miguelturra very well I can tell you, for it's not very far from my
+own town."
+
+"The case is this, senor," continued the farmer, "that by God's
+mercy I am married with the leave and licence of the holy Roman
+Catholic Church; I have two sons, students, and the younger is
+studying to become bachelor, and the elder to be licentiate; I am a
+widower, for my wife died, or more properly speaking, a bad doctor
+killed her on my hands, giving her a purge when she was with child;
+and if it had pleased God that the child had been born, and was a boy,
+I would have put him to study for doctor, that he might not envy his
+brothers the bachelor and the licentiate."
+
+"So that if your wife had not died, or had not been killed, you
+would not now be a widower," said Sancho.
+
+"No, senor, certainly not," said the farmer.
+
+"We've got that much settled," said Sancho; "get on, brother, for
+it's more bed-time than business-time."
+
+"Well then," said the farmer, "this son of mine who is going to be a
+bachelor, fell in love in the said town with a damsel called Clara
+Perlerina, daughter of Andres Perlerino, a very rich farmer; and
+this name of Perlerines does not come to them by ancestry or
+descent, but because all the family are paralytics, and for a better
+name they call them Perlerines; though to tell the truth the damsel is
+as fair as an Oriental pearl, and like a flower of the field, if you
+look at her on the right side; on the left not so much, for on that
+side she wants an eye that she lost by small-pox; and though her
+face is thickly and deeply pitted, those who love her say they are not
+pits that are there, but the graves where the hearts of her lovers are
+buried. She is so cleanly that not to soil her face she carries her
+nose turned up, as they say, so that one would fancy it was running
+away from her mouth; and with all this she looks extremely well, for
+she has a wide mouth; and but for wanting ten or a dozen teeth and
+grinders she might compare and compete with the comeliest. Of her lips
+I say nothing, for they are so fine and thin that, if lips might be
+reeled, one might make a skein of them; but being of a different
+colour from ordinary lips they are wonderful, for they are mottled,
+blue, green, and purple- let my lord the governor pardon me for
+painting so minutely the charms of her who some time or other will
+be my daughter; for I love her, and I don't find her amiss."
+
+"Paint what you will," said Sancho; "I enjoy your painting, and if I
+had dined there could be no dessert more to my taste than your
+portrait."
+
+"That I have still to furnish," said the farmer; "but a time will
+come when we may be able if we are not now; and I can tell you, senor,
+if I could paint her gracefulness and her tall figure, it would
+astonish you; but that is impossible because she is bent double with
+her knees up to her mouth; but for all that it is easy to see that
+if she could stand up she'd knock her head against the ceiling; and
+she would have given her hand to my bachelor ere this, only that she
+can't stretch it out, for it's contracted; but still one can see its
+elegance and fine make by its long furrowed nails."
+
+"That will do, brother," said Sancho; "consider you have painted her
+from head to foot; what is it you want now? Come to the point
+without all this beating about the bush, and all these scraps and
+additions."
+
+"I want your worship, senor," said the farmer, "to do me the
+favour of giving me a letter of recommendation to the girl's father,
+begging him to be so good as to let this marriage take place, as we
+are not ill-matched either in the gifts of fortune or of nature; for
+to tell the truth, senor governor, my son is possessed of a devil, and
+there is not a day but the evil spirits torment him three or four
+times; and from having once fallen into the fire, he has his face
+puckered up like a piece of parchment, and his eyes watery and
+always running; but he has the disposition of an angel, and if it
+was not for belabouring and pummelling himself he'd be a saint."
+
+"Is there anything else you want, good man?" said Sancho.
+
+"There's another thing I'd like," said the farmer, "but I'm afraid
+to mention it; however, out it must; for after all I can't let it be
+rotting in my breast, come what may. I mean, senor, that I'd like your
+worship to give me three hundred or six hundred ducats as a help to my
+bachelor's portion, to help him in setting up house; for they must, in
+short, live by themselves, without being subject to the
+interferences of their fathers-in-law."
+
+"Just see if there's anything else you'd like," said Sancho, "and
+don't hold back from mentioning it out of bashfulness or modesty."
+
+"No, indeed there is not," said the farmer.
+
+The moment he said this the governor started to his feet, and
+seizing the chair he had been sitting on exclaimed, "By all that's
+good, you ill-bred, boorish Don Bumpkin, if you don't get out of
+this at once and hide yourself from my sight, I'll lay your head
+open with this chair. You whoreson rascal, you devil's own painter,
+and is it at this hour you come to ask me for six hundred ducats!
+How should I have them, you stinking brute? And why should I give them
+to you if I had them, you knave and blockhead? What have I to do
+with Miguelturra or the whole family of the Perlerines? Get out I say,
+or by the life of my lord the duke I'll do as I said. You're not
+from Miguelturra, but some knave sent here from hell to tempt me. Why,
+you villain, I have not yet had the government half a day, and you
+want me to have six hundred ducats already!"
+
+The carver made signs to the farmer to leave the room, which he
+did with his head down, and to all appearance in terror lest the
+governor should carry his threats into effect, for the rogue knew very
+well how to play his part.
+
+But let us leave Sancho in his wrath, and peace be with them all;
+and let us return to Don Quixote, whom we left with his face
+bandaged and doctored after the cat wounds, of which he was not
+cured for eight days; and on one of these there befell him what Cide
+Hamete promises to relate with that exactitude and truth with which he
+is wont to set forth everything connected with this great history,
+however minute it may be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII
+
+OF WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE WITH DONA RODRIGUEZ, THE DUCHESS'S
+DUENNA, TOGETHER WITH OTHER OCCURRENCES WORTHY OF RECORD AND ETERNAL
+REMEMBRANCE
+
+Exceedingly moody and dejected was the sorely wounded Don Quixote,
+with his face bandaged and marked, not by the hand of God, but by
+the claws of a cat, mishaps incidental to knight-errantry. Six days he
+remained without appearing in public, and one night as he lay awake
+thinking of his misfortunes and of Altisidora's pursuit of him, he
+perceived that some one was opening the door of his room with a key,
+and he at once made up his mind that the enamoured damsel was coming
+to make an assault upon his chastity and put him in danger of
+failing in the fidelity he owed to his lady Dulcinea del Toboso. "No,"
+said he, firmly persuaded of the truth of his idea (and he said it
+loud enough to be heard), "the greatest beauty upon earth shall not
+avail to make me renounce my adoration of her whom I bear stamped
+and graved in the core of my heart and the secret depths of my bowels;
+be thou, lady mine, transformed into a clumsy country wench, or into a
+nymph of golden Tagus weaving a web of silk and gold, let Merlin or
+Montesinos hold thee captive where they will; whereer thou art, thou
+art mine, and where'er I am, must he thine." The very instant he had
+uttered these words, the door opened. He stood up on the bed wrapped
+from head to foot in a yellow satin coverlet, with a cap on his
+head, and his face and his moustaches tied up, his face because of the
+scratches, and his moustaches to keep them from drooping and falling
+down, in which trim he looked the most extraordinary scarecrow that
+could be conceived. He kept his eyes fixed on the door, and just as he
+was expecting to see the love-smitten and unhappy Altisidora make
+her appearance, he saw coming in a most venerable duenna, in a long
+white-bordered veil that covered and enveloped her from head to
+foot. Between the fingers of her left hand she held a short lighted
+candle, while with her right she shaded it to keep the light from
+her eyes, which were covered by spectacles of great size, and she
+advanced with noiseless steps, treading very softly.
+
+Don Quixote kept an eye upon her from his watchtower, and
+observing her costume and noting her silence, he concluded that it
+must be some witch or sorceress that was coming in such a guise to
+work him some mischief, and he began crossing himself at a great rate.
+The spectre still advanced, and on reaching the middle of the room,
+looked up and saw the energy with which Don Quixote was crossing
+himself; and if he was scared by seeing such a figure as hers, she was
+terrified at the sight of his; for the moment she saw his tall
+yellow form with the coverlet and the bandages that disfigured him,
+she gave a loud scream, and exclaiming, "Jesus! what's this I see?"
+let fall the candle in her fright, and then finding herself in the
+dark, turned about to make off, but stumbling on her skirts in her
+consternation, she measured her length with a mighty fall.
+
+Don Quixote in his trepidation began saying, "I conjure thee,
+phantom, or whatever thou art, tell me what thou art and what thou
+wouldst with me. If thou art a soul in torment, say so, and all that
+my powers can do I will do for thee; for I am a Catholic Christian and
+love to do good to all the world, and to this end I have embraced
+the order of knight-errantry to which I belong, the province of
+which extends to doing good even to souls in purgatory."
+
+The unfortunate duenna hearing herself thus conjured, by her own
+fear guessed Don Quixote's and in a low plaintive voice answered,
+"Senor Don Quixote- if so be you are indeed Don Quixote- I am no
+phantom or spectre or soul in purgatory, as you seem to think, but
+Dona Rodriguez, duenna of honour to my lady the duchess, and I come to
+you with one of those grievances your worship is wont to redress."
+
+"Tell me, Senora Dona Rodriguez," said Don Quixote, "do you
+perchance come to transact any go-between business? Because I must
+tell you I am not available for anybody's purpose, thanks to the
+peerless beauty of my lady Dulcinea del Toboso. In short, Senora
+Dona Rodriguez, if you will leave out and put aside all love messages,
+you may go and light your candle and come back, and we will discuss
+all the commands you have for me and whatever you wish, saving only,
+as I said, all seductive communications."
+
+"I carry nobody's messages, senor," said the duenna; "little you
+know me. Nay, I'm not far enough advanced in years to take to any such
+childish tricks. God be praised I have a soul in my body still, and
+all my teeth and grinders in my mouth, except one or two that the
+colds, so common in this Aragon country, have robbed me of. But wait a
+little, while I go and light my candle, and I will return
+immediately and lay my sorrows before you as before one who relieves
+those of all the world;" and without staying for an answer she quitted
+the room and left Don Quixote tranquilly meditating while he waited
+for her. A thousand thoughts at once suggested themselves to him on
+the subject of this new adventure, and it struck him as being ill done
+and worse advised in him to expose himself to the danger of breaking
+his plighted faith to his lady; and said he to himself, "Who knows but
+that the devil, being wily and cunning, may be trying now to entrap me
+with a duenna, having failed with empresses, queens, duchesses,
+marchionesses, and countesses? Many a time have I heard it said by
+many a man of sense that he will sooner offer you a flat-nosed wench
+than a roman-nosed one; and who knows but this privacy, this
+opportunity, this silence, may awaken my sleeping desires, and lead me
+in these my latter years to fall where I have never tripped? In
+cases of this sort it is better to flee than to await the battle.
+But I must be out of my senses to think and utter such nonsense; for
+it is impossible that a long, white-hooded spectacled duenna could
+stir up or excite a wanton thought in the most graceless bosom in
+the world. Is there a duenna on earth that has fair flesh? Is there
+a duenna in the world that escapes being ill-tempered, wrinkled, and
+prudish? Avaunt, then, ye duenna crew, undelightful to all mankind.
+Oh, but that lady did well who, they say, had at the end of her
+reception room a couple of figures of duennas with spectacles and
+lace-cushions, as if at work, and those statues served quite as well
+to give an air of propriety to the room as if they had been real
+duennas."
+
+So saying he leaped off the bed, intending to close the door and not
+allow Senora Rodriguez to enter; but as he went to shut it Senora
+Rodriguez returned with a wax candle lighted, and having a closer view
+of Don Quixote, with the coverlet round him, and his bandages and
+night-cap, she was alarmed afresh, and retreating a couple of paces,
+exclaimed, "Am I safe, sir knight? for I don't look upon it as a
+sign of very great virtue that your worship should have got up out
+of bed."
+
+"I may well ask the same, senora," said Don Quixote; "and I do ask
+whether I shall be safe from being assailed and forced?"
+
+"Of whom and against whom do you demand that security, sir
+knight?" said the duenna.
+
+"Of you and against you I ask it," said Don Quixote; "for I am not
+marble, nor are you brass, nor is it now ten o'clock in the morning,
+but midnight, or a trifle past it I fancy, and we are in a room more
+secluded and retired than the cave could have been where the
+treacherous and daring AEneas enjoyed the fair soft-hearted Dido.
+But give me your hand, senora; I require no better protection than
+my own continence, and my own sense of propriety; as well as that
+which is inspired by that venerable head-dress;" and so saying he
+kissed her right hand and took it in his own, she yielding it to him
+with equal ceremoniousness. And here Cide Hamete inserts a parenthesis
+in which he says that to have seen the pair marching from the door
+to the bed, linked hand in hand in this way, he would have given the
+best of the two tunics he had.
+
+Don Quixote finally got into bed, and Dona Rodriguez took her seat
+on a chair at some little distance from his couch, without taking
+off her spectacles or putting aside the candle. Don Quixote wrapped
+the bedclothes round him and covered himself up completely, leaving
+nothing but his face visible, and as soon as they had both regained
+their composure he broke silence, saying, "Now, Senora Dona Rodriguez,
+you may unbosom yourself and out with everything you have in your
+sorrowful heart and afflicted bowels; and by me you shall be
+listened to with chaste ears, and aided by compassionate exertions."
+
+"I believe it," replied the duenna; "from your worship's gentle
+and winning presence only such a Christian answer could be expected.
+The fact is, then, Senor Don Quixote, that though you see me seated in
+this chair, here in the middle of the kingdom of Aragon, and in the
+attire of a despised outcast duenna, I am from the Asturias of Oviedo,
+and of a family with which many of the best of the province are
+connected by blood; but my untoward fate and the improvidence of my
+parents, who, I know not how, were unseasonably reduced to poverty,
+brought me to the court of Madrid, where as a provision and to avoid
+greater misfortunes, my parents placed me as seamstress in the service
+of a lady of quality, and I would have you know that for hemming and
+sewing I have never been surpassed by any all my life. My parents left
+me in service and returned to their own country, and a few years later
+went, no doubt, to heaven, for they were excellent good Catholic
+Christians. I was left an orphan with nothing but the miserable
+wages and trifling presents that are given to servants of my sort in
+palaces; but about this time, without any encouragement on my part,
+one of the esquires of the household fell in love with me, a man
+somewhat advanced in years, full-bearded and personable, and above all
+as good a gentleman as the king himself, for he came of a mountain
+stock. We did not carry on our loves with such secrecy but that they
+came to the knowledge of my lady, and she, not to have any fuss
+about it, had us married with the full sanction of the holy mother
+Roman Catholic Church, of which marriage a daughter was born to put an
+end to my good fortune, if I had any; not that I died in childbirth,
+for I passed through it safely and in due season, but because
+shortly afterwards my husband died of a certain shock he received, and
+had I time to tell you of it I know your worship would be
+surprised;" and here she began to weep bitterly and said, "Pardon
+me, Senor Don Quixote, if I am unable to control myself, for every
+time I think of my unfortunate husband my eyes fill up with tears. God
+bless me, with what an air of dignity he used to carry my lady
+behind him on a stout mule as black as jet! for in those days they did
+not use coaches or chairs, as they say they do now, and ladies rode
+behind their squires. This much at least I cannot help telling you,
+that you may observe the good breeding and punctiliousness of my
+worthy husband. As he was turning into the Calle de Santiago in
+Madrid, which is rather narrow, one of the alcaldes of the Court, with
+two alguacils before him, was coming out of it, and as soon as my good
+squire saw him he wheeled his mule about and made as if he would
+turn and accompany him. My lady, who was riding behind him, said to
+him in a low voice, 'What are you about, you sneak, don't you see that
+I am here?' The alcalde like a polite man pulled up his horse and said
+to him, 'Proceed, senor, for it is I, rather, who ought to accompany
+my lady Dona Casilda'- for that was my mistress's name. Still my
+husband, cap in hand, persisted in trying to accompany the alcalde,
+and seeing this my lady, filled with rage and vexation, pulled out a
+big pin, or, I rather think, a bodkin, out of her needle-case and
+drove it into his back with such force that my husband gave a loud
+yell, and writhing fell to the ground with his lady. Her two
+lacqueys ran to rise her up, and the alcalde and the alguacils did the
+same; the Guadalajara gate was all in commotion -I mean the idlers
+congregated there; my mistress came back on foot, and my husband
+hurried away to a barber's shop protesting that he was run right
+through the guts. The courtesy of my husband was noised abroad to such
+an extent, that the boys gave him no peace in the street; and on
+this account, and because he was somewhat shortsighted, my lady
+dismissed him; and it was chagrin at this I am convinced beyond a
+doubt that brought on his death. I was left a helpless widow, with a
+daughter on my hands growing up in beauty like the sea-foam; at
+length, however, as I had the character of being an excellent
+needlewoman, my lady the duchess, then lately married to my lord the
+duke, offered to take me with her to this kingdom of Aragon, and my
+daughter also, and here as time went by my daughter grew up and with
+her all the graces in the world; she sings like a lark, dances quick
+as thought, foots it like a gipsy, reads and writes like a
+schoolmaster, and does sums like a miser; of her neatness I say
+nothing, for the running water is not purer, and her age is now, if my
+memory serves me, sixteen years five months and three days, one more
+or less. To come to the point, the son of a very rich farmer, living
+in a village of my lord the duke's not very far from here, fell in
+love with this girl of mine; and in short, how I know not, they came
+together, and under the promise of marrying her he made a fool of my
+daughter, and will not keep his word. And though my lord the duke is
+aware of it (for I have complained to him, not once but many and
+many a time, and entreated him to order the farmer to marry my
+daughter), he turns a deaf ear and will scarcely listen to me; the
+reason being that as the deceiver's father is so rich, and lends him
+money, and is constantly going security for his debts, he does not
+like to offend or annoy him in any way. Now, senor, I want your
+worship to take it upon yourself to redress this wrong either by
+entreaty or by arms; for by what all the world says you came into it
+to redress grievances and right wrongs and help the unfortunate. Let
+your worship put before you the unprotected condition of my
+daughter, her youth, and all the perfections I have said she
+possesses; and before God and on my conscience, out of all the damsels
+my lady has, there is not one that comes up to the sole of her shoe,
+and the one they call Altisidora, and look upon as the boldest and
+gayest of them, put in comparison with my daughter, does not come
+within two leagues of her. For I would have you know, senor, all is
+not gold that glitters, and that same little Altisidora has more
+forwardness than good looks, and more impudence than modesty;
+besides being not very sound, for she has such a disagreeable breath
+that one cannot bear to be near her for a moment; and even my lady the
+duchess- but I'll hold my tongue, for they say that walls have ears."
+
+"For heaven's sake, Dona Rodriguez, what ails my lady the
+duchess?" asked Don Quixote.
+
+"Adjured in that way," replied the duenna, "I cannot help
+answering the question and telling the whole truth. Senor Don Quixote,
+have you observed the comeliness of my lady the duchess, that smooth
+complexion of hers like a burnished polished sword, those two cheeks
+of milk and carmine, that gay lively step with which she treads or
+rather seems to spurn the earth, so that one would fancy she went
+radiating health wherever she passed? Well then, let me tell you she
+may thank, first of all God, for this, and next, two issues that she
+has, one in each leg, by which all the evil humours, of which the
+doctors say she is full, are discharged."
+
+"Blessed Virgin!" exclaimed Don Quixote; "and is it possible that my
+lady the duchess has drains of that sort? I would not have believed it
+if the barefoot friars had told it me; but as the lady Dona
+Rodriguez says so, it must be so. But surely such issues, and in
+such places, do not discharge humours, but liquid amber. Verily, I
+do believe now that this practice of opening issues is a very
+important matter for the health."
+
+Don Quixote had hardly said this, when the chamber door flew open
+with a loud bang, and with the start the noise gave her Dona Rodriguez
+let the candle fall from her hand, and the room was left as dark as
+a wolf's mouth, as the saying is. Suddenly the poor duenna felt two
+hands seize her by the throat, so tightly that she could not croak,
+while some one else, without uttering a word, very briskly hoisted
+up her petticoats, and with what seemed to be a slipper began to lay
+on so heartily that anyone would have felt pity for her; but
+although Don Quixote felt it he never stirred from his bed, but lay
+quiet and silent, nay apprehensive that his turn for a drubbing
+might be coming. Nor was the apprehension an idle one; one; for
+leaving the duenna (who did not dare to cry out) well basted, the
+silent executioners fell upon Don Quixote, and stripping him of the
+sheet and the coverlet, they pinched him so fast and so hard that he
+was driven to defend himself with his fists, and all this in
+marvellous silence. The battle lasted nearly half an hour, and then
+the phantoms fled; Dona Rodriguez gathered up her skirts, and
+bemoaning her fate went out without saying a word to Don Quixote,
+and he, sorely pinched, puzzled, and dejected, remained alone, and
+there we will leave him, wondering who could have been the perverse
+enchanter who had reduced him to such a state; but that shall be
+told in due season, for Sancho claims our attention, and the
+methodical arrangement of the story demands it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX
+
+OF WHAT HAPPENED SANCHO IN MAKING THE ROUND OF HIS ISLAND
+
+We left the great governor angered and irritated by that
+portrait-painting rogue of a farmer who, instructed the majordomo,
+as the majordomo was by the duke, tried to practise upon him; he
+however, fool, boor, and clown as he was, held his own against them
+all, saying to those round him and to Doctor Pedro Recio, who as
+soon as the private business of the duke's letter was disposed of
+had returned to the room, "Now I see plainly enough that judges and
+governors ought to be and must be made of brass not to feel the
+importunities of the applicants that at all times and all seasons
+insist on being heard, and having their business despatched, and their
+own affairs and no others attended to, come what may; and if the
+poor judge does not hear them and settle the matter- either because he
+cannot or because that is not the time set apart for hearing them-
+forthwith they abuse him, and run him down, and gnaw at his bones, and
+even pick holes in his pedigree. You silly, stupid applicant, don't be
+in a hurry; wait for the proper time and season for doing business;
+don't come at dinner-hour, or at bed-time; for judges are only flesh
+and blood, and must give to Nature what she naturally demands of them;
+all except myself, for in my case I give her nothing to eat, thanks to
+Senor Doctor Pedro Recio Tirteafuera here, who would have me die of
+hunger, and declares that death to be life; and the same sort of
+life may God give him and all his kind- I mean the bad doctors; for
+the good ones deserve palms and laurels."
+
+All who knew Sancho Panza were astonished to hear him speak so
+elegantly, and did not know what to attribute it to unless it were
+that office and grave responsibility either smarten or stupefy men's
+wits. At last Doctor Pedro Recio Agilers of Tirteafuera promised to
+let him have supper that night though it might be in contravention
+of all the aphorisms of Hippocrates. With this the governor was
+satisfied and looked forward to the approach of night and
+supper-time with great anxiety; and though time, to his mind, stood
+still and made no progress, nevertheless the hour he so longed for
+came, and they gave him a beef salad with onions and some boiled
+calves' feet rather far gone. At this he fell to with greater relish
+than if they had given him francolins from Milan, pheasants from Rome,
+veal from Sorrento, partridges from Moron, or geese from Lavajos,
+and turning to the doctor at supper he said to him, "Look here,
+senor doctor, for the future don't trouble yourself about giving me
+dainty things or choice dishes to eat, for it will be only taking my
+stomach off its hinges; it is accustomed to goat, cow, bacon, hung
+beef, turnips and onions; and if by any chance it is given these
+palace dishes, it receives them squeamishly, and sometimes with
+loathing. What the head-carver had best do is to serve me with what
+they call ollas podridas (and the rottener they are the better they
+smell); and he can put whatever he likes into them, so long as it is
+good to eat, and I'll be obliged to him, and will requite him some
+day. But let nobody play pranks on me, for either we are or we are
+not; let us live and eat in peace and good-fellowship, for when God
+sends the dawn, be sends it for all. I mean to govern this island
+without giving up a right or taking a bribe; let everyone keep his eye
+open, and look out for the arrow; for I can tell them 'the devil's
+in Cantillana,' and if they drive me to it they'll see something
+that will astonish them. Nay! make yourself honey and the flies eat
+you."
+
+"Of a truth, senor governor," said the carver, "your worship is in
+the right of it in everything you have said; and I promise you in
+the name of all the inhabitants of this island that they will serve
+your worship with all zeal, affection, and good-will, for the mild
+kind of government you have given a sample of to begin with, leaves
+them no ground for doing or thinking anything to your worship's
+disadvantage."
+
+"That I believe," said Sancho; "and they would be great fools if
+they did or thought otherwise; once more I say, see to my feeding
+and my Dapple's for that is the great point and what is most to the
+purpose; and when the hour comes let us go the rounds, for it is my
+intention to purge this island of all manner of uncleanness and of all
+idle good-for-nothing vagabonds; for I would have you know that lazy
+idlers are the same thing in a State as the drones in a hive, that eat
+up the honey the industrious bees make. I mean to protect the
+husbandman, to preserve to the gentleman his privileges, to reward the
+virtuous, and above all to respect religion and honour its
+ministers. What say you to that, my friends? Is there anything in what
+I say, or am I talking to no purpose?"
+
+"There is so much in what your worship says, senor governor," said
+the majordomo, "that I am filled with wonder when I see a man like
+your worship, entirely without learning (for I believe you have none
+at all), say such things, and so full of sound maxims and sage
+remarks, very different from what was expected of your worship's
+intelligence by those who sent us or by us who came here. Every day we
+see something new in this world; jokes become realities, and the
+jokers find the tables turned upon them."
+
+Night came, and with the permission of Doctor Pedro Recio, the
+governor had supper. They then got ready to go the rounds, and he
+started with the majordomo, the secretary, the head-carver, the
+chronicler charged with recording his deeds, and alguacils and
+notaries enough to form a fair-sized squadron. In the midst marched
+Sancho with his staff, as fine a sight as one could wish to see, and
+but a few streets of the town had been traversed when they heard a
+noise as of a clashing of swords. They hastened to the spot, and found
+that the combatants were but two, who seeing the authorities
+approaching stood still, and one of them exclaimed, "Help, in the name
+of God and the king! Are men to he allowed to rob in the middle of
+this town, and rush out and attack people in the very streets?"
+
+"Be calm, my good man," said Sancho, "and tell me what the cause
+of this quarrel is; for I am the governor."
+
+Said the other combatant, "Senor governor, I will tell you in a very
+few words. Your worship must know that this gentleman has just now won
+more than a thousand reals in that gambling house opposite, and God
+knows how. I was there, and gave more than one doubtful point in his
+favour, very much against what my conscience told me. He made off with
+his winnings, and when I made sure he was going to give me a crown
+or so at least by way of a present, as it is usual and customary to
+give men of quality of my sort who stand by to see fair or foul
+play, and back up swindles, and prevent quarrels, he pocketed his
+money and left the house. Indignant at this I followed him, and
+speaking him fairly and civilly asked him to give me if it were only
+eight reals, for he knows I am an honest man and that I have neither
+profession nor property, for my parents never brought me up to any
+or left me any; but the rogue, who is a greater thief than Cacus and a
+greater sharper than Andradilla, would not give me more than four
+reals; so your worship may see how little shame and conscience he has.
+But by my faith if you had not come up I'd have made him disgorge
+his winnings, and he'd have learned what the range of the steel-yard
+was."
+
+"What say you to this?" asked Sancho. The other replied that all his
+antagonist said was true, and that he did not choose to give him
+more than four reals because he very often gave him money; and that
+those who expected presents ought to be civil and take what is given
+them with a cheerful countenance, and not make any claim against
+winners unless they know them for certain to be sharpers and their
+winnings to be unfairly won; and that there could be no better proof
+that he himself was an honest man than his having refused to give
+anything; for sharpers always pay tribute to lookers-on who know them.
+
+"That is true," said the majordomo; "let your worship consider
+what is to be done with these men."
+
+"What is to be done," said Sancho, "is this; you, the winner, be you
+good, bad, or indifferent, give this assailant of yours a hundred
+reals at once, and you must disburse thirty more for the poor
+prisoners; and you who have neither profession nor property, and
+hang about the island in idleness, take these hundred reals now, and
+some time of the day to-morrow quit the island under sentence of
+banishment for ten years, and under pain of completing it in another
+life if you violate the sentence, for I'll hang you on a gibbet, or at
+least the hangman will by my orders; not a word from either of you, or
+I'll make him feel my hand."
+
+The one paid down the money and the other took it, and the latter
+quitted the island, while the other went home; and then the governor
+said, "Either I am not good for much, or I'll get rid of these
+gambling houses, for it strikes me they are very mischievous."
+
+"This one at least," said one of the notaries, "your worship will
+not be able to get rid of, for a great man owns it, and what he
+loses every year is beyond all comparison more than what he makes by
+the cards. On the minor gambling houses your worship may exercise your
+power, and it is they that do most harm and shelter the most barefaced
+practices; for in the houses of lords and gentlemen of quality the
+notorious sharpers dare not attempt to play their tricks; and as the
+vice of gambling has become common, it is better that men should
+play in houses of repute than in some tradesman's, where they catch an
+unlucky fellow in the small hours of the morning and skin him alive."
+
+"I know already, notary, that there is a good deal to he said on
+that point," said Sancho.
+
+And now a tipstaff came up with a young man in his grasp, and
+said, "Senor governor, this youth was coming towards us, and as soon
+as he saw the officers of justice he turned about and ran like a deer,
+a sure proof that he must be some evil-doer; I ran after him, and
+had it not been that he stumbled and fell, I should never have
+caught him."
+
+"What did you run for, fellow?" said Sancho.
+
+To which the young man replied, "Senor, it was to avoid answering
+all the questions officers of justice put."
+
+"What are you by trade?"
+
+"A weaver."
+
+"And what do you weave?"
+
+"Lance heads, with your worship's good leave."
+
+"You're facetious with me! You plume yourself on being a wag? Very
+good; and where were you going just now?"
+
+"To take the air, senor."
+
+"And where does one take the air in this island?"
+
+"Where it blows."
+
+"Good! your answers are very much to the point; you are a smart
+youth; but take notice that I am the air, and that I blow upon you
+a-stern, and send you to gaol. Ho there! lay hold of him and take
+him off; I'll make him sleep there to-night without air."
+
+"By God," said the young man, "your worship will make me sleep in
+gaol just as soon as make me king."
+
+"Why shan't I make thee sleep in gaol?" said Sancho. "Have I not the
+power to arrest thee and release thee whenever I like?"
+
+"All the power your worship has," said the young man, "won't be able
+to make me sleep in gaol."
+
+"How? not able!" said Sancho; "take him away at once where he'll see
+his mistake with his own eyes, even if the gaoler is willing to
+exert his interested generosity on his behalf; for I'll lay a
+penalty of two thousand ducats on him if he allows him to stir a
+step from the prison."
+
+"That's ridiculous," said the young man; "the fact is, all the men
+on earth will not make me sleep in prison."
+
+"Tell me, you devil," said Sancho, "have you got any angel that will
+deliver you, and take off the irons I am going to order them to put
+upon you?"
+
+"Now, senor governor," said the young man in a sprightly manner,
+"let us be reasonable and come to the point. Granted your worship
+may order me to be taken to prison, and to have irons and chains put
+on me, and to be shut up in a cell, and may lay heavy penalties on the
+gaoler if he lets me out, and that he obeys your orders; still, if I
+don't choose to sleep, and choose to remain awake all night without
+closing an eye, will your worship with all your power be able to
+make me sleep if I don't choose?"
+
+"No, truly," said the secretary, "and the fellow has made his
+point."
+
+"So then," said Sancho, "it would be entirely of your own choice you
+would keep from sleeping; not in opposition to my will?"
+
+"No, senor," said the youth, "certainly not."
+
+"Well then, go, and God be with you," said Sancho; "be off home to
+sleep, and God give you sound sleep, for I don't want to rob you of
+it; but for the future, let me advise you don't joke with the
+authorities, because you may come across some one who will bring
+down the joke on your own skull."
+
+The young man went his way, and the governor continued his round,
+and shortly afterwards two tipstaffs came up with a man in custody,
+and said, "Senor governor, this person, who seems to be a man, is
+not so, but a woman, and not an ill-favoured one, in man's clothes."
+They raised two or three lanterns to her face, and by their light they
+distinguished the features of a woman to all appearance of the age
+of sixteen or a little more, with her hair gathered into a gold and
+green silk net, and fair as a thousand pearls. They scanned her from
+head to foot, and observed that she had on red silk stockings with
+garters of white taffety bordered with gold and pearl; her breeches
+were of green and gold stuff, and under an open jacket or jerkin of
+the same she wore a doublet of the finest white and gold cloth; her
+shoes were white and such as men wear; she carried no sword at her
+belt, but only a richly ornamented dagger, and on her fingers she
+had several handsome rings. In short, the girl seemed fair to look
+at in the eyes of all, and none of those who beheld her knew her,
+the people of the town said they could not imagine who she was, and
+those who were in the secret of the jokes that were to be practised
+upon Sancho were the ones who were most surprised, for this incident
+or discovery had not been arranged by them; and they watched anxiously
+to see how the affair would end.
+
+Sancho was fascinated by the girl's beauty, and he asked her who she
+was, where she was going, and what had induced her to dress herself in
+that garb. She with her eyes fixed on the ground answered in modest
+confusion, "I cannot tell you, senor, before so many people what it is
+of such consequence to me to have kept secret; one thing I wish to
+be known, that I am no thief or evildoer, but only an unhappy maiden
+whom the power of jealousy has led to break through the respect that
+is due to modesty."
+
+Hearing this the majordomo said to Sancho, "Make the people stand
+back, senor governor, that this lady may say what she wishes with less
+embarrassment."
+
+Sancho gave the order, and all except the majordomo, the
+head-carver, and the secretary fell back. Finding herself then in
+the presence of no more, the damsel went on to say, "I am the
+daughter, sirs, of Pedro Perez Mazorca, the wool-farmer of this
+town, who is in the habit of coming very often to my father's house."
+
+"That won't do, senora," said the majordomo; "for I know Pedro Perez
+very well, and I know he has no child at all, either son or
+daughter; and besides, though you say he is your father, you add
+then that he comes very often to your father's house."
+
+"I had already noticed that," said Sancho.
+
+"I am confused just now, sirs," said the damsel, "and I don't know
+what I am saying; but the truth is that I am the daughter of Diego
+de la Llana, whom you must all know."
+
+"Ay, that will do," said the majordomo; "for I know Diego de la
+Llana, and know that he is a gentleman of position and a rich man, and
+that he has a son and a daughter, and that since he was left a widower
+nobody in all this town can speak of having seen his daughter's
+face; for he keeps her so closely shut up that he does not give even
+the sun a chance of seeing her; and for all that report says she is
+extremely beautiful."
+
+"It is true," said the damsel, "and I am that daughter; whether
+report lies or not as to my beauty, you, sirs, will have decided by
+this time, as you have seen me;" and with this she began to weep
+bitterly.
+
+On seeing this the secretary leant over to the head-carver's ear,
+and said to him in a low voice, "Something serious has no doubt
+happened this poor maiden, that she goes wandering from home in such a
+dress and at such an hour, and one of her rank too." "There can be
+no doubt about it," returned the carver, "and moreover her tears
+confirm your suspicion." Sancho gave her the best comfort he could,
+and entreated her to tell them without any fear what had happened her,
+as they would all earnestly and by every means in their power
+endeavour to relieve her.
+
+"The fact is, sirs," said she, "that my father has kept me shut up
+these ten years, for so long is it since the earth received my mother.
+Mass is said at home in a sumptuous chapel, and all this time I have
+seen but the sun in the heaven by day, and the moon and the stars by
+night; nor do I know what streets are like, or plazas, or churches, or
+even men, except my father and a brother I have, and Pedro Perez the
+wool-farmer; whom, because he came frequently to our house, I took
+it into my head to call my father, to avoid naming my own. This
+seclusion and the restrictions laid upon my going out, were it only to
+church, have been keeping me unhappy for many a day and month past;
+I longed to see the world, or at least the town where I was born,
+and it did not seem to me that this wish was inconsistent with the
+respect maidens of good quality should have for themselves. When I
+heard them talking of bull-fights taking place, and of javelin
+games, and of acting plays, I asked my brother, who is a year
+younger than myself, to tell me what sort of things these were, and
+many more that I had never seen; he explained them to me as well as he
+could, but the only effect was to kindle in me a still stronger desire
+to see them. At last, to cut short the story of my ruin, I begged
+and entreated my brother- O that I had never made such an entreaty-"
+And once more she gave way to a burst of weeping.
+
+"Proceed, senora," said the majordomo, "and finish your story of
+what has happened to you, for your words and tears are keeping us
+all in suspense."
+
+"I have but little more to say, though many a tear to shed," said
+the damsel; "for ill-placed desires can only be paid for in some
+such way."
+
+The maiden's beauty had made a deep impression on the
+head-carver's heart, and he again raised his lantern for another
+look at her, and thought they were not tears she was shedding, but
+seed-pearl or dew of the meadow, nay, he exalted them still higher,
+and made Oriental pearls of them, and fervently hoped her misfortune
+might not be so great a one as her tears and sobs seemed to
+indicate. The governor was losing patience at the length of time the
+girl was taking to tell her story, and told her not to keep them
+waiting any longer; for it was late, and there still remained a good
+deal of the town to be gone over.
+
+She, with broken sobs and half-suppressed sighs, went on to say, "My
+misfortune, my misadventure, is simply this, that I entreated my
+brother to dress me up as a man in a suit of his clothes, and take
+me some night, when our father was asleep, to see the whole town;
+he, overcome by my entreaties, consented, and dressing me in this suit
+and himself in clothes of mine that fitted him as if made for him (for
+he has not a hair on his chin, and might pass for a very beautiful
+young girl), to-night, about an hour ago, more or less, we left the
+house, and guided by our youthful and foolish impulse we made the
+circuit of the whole town, and then, as we were about to return
+home, we saw a great troop of people coming, and my brother said to
+me, 'Sister, this must be the round, stir your feet and put wings to
+them, and follow me as fast as you can, lest they recognise us, for
+that would be a bad business for us;' and so saying he turned about
+and began, I cannot say to run but to fly; in less than six paces I
+fell from fright, and then the officer of justice came up and
+carried me before your worships, where I find myself put to shame
+before all these people as whimsical and vicious."
+
+"So then, senora," said Sancho, "no other mishap has befallen you,
+nor was it jealousy that made you leave home, as you said at the
+beginning of your story?"
+
+"Nothing has happened me," said she, "nor was it jealousy that
+brought me out, but merely a longing to see the world, which did not
+go beyond seeing the streets of this town."
+
+The appearance of the tipstaffs with her brother in custody, whom
+one of them had overtaken as he ran away from his sister, now fully
+confirmed the truth of what the damsel said. He had nothing on but a
+rich petticoat and a short blue damask cloak with fine gold lace,
+and his head was uncovered and adorned only with its own hair, which
+looked like rings of gold, so bright and curly was it. The governor,
+the majordomo, and the carver went aside with him, and, unheard by his
+sister, asked him how he came to be in that dress, and he with no less
+shame and embarrassment told exactly the same story as his sister,
+to the great delight of the enamoured carver; the governor, however,
+said to them, "In truth, young lady and gentleman, this has been a
+very childish affair, and to explain your folly and rashness there was
+no necessity for all this delay and all these tears and sighs; for
+if you had said we are so-and-so, and we escaped from our father's
+house in this way in order to ramble about, out of mere curiosity
+and with no other object, there would have been an end of the
+matter, and none of these little sobs and tears and all the rest of
+it."
+
+"That is true," said the damsel, "but you see the confusion I was in
+was so great it did not let me behave as I ought."
+
+"No harm has been done," said Sancho; "come, we will leave you at
+your father's house; perhaps they will not have missed you; and
+another time don't be so childish or eager to see the world; for a
+respectable damsel should have a broken leg and keep at home; and
+the woman and the hen by gadding about are soon lost; and she who is
+eager to see is also eager to be seen; I say no more."
+
+The youth thanked the governor for his kind offer to take them home,
+and they directed their steps towards the house, which was not far
+off. On reaching it the youth threw a pebble up at a grating, and
+immediately a woman-servant who was waiting for them came down and
+opened the door to them, and they went in, leaving the party
+marvelling as much at their grace and beauty as at the fancy they
+had for seeing the world by night and without quitting the village;
+which, however, they set down to their youth.
+
+The head-carver was left with a heart pierced through and through,
+and he made up his mind on the spot to demand the damsel in marriage
+of her father on the morrow, making sure she would not be refused
+him as he was a servant of the duke's; and even to Sancho ideas and
+schemes of marrying the youth to his daughter Sanchica suggested
+themselves, and he resolved to open the negotiation at the proper
+season, persuading himself that no husband could be refused to a
+governor's daughter. And so the night's round came to an end, and a
+couple of days later the government, whereby all his plans were
+overthrown and swept away, as will be seen farther on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L
+
+WHEREIN IS SET FORTH WHO THE ENCHANTERS AND EXECUTIONERS WERE WHO
+FLOGGED THE DUENNA AND PINCHED DON QUIXOTE, AND ALSO WHAT BEFELL THE
+PAGE WHO CARRIED THE LETTER TO TERESA PANZA, SANCHO PANZA'S WIFE
+
+Cide Hamete, the painstaking investigator of the minute points of
+this veracious history, says that when Dona Rodriguez left her own
+room to go to Don Quixote's, another duenna who slept with her
+observed her, and as all duennas are fond of prying, listening, and
+sniffing, she followed her so silently that the good Rodriguez never
+perceived it; and as soon as the duenna saw her enter Don Quixote's
+room, not to fail in a duenna's invariable practice of tattling, she
+hurried off that instant to report to the duchess how Dona Rodriguez
+was closeted with Don Quixote. The duchess told the duke, and asked
+him to let her and Altisidora go and see what the said duenna wanted
+with Don Quixote. The duke gave them leave, and the pair cautiously
+and quietly crept to the door of the room and posted themselves so
+close to it that they could hear all that was said inside. But when
+the duchess heard how the Rodriguez had made public the Aranjuez of
+her issues she could not restrain herself, nor Altisidora either;
+and so, filled with rage and thirsting for vengeance, they burst
+into the room and tormented Don Quixote and flogged the duenna in
+the manner already described; for indignities offered to their
+charms and self-esteem mightily provoke the anger of women and make
+them eager for revenge. The duchess told the duke what had happened,
+and he was much amused by it; and she, in pursuance of her design of
+making merry and diverting herself with Don Quixote, despatched the
+page who had played the part of Dulcinea in the negotiations for her
+disenchantment (which Sancho Panza in the cares of government had
+forgotten all about) to Teresa Panza his wife with her husband's
+letter and another from herself, and also a great string of fine coral
+beads as a present.
+
+Now the history says this page was very sharp and quick-witted;
+and eager to serve his lord and lady he set off very willingly for
+Sancho's village. Before he entered it he observed a number of women
+washing in a brook, and asked them if they could tell him whether
+there lived there a woman of the name of Teresa Panza, wife of one
+Sancho Panza, squire to a knight called Don Quixote of La Mancha. At
+the question a young girl who was washing stood up and said, "Teresa
+Panza is my mother, and that Sancho is my father, and that knight is
+our master."
+
+"Well then, miss," said the page, "come and show me where your
+mother is, for I bring her a letter and a present from your father."
+
+"That I will with all my heart, senor," said the girl, who seemed to
+be about fourteen, more or less; and leaving the clothes she was
+washing to one of her companions, and without putting anything on
+her head or feet, for she was bare-legged and had her hair hanging
+about her, away she skipped in front of the page's horse, saying,
+"Come, your worship, our house is at the entrance of the town, and
+my mother is there, sorrowful enough at not having had any news of
+my father this ever so long."
+
+"Well," said the page, "I am bringing her such good news that she
+will have reason to thank God."
+
+And then, skipping, running, and capering, the girl reached the
+town, but before going into the house she called out at the door,
+"Come out, mother Teresa, come out, come out; here's a gentleman
+with letters and other things from my good father." At these words her
+mother Teresa Panza came out spinning a bundle of flax, in a grey
+petticoat (so short was it one would have fancied "they to her shame
+had cut it short"), a grey bodice of the same stuff, and a smock.
+She was not very old, though plainly past forty, strong, healthy,
+vigorous, and sun-dried; and seeing her daughter and the page on
+horseback, she exclaimed, "What's this, child? What gentleman is
+this?"
+
+"A servant of my lady, Dona Teresa Panza," replied the page; and
+suiting the action to the word he flung himself off his horse, and
+with great humility advanced to kneel before the lady Teresa,
+saying, "Let me kiss your hand, Senora Dona Teresa, as the lawful
+and only wife of Senor Don Sancho Panza, rightful governor of the
+island of Barataria."
+
+"Ah, senor, get up, do that," said Teresa; "for I'm not a bit of a
+court lady, but only a poor country woman, the daughter of a
+clodcrusher, and the wife of a squire-errant and not of any governor
+at all."
+
+"You are," said the page, "the most worthy wife of a most
+arch-worthy governor; and as a proof of what I say accept this
+letter and this present;" and at the same time he took out of his
+pocket a string of coral beads with gold clasps, and placed it on
+her neck, and said, "This letter is from his lordship the governor,
+and the other as well as these coral beads from my lady the duchess,
+who sends me to your worship."
+
+Teresa stood lost in astonishment, and her daughter just as much,
+and the girl said, "May I die but our master Don Quixote's at the
+bottom of this; he must have given father the government or county
+he so often promised him."
+
+"That is the truth," said the page; "for it is through Senor Don
+Quixote that Senor Sancho is now governor of the island of
+Barataria, as will be seen by this letter."
+
+"Will your worship read it to me, noble sir?" said Teresa; "for
+though I can spin I can't read, not a scrap."
+
+"Nor I either," said Sanchica; "but wait a bit, and I'll go and
+fetch some one who can read it, either the curate himself or the
+bachelor Samson Carrasco, and they'll come gladly to hear any news
+of my father."
+
+"There is no need to fetch anybody," said the page; "for though I
+can't spin I can read, and I'll read it;" and so he read it through,
+but as it has been already given it is not inserted here; and then
+he took out the other one from the duchess, which ran as follows:
+
+
+
+Friend Teresa,- Your husband Sancho's good qualities, of heart as
+well as of head, induced and compelled me to request my husband the
+duke to give him the government of one of his many islands. I am
+told he governs like a gerfalcon, of which I am very glad, and my lord
+the duke, of course, also; and I am very thankful to heaven that I
+have not made a mistake in choosing him for that same government;
+for I would have Senora Teresa know that a good governor is hard to
+find in this world and may God make me as good as Sancho's way of
+governing. Herewith I send you, my dear, a string of coral beads
+with gold clasps; I wish they were Oriental pearls; but "he who
+gives thee a bone does not wish to see thee dead;" a time will come
+when we shall become acquainted and meet one another, but God knows
+the future. Commend me to your daughter Sanchica, and tell her from me
+to hold herself in readiness, for I mean to make a high match for
+her when she least expects it. They tell me there are big acorns in
+your village; send me a couple of dozen or so, and I shall value
+them greatly as coming from your hand; and write to me at length to
+assure me of your health and well-being; and if there be anything
+you stand in need of, it is but to open your mouth, and that shall
+be the measure; and so God keep you.
+
+From this place.
+Your loving friend,
+THE DUCHESS.
+
+
+
+"Ah, what a good, plain, lowly lady!" said Teresa when she heard the
+letter; "that I may be buried with ladies of that sort, and not the
+gentlewomen we have in this town, that fancy because they are
+gentlewomen the wind must not touch them, and go to church with as
+much airs as if they were queens, no less, and seem to think they
+are disgraced if they look at a farmer's wife! And see here how this
+good lady, for all she's a duchess, calls me 'friend,' and treats me
+as if I was her equal- and equal may I see her with the tallest
+church-tower in La Mancha! And as for the acorns, senor, I'll send her
+ladyship a peck and such big ones that one might come to see them as a
+show and a wonder. And now, Sanchica, see that the gentleman is
+comfortable; put up his horse, and get some eggs out of the stable,
+and cut plenty of bacon, and let's give him his dinner like a
+prince; for the good news he has brought, and his own bonny face
+deserve it all; and meanwhile I'll run out and give the neighbours the
+news of our good luck, and father curate, and Master Nicholas the
+barber, who are and always have been such friends of thy father's."
+
+"That I will, mother," said Sanchica; "but mind, you must give me
+half of that string; for I don't think my lady the duchess could
+have been so stupid as to send it all to you."
+
+"It is all for thee, my child," said Teresa; "but let me wear it
+round my neck for a few days; for verily it seems to make my heart
+glad."
+
+"You will be glad too," said the page, "when you see the bundle
+there is in this portmanteau, for it is a suit of the finest cloth,
+that the governor only wore one day out hunting and now sends, all for
+Senora Sanchica."
+
+"May he live a thousand years," said Sanchica, "and the bearer as
+many, nay two thousand, if needful."
+
+With this Teresa hurried out of the house with the letters, and with
+the string of beads round her neck, and went along thrumming the
+letters as if they were a tambourine, and by chance coming across
+the curate and Samson Carrasco she began capering and saying, "None of
+us poor now, faith! We've got a little government! Ay, let the
+finest fine lady tackle me, and I'll give her a setting down!"
+
+"What's all this, Teresa Panza," said they; "what madness is this,
+and what papers are those?"
+
+"The madness is only this," said she, "that these are the letters of
+duchesses and governors, and these I have on my neck are fine coral
+beads, with ave-marias and paternosters of beaten gold, and I am a
+governess."
+
+"God help us," said the curate, "we don't understand you, Teresa, or
+know what you are talking about."
+
+"There, you may see it yourselves," said Teresa, and she handed them
+the letters.
+
+The curate read them out for Samson Carrasco to hear, and Samson and
+he regarded one another with looks of astonishment at what they had
+read, and the bachelor asked who had brought the letters. Teresa in
+reply bade them come with her to her house and they would see the
+messenger, a most elegant youth, who had brought another present which
+was worth as much more. The curate took the coral beads from her
+neck and examined them again and again, and having satisfied himself
+as to their fineness he fell to wondering afresh, and said, "By the
+gown I wear I don't know what to say or think of these letters and
+presents; on the one hand I can see and feel the fineness of these
+coral beads, and on the other I read how a duchess sends to beg for
+a couple of dozen of acorns."
+
+"Square that if you can," said Carrasco; "well, let's go and see the
+messenger, and from him we'll learn something about this mystery
+that has turned up."
+
+They did so, and Teresa returned with them. They found the page
+sifting a little barley for his horse, and Sanchica cutting a rasher
+of bacon to be paved with eggs for his dinner. His looks and his
+handsome apparel pleased them both greatly; and after they had saluted
+him courteously, and he them, Samson begged him to give them his news,
+as well of Don Quixote as of Sancho Panza, for, he said, though they
+had read the letters from Sancho and her ladyship the duchess, they
+were still puzzled and could not make out what was meant by Sancho's
+government, and above all of an island, when all or most of those in
+the Mediterranean belonged to his Majesty.
+
+To this the page replied, "As to Senor Sancho Panza's being a
+governor there is no doubt whatever; but whether it is an island or
+not that he governs, with that I have nothing to do; suffice it that
+it is a town of more than a thousand inhabitants; with regard to the
+acorns I may tell you my lady the duchess is so unpretending and
+unassuming that, not to speak of sending to beg for acorns from a
+peasant woman, she has been known to send to ask for the loan of a
+comb from one of her neighbours; for I would have your worships know
+that the ladies of Aragon, though they are just as illustrious, are
+not so punctilious and haughty as the Castilian ladies; they treat
+people with greater familiarity."
+
+In the middle of this conversation Sanchica came in with her skirt
+full of eggs, and said she to the page, "Tell me, senor, does my
+father wear trunk-hose since he has been governor?"
+
+"I have not noticed," said the page; "but no doubt he wears them."
+
+"Ah! my God!" said Sanchica, "what a sight it must be to see my
+father in tights! Isn't it odd that ever since I was born I have had a
+longing to see my father in trunk-hose?"
+
+"As things go you will see that if you live," said the page; "by God
+he is in the way to take the road with a sunshade if the government
+only lasts him two months more."
+
+The curate and the bachelor could see plainly enough that the page
+spoke in a waggish vein; but the fineness of the coral beads, and
+the hunting suit that Sancho sent (for Teresa had already shown it
+to them) did away with the impression; and they could not help
+laughing at Sanchica's wish, and still more when Teresa said, "Senor
+curate, look about if there's anybody here going to Madrid or
+Toledo, to buy me a hooped petticoat, a proper fashionable one of
+the best quality; for indeed and indeed I must do honour to my
+husband's government as well as I can; nay, if I am put to it and have
+to, I'll go to Court and set a coach like all the world; for she who
+has a governor for her husband may very well have one and keep one."
+
+"And why not, mother!" said Sanchica; "would to God it were to-day
+instead of to-morrow, even though they were to say when they saw me
+seated in the coach with my mother, 'See that rubbish, that
+garlic-stuffed fellow's daughter, how she goes stretched at her ease
+in a coach as if she was a she-pope!' But let them tramp through the
+mud, and let me go in my coach with my feet off the ground. Bad luck
+to backbiters all over the world; 'let me go warm and the people may
+laugh.' Do I say right, mother?"
+
+"To be sure you do, my child," said Teresa; "and all this good luck,
+and even more, my good Sancho foretold me; and thou wilt see, my
+daughter, he won't stop till he has made me a countess; for to make
+a beginning is everything in luck; and as I have heard thy good father
+say many a time (for besides being thy father he's the father of
+proverbs too), 'When they offer thee a heifer, run with a halter; when
+they offer thee a government, take it; when they would give thee a
+county, seize it; when they say, "Here, here!" to thee with
+something good, swallow it.' Oh no! go to sleep, and don't answer
+the strokes of good fortune and the lucky chances that are knocking at
+the door of your house!"
+
+"And what do I care," added Sanchica, "whether anybody says when
+he sees me holding my head up, 'The dog saw himself in hempen
+breeches,' and the rest of it?"
+
+Hearing this the curate said, "I do believe that all this family
+of the Panzas are born with a sackful of proverbs in their insides,
+every one of them; I never saw one of them that does not pour them out
+at all times and on all occasions."
+
+"That is true," said the page, "for Senor Governor Sancho utters
+them at every turn; and though a great many of them are not to the
+purpose, still they amuse one, and my lady the duchess and the duke
+praise them highly."
+
+"Then you still maintain that all this about Sancho's government
+is true, senor," said the bachelor, "and that there actually is a
+duchess who sends him presents and writes to him? Because we, although
+we have handled the present and read the letters, don't believe it and
+suspect it to be something in the line of our fellow-townsman Don
+Quixote, who fancies that everything is done by enchantment; and for
+this reason I am almost ready to say that I'd like to touch and feel
+your worship to see whether you are a mere ambassador of the
+imagination or a man of flesh and blood."
+
+"All I know, sirs," replied the page, "is that I am a real
+ambassador, and that Senor Sancho Panza is governor as a matter of
+fact, and that my lord and lady the duke and duchess can give, and
+have given him this same government, and that I have heard the said
+Sancho Panza bears himself very stoutly therein; whether there be
+any enchantment in all this or not, it is for your worships to settle
+between you; for that's all I know by the oath I swear, and that is by
+the life of my parents whom I have still alive, and love dearly."
+
+"It may be so," said the bachelor; "but dubitat Augustinus."
+
+"Doubt who will," said the page; "what I have told you is the truth,
+and that will always rise above falsehood as oil above water; if not
+operibus credite, et non verbis. Let one of you come with me, and he
+will see with his eyes what he does not believe with his ears."
+
+"It's for me to make that trip," said Sanchica; "take me with you,
+senor, behind you on your horse; for I'll go with all my heart to
+see my father."
+
+"Governors' daughters," said the page, "must not travel along the
+roads alone, but accompanied by coaches and litters and a great number
+of attendants."
+
+"By God," said Sanchica, "I can go just as well mounted on a she-ass
+as in a coach; what a dainty lass you must take me for!"
+
+"Hush, girl," said Teresa; "you don't know what you're talking
+about; the gentleman is quite right, for 'as the time so the
+behaviour;' when it was Sancho it was 'Sancha;' when it is governor
+it's 'senora;' I don't know if I'm right."
+
+"Senora Teresa says more than she is aware of," said the page;
+"and now give me something to eat and let me go at once, for I mean to
+return this evening."
+
+"Come and do penance with me," said the curate at this; "for
+Senora Teresa has more will than means to serve so worthy a guest."
+
+The page refused, but had to consent at last for his own sake; and
+the curate took him home with him very gladly, in order to have an
+opportunity of questioning him at leisure about Don Quixote and his
+doings. The bachelor offered to write the letters in reply for Teresa;
+but she did not care to let him mix himself up in her affairs, for she
+thought him somewhat given to joking; and so she gave a cake and a
+couple of eggs to a young acolyte who was a penman, and he wrote for
+her two letters, one for her husband and the other for the duchess,
+dictated out of her own head, which are not the worst inserted in this
+great history, as will be seen farther on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI
+
+OF THE PROGRESS OF SANCHO'S GOVERNMENT, AND OTHER SUCH
+ENTERTAINING MATTERS
+
+Day came after the night of the governor's round; a night which
+the head-carver passed without sleeping, so were his thoughts of the
+face and air and beauty of the disguised damsel, while the majordomo
+spent what was left of it in writing an account to his lord and lady
+of all Sancho said and did, being as much amazed at his sayings as
+at his doings, for there was a mixture of shrewdness and simplicity in
+all his words and deeds. The senor governor got up, and by Doctor
+Pedro Recio's directions they made him break his fast on a little
+conserve and four sups of cold water, which Sancho would have
+readily exchanged for a piece of bread and a bunch of grapes; but
+seeing there was no help for it, he submitted with no little sorrow of
+heart and discomfort of stomach; Pedro Recio having persuaded him that
+light and delicate diet enlivened the wits, and that was what was most
+essential for persons placed in command and in responsible situations,
+where they have to employ not only the bodily powers but those of
+the mind also.
+
+By means of this sophistry Sancho was made to endure hunger, and
+hunger so keen that in his heart he cursed the government, and even
+him who had given it to him; however, with his hunger and his conserve
+he undertook to deliver judgments that day, and the first thing that
+came before him was a question that was submitted to him by a
+stranger, in the presence of the majordomo and the other attendants,
+and it was in these words: "Senor, a large river separated two
+districts of one and the same lordship- will your worship please to
+pay attention, for the case is an important and a rather knotty one?
+Well then, on this river there was a bridge, and at one end of it a
+gallows, and a sort of tribunal, where four judges commonly sat to
+administer the law which the lord of river, bridge and the lordship
+had enacted, and which was to this effect, 'If anyone crosses by
+this bridge from one side to the other he shall declare on oath
+where he is going to and with what object; and if he swears truly,
+he shall be allowed to pass, but if falsely, he shall be put to
+death for it by hanging on the gallows erected there, without any
+remission.' Though the law and its severe penalty were known, many
+persons crossed, but in their declarations it was easy to see at
+once they were telling the truth, and the judges let them pass free.
+It happened, however, that one man, when they came to take his
+declaration, swore and said that by the oath he took he was going to
+die upon that gallows that stood there, and nothing else. The judges
+held a consultation over the oath, and they said, 'If we let this
+man pass free he has sworn falsely, and by the law he ought to die;
+but if we hang him, as he swore he was going to die on that gallows,
+and therefore swore the truth, by the same law he ought to go free.'
+It is asked of your worship, senor governor, what are the judges to do
+with this man? For they are still in doubt and perplexity; and
+having heard of your worship's acute and exalted intellect, they
+have sent me to entreat your worship on their behalf to give your
+opinion on this very intricate and puzzling case."
+
+To this Sancho made answer, "Indeed those gentlemen the judges
+that send you to me might have spared themselves the trouble, for I
+have more of the obtuse than the acute in me; but repeat the case over
+again, so that I may understand it, and then perhaps I may be able
+to hit the point."
+
+The querist repeated again and again what he had said before, and
+then Sancho said, "It seems to me I can set the matter right in a
+moment, and in this way; the man swears that he is going to die upon
+the gallows; but if he dies upon it, he has sworn the truth, and by
+the law enacted deserves to go free and pass over the bridge; but if
+they don't hang him, then he has sworn falsely, and by the same law
+deserves to be hanged."
+
+"It is as the senor governor says," said the messenger; "and as
+regards a complete comprehension of the case, there is nothing left to
+desire or hesitate about."
+
+"Well then I say," said Sancho, "that of this man they should let
+pass the part that has sworn truly, and hang the part that has lied;
+and in this way the conditions of the passage will be fully complied
+with."
+
+"But then, senor governor," replied the querist, "the man will
+have to be divided into two parts; and if he is divided of course he
+will die; and so none of the requirements of the law will be carried
+out, and it is absolutely necessary to comply with it."
+
+"Look here, my good sir," said Sancho; "either I'm a numskull or
+else there is the same reason for this passenger dying as for his
+living and passing over the bridge; for if the truth saves him the
+falsehood equally condemns him; and that being the case it is my
+opinion you should say to the gentlemen who sent you to me that as the
+arguments for condemning him and for absolving him are exactly
+balanced, they should let him pass freely, as it is always more
+praiseworthy to do good than to do evil; this I would give signed with
+my name if I knew how to sign; and what I have said in this case is
+not out of my own head, but one of the many precepts my master Don
+Quixote gave me the night before I left to become governor of this
+island, that came into my mind, and it was this, that when there was
+any doubt about the justice of a case I should lean to mercy; and it
+is God's will that I should recollect it now, for it fits this case as
+if it was made for it."
+
+"That is true," said the majordomo; "and I maintain that Lycurgus
+himself, who gave laws to the Lacedemonians, could not have pronounced
+a better decision than the great Panza has given; let the morning's
+audience close with this, and I will see that the senor governor has
+dinner entirely to his liking."
+
+"That's all I ask for- fair play," said Sancho; "give me my
+dinner, and then let it rain cases and questions on me, and I'll
+despatch them in a twinkling."
+
+The majordomo kept his word, for he felt it against his conscience
+to kill so wise a governor by hunger; particularly as he intended to
+have done with him that same night, playing off the last joke he was
+commissioned to practise upon him.
+
+It came to pass, then, that after he had dined that day, in
+opposition to the rules and aphorisms of Doctor Tirteafuera, as they
+were taking away the cloth there came a courier with a letter from Don
+Quixote for the governor. Sancho ordered the secretary to read it to
+himself, and if there was nothing in it that demanded secrecy to
+read it aloud. The secretary did so, and after he had skimmed the
+contents he said, "It may well be read aloud, for what Senor Don
+Quixote writes to your worship deserves to be printed or written in
+letters of gold, and it is as follows."
+
+
+DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA'S LETTER TO SANCHO PANZA,
+GOVERNOR OF THE ISLAND OF BARATARIA.
+
+
+When I was expecting to hear of thy stupidities and blunders, friend
+Sancho, I have received intelligence of thy displays of good sense,
+for which I give special thanks to heaven that can raise the poor from
+the dunghill and of fools to make wise men. They tell me thou dost
+govern as if thou wert a man, and art a man as if thou wert a beast,
+so great is the humility wherewith thou dost comport thyself. But I
+would have thee bear in mind, Sancho, that very often it is fitting
+and necessary for the authority of office to resist the humility of
+the heart; for the seemly array of one who is invested with grave
+duties should be such as they require and not measured by what his own
+humble tastes may lead him to prefer. Dress well; a stick dressed up
+does not look like a stick; I do not say thou shouldst wear trinkets
+or fine raiment, or that being a judge thou shouldst dress like a
+soldier, but that thou shouldst array thyself in the apparel thy
+office requires, and that at the same time it be neat and handsome. To
+win the good-will of the people thou governest there are two things,
+among others, that thou must do; one is to be civil to all (this,
+however, I told thee before), and the other to take care that food
+be abundant, for there is nothing that vexes the heart of the poor
+more than hunger and high prices. Make not many proclamations; but
+those thou makest take care that they be good ones, and above all that
+they be observed and carried out; for proclamations that are not
+observed are the same as if they did not exist; nay, they encourage
+the idea that the prince who had the wisdom and authority to make them
+had not the power to enforce them; and laws that threaten and are
+not enforced come to he like the log, the king of the frogs, that
+frightened them at first, but that in time they despised and mounted
+upon. Be a father to virtue and a stepfather to vice. Be not always
+strict, nor yet always lenient, but observe a mean between these two
+extremes, for in that is the aim of wisdom. Visit the gaols, the
+slaughter-houses, and the market-places; for the presence of the
+governor is of great importance in such places; it comforts the
+prisoners who are in hopes of a speedy release, it is the bugbear of
+the butchers who have then to give just weight, and it is the terror
+of the market-women for the same reason. Let it not be seen that
+thou art (even if perchance thou art, which I do not believe)
+covetous, a follower of women, or a glutton; for when the people and
+those that have dealings with thee become aware of thy special
+weakness they will bring their batteries to bear upon thee in that
+quarter, till they have brought thee down to the depths of
+perdition. Consider and reconsider, con and con over again the advices
+and the instructions I gave thee before thy departure hence to thy
+government, and thou wilt see that in them, if thou dost follow
+them, thou hast a help at hand that will lighten for thee the troubles
+and difficulties that beset governors at every step. Write to thy lord
+and lady and show thyself grateful to them, for ingratitude is the
+daughter of pride, and one of the greatest sins we know of; and he who
+is grateful to those who have been good to him shows that he will be
+so to God also who has bestowed and still bestows so many blessings
+upon him.
+
+My lady the duchess sent off a messenger with thy suit and another
+present to thy wife Teresa Panza; we expect the answer every moment. I
+have been a little indisposed through a certain scratching I came in
+for, not very much to the benefit of my nose; but it was nothing;
+for if there are enchanters who maltreat me, there are also some who
+defend me. Let me know if the majordomo who is with thee had any share
+in the Trifaldi performance, as thou didst suspect; and keep me
+informed of everything that happens thee, as the distance is so short;
+all the more as I am thinking of giving over very shortly this idle
+life I am now leading, for I was not born for it. A thing has occurred
+to me which I am inclined to think will put me out of favour with
+the duke and duchess; but though I am sorry for it I do not care,
+for after all I must obey my calling rather than their pleasure, in
+accordance with the common saying, amicus Plato, sed magis amica
+veritas. I quote this Latin to thee because I conclude that since thou
+hast been a governor thou wilt have learned it. Adieu; God keep thee
+from being an object of pity to anyone.
+
+Thy friend,
+DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA.
+
+
+
+Sancho listened to the letter with great attention, and it was
+praised and considered wise by all who heard it; he then rose up
+from table, and calling his secretary shut himself in with him in
+his own room, and without putting it off any longer set about
+answering his master Don Quixote at once; and he bade the secretary
+write down what he told him without adding or suppressing anything,
+which he did, and the answer was to the following effect.
+
+
+SANCHO PANZA'S LETTER TO DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA.
+
+
+The pressure of business is so great upon me that I have no time
+to scratch my head or even to cut my nails; and I have them so long-
+God send a remedy for it. I say this, master of my soul, that you
+may not be surprised if I have not until now sent you word of how I
+fare, well or ill, in this government, in which I am suffering more
+hunger than when we two were wandering through the woods and wastes.
+
+My lord the duke wrote to me the other day to warn me that certain
+spies had got into this island to kill me; but up to the present I
+have not found out any except a certain doctor who receives a salary
+in this town for killing all the governors that come here; he is
+called Doctor Pedro Recio, and is from Tirteafuera; so you see what
+a name he has to make me dread dying under his hands. This doctor says
+of himself that he does not cure diseases when there are any, but
+prevents them coming, and the medicines he uses are diet and more diet
+until he brings one down to bare bones; as if leanness was not worse
+than fever.
+
+In short he is killing me with hunger, and I am dying myself of
+vexation; for when I thought I was coming to this government to get my
+meat hot and my drink cool, and take my ease between holland sheets on
+feather beds, I find I have come to do penance as if I was a hermit;
+and as I don't do it willingly I suspect that in the end the devil
+will carry me off.
+
+So far I have not handled any dues or taken any bribes, and I
+don't know what to think of it; for here they tell me that the
+governors that come to this island, before entering it have plenty
+of money either given to them or lent to them by the people of the
+town, and that this is the usual custom not only here but with all who
+enter upon governments.
+
+Last night going the rounds I came upon a fair damsel in man's
+clothes, and a brother of hers dressed as a woman; my head-carver
+has fallen in love with the girl, and has in his own mind chosen her
+for a wife, so he says, and I have chosen youth for a son-in-law;
+to-day we are going to explain our intentions to the father of the
+pair, who is one Diego de la Llana, a gentleman and an old Christian
+as much as you please.
+
+I have visited the market-places, as your worship advises me, and
+yesterday I found a stall-keeper selling new hazel nuts and proved her
+to have mixed a bushel of old empty rotten nuts with a bushel of
+new; I confiscated the whole for the children of the charity-school,
+who will know how to distinguish them well enough, and I sentenced her
+not to come into the market-place for a fortnight; they told me I
+did bravely. I can tell your worship it is commonly said in this
+town that there are no people worse than the market-women, for they
+are all barefaced, unconscionable, and impudent, and I can well
+believe it from what I have seen of them in other towns.
+
+I am very glad my lady the duchess has written to my wife Teresa
+Panza and sent her the present your worship speaks of; and I will
+strive to show myself grateful when the time comes; kiss her hands for
+me, and tell her I say she has not thrown it into a sack with a hole
+in it, as she will see in the end. I should not like your worship to
+have any difference with my lord and lady; for if you fall out with
+them it is plain it must do me harm; and as you give me advice to be
+grateful it will not do for your worship not to be so yourself to
+those who have shown you such kindness, and by whom you have been
+treated so hospitably in their castle.
+
+That about the scratching I don't understand; but I suppose it
+must be one of the ill-turns the wicked enchanters are always doing
+your worship; when we meet I shall know all about it. I wish I could
+send your worship something; but I don't know what to send, unless
+it be some very curious clyster pipes, to work with bladders, that
+they make in this island; but if the office remains with me I'll
+find out something to send, one way or another. If my wife Teresa
+Panza writes to me, pay the postage and send me the letter, for I have
+a very great desire to hear how my house and wife and children are
+going on. And so, may God deliver your worship from evil-minded
+enchanters, and bring me well and peacefully out of this government,
+which I doubt, for I expect to take leave of it and my life
+together, from the way Doctor Pedro Recio treats me.
+
+Your worship's servant
+SANCHO PANZA THE GOVERNOR.
+
+
+
+The secretary sealed the letter, and immediately dismissed the
+courier; and those who were carrying on the joke against Sancho
+putting their heads together arranged how he was to be dismissed
+from the government. Sancho spent the afternoon in drawing up
+certain ordinances relating to the good government of what he
+fancied the island; and he ordained that there were to be no provision
+hucksters in the State, and that men might import wine into it from
+any place they pleased, provided they declared the quarter it came
+from, so that a price might be put upon it according to its quality,
+reputation, and the estimation it was held in; and he that watered his
+wine, or changed the name, was to forfeit his life for it. He
+reduced the prices of all manner of shoes, boots, and stockings, but
+of shoes in particular, as they seemed to him to run extravagantly
+high. He established a fixed rate for servants' wages, which were
+becoming recklessly exorbitant. He laid extremely heavy penalties upon
+those who sang lewd or loose songs either by day or night. He
+decreed that no blind man should sing of any miracle in verse,
+unless he could produce authentic evidence that it was true, for it
+was his opinion that most of those the blind men sing are trumped
+up, to the detriment of the true ones. He established and created an
+alguacil of the poor, not to harass them, but to examine them and
+see whether they really were so; for many a sturdy thief or drunkard
+goes about under cover of a make-believe crippled limb or a sham sore.
+In a word, he made so many good rules that to this day they are
+preserved there, and are called The constitutions of the great
+governor Sancho Panza.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII
+
+WHEREIN IS RELATED THE ADVENTURE OF THE SECOND DISTRESSED OR
+AFFLICTED DUENNA, OTHERWISE CALLED DONA RODRIGUEZ
+
+Cide Hamete relates that Don Quixote being now cured of his
+scratches felt that the life he was leading in the castle was entirely
+inconsistent with the order of chivalry he professed, so he determined
+to ask the duke and duchess to permit him to take his departure for
+Saragossa, as the time of the festival was now drawing near, and he
+hoped to win there the suit of armour which is the prize at
+festivals of the sort. But one day at table with the duke and duchess,
+just as he was about to carry his resolution into effect and ask for
+their permission, lo and behold suddenly there came in through the
+door of the great hall two women, as they afterwards proved to be,
+draped in mourning from head to foot, one of whom approaching Don
+Quixote flung herself at full length at his feet, pressing her lips to
+them, and uttering moans so sad, so deep, and so doleful that she
+put all who heard and saw her into a state of perplexity; and though
+the duke and duchess supposed it must be some joke their servants were
+playing off upon Don Quixote, still the earnest way the woman sighed
+and moaned and wept puzzled them and made them feel uncertain, until
+Don Quixote, touched with compassion, raised her up and made her
+unveil herself and remove the mantle from her tearful face. She
+complied and disclosed what no one could have ever anticipated, for
+she disclosed the countenance of Dona Rodriguez, the duenna of the
+house; the other female in mourning being her daughter, who had been
+made a fool of by the rich farmer's son. All who knew her were
+filled with astonishment, and the duke and duchess more than any;
+for though they thought her a simpleton and a weak creature, they
+did not think her capable of crazy pranks. Dona Rodriguez, at
+length, turning to her master and mistress said to them, "Will your
+excellences be pleased to permit me to speak to this gentleman for a
+moment, for it is requisite I should do so in order to get
+successfully out of the business in which the boldness of an
+evil-minded clown has involved me?"
+
+The duke said that for his part he gave her leave, and that she
+might speak with Senor Don Quixote as much as she liked.
+
+She then, turning to Don Quixote and addressing herself to him said,
+"Some days since, valiant knight, I gave you an account of the
+injustice and treachery of a wicked farmer to my dearly beloved
+daughter, the unhappy damsel here before you, and you promised me to
+take her part and right the wrong that has been done her; but now it
+has come to my hearing that you are about to depart from this castle
+in quest of such fair adventures as God may vouchsafe to you;
+therefore, before you take the road, I would that you challenge this
+froward rustic, and compel him to marry my daughter in fulfillment
+of the promise he gave her to become her husband before he seduced
+her; for to expect that my lord the duke will do me justice is to
+ask pears from the elm tree, for the reason I stated privately to your
+worship; and so may our Lord grant you good health and forsake us
+not."
+
+To these words Don Quixote replied very gravely and solemnly,
+"Worthy duenna, check your tears, or rather dry them, and spare your
+sighs, for I take it upon myself to obtain redress for your
+daughter, for whom it would have been better not to have been so ready
+to believe lovers' promises, which are for the most part quickly
+made and very slowly performed; and so, with my lord the duke's leave,
+I will at once go in quest of this inhuman youth, and will find him
+out and challenge him and slay him, if so be he refuses to keep his
+promised word; for the chief object of my profession is to spare the
+humble and chastise the proud; I mean, to help the distressed and
+destroy the oppressors."
+
+"There is no necessity," said the duke, "for your worship to take
+the trouble of seeking out the rustic of whom this worthy duenna
+complains, nor is there any necessity, either, for asking my leave
+to challenge him; for I admit him duly challenged, and will take
+care that he is informed of the challenge, and accepts it, and comes
+to answer it in person to this castle of mine, where I shall afford to
+both a fair field, observing all the conditions which are usually
+and properly observed in such trials, and observing too justice to
+both sides, as all princes who offer a free field to combatants within
+the limits of their lordships are bound to do."
+
+"Then with that assurance and your highness's good leave," said
+Don Quixote, "I hereby for this once waive my privilege of gentle
+blood, and come down and put myself on a level with the lowly birth of
+the wrong-doer, making myself equal with him and enabling him to enter
+into combat with me; and so, I challenge and defy him, though
+absent, on the plea of his malfeasance in breaking faith with this
+poor damsel, who was a maiden and now by his misdeed is none; and
+say that he shall fulfill the promise he gave her to become her lawful
+husband, or else stake his life upon the question."
+
+And then plucking off a glove he threw it down in the middle of
+the hall, and the duke picked it up, saying, as he had said before,
+that he accepted the challenge in the name of his vassal, and fixed
+six days thence as the time, the courtyard of the castle as the place,
+and for arms the customary ones of knights, lance and shield and
+full armour, with all the other accessories, without trickery,
+guile, or charms of any sort, and examined and passed by the judges of
+the field. "But first of all," he said, "it is requisite that this
+worthy duenna and unworthy damsel should place their claim for justice
+in the hands of Don Quixote; for otherwise nothing can be done, nor
+can the said challenge be brought to a lawful issue."
+
+"I do so place it," replied the duenna.
+
+"And I too," added her daughter, all in tears and covered with shame
+and confusion.
+
+This declaration having been made, and the duke having settled in
+his own mind what he would do in the matter, the ladies in black
+withdrew, and the duchess gave orders that for the future they were
+not to be treated as servants of hers, but as lady adventurers who
+came to her house to demand justice; so they gave them a room to
+themselves and waited on them as they would on strangers, to the
+consternation of the other women-servants, who did not know where
+the folly and imprudence of Dona Rodriguez and her unlucky daughter
+would stop.
+
+And now, to complete the enjoyment of the feast and bring the dinner
+to a satisfactory end, lo and behold the page who had carried the
+letters and presents to Teresa Panza, the wife of the governor Sancho,
+entered the hall; and the duke and duchess were very well pleased to
+see him, being anxious to know the result of his journey; but when
+they asked him the page said in reply that he could not give it before
+so many people or in a few words, and begged their excellences to be
+pleased to let it wait for a private opportunity, and in the
+meantime amuse themselves with these letters; and taking out the
+letters he placed them in the duchess's hand. One bore by way of
+address, Letter for my lady the Duchess So-and-so, of I don't know
+where; and the other To my husband Sancho Panza, governor of the
+island of Barataria, whom God prosper longer than me. The duchess's
+bread would not bake, as the saying is, until she had read her letter;
+and having looked over it herself and seen that it might be read aloud
+for the duke and all present to hear, she read out as follows.
+
+
+TERESA PANZA'S LETTER TO THE DUCHESS.
+
+The letter your highness wrote me, my lady, gave me great
+pleasure, for indeed I found it very welcome. The string of coral
+beads is very fine, and my husband's hunting suit does not fall
+short of it. All this village is very much pleased that your
+ladyship has made a governor of my good man Sancho; though nobody will
+believe it, particularly the curate, and Master Nicholas the barber,
+and the bachelor Samson Carrasco; but I don't care for that, for so
+long as it is true, as it is, they may all say what they like; though,
+to tell the truth, if the coral beads and the suit had not come I
+would not have believed it either; for in this village everybody
+thinks my husband a numskull, and except for governing a flock of
+goats, they cannot fancy what sort of government he can be fit for.
+God grant it, and direct him according as he sees his children stand
+in need of it. I am resolved with your worship's leave, lady of my
+soul, to make the most of this fair day, and go to Court to stretch
+myself at ease in a coach, and make all those I have envying me
+already burst their eyes out; so I beg your excellence to order my
+husband to send me a small trifle of money, and to let it be something
+to speak of, because one's expenses are heavy at the Court; for a loaf
+costs a real, and meat thirty maravedis a pound, which is beyond
+everything; and if he does not want me to go let him tell me in
+time, for my feet are on the fidgets to he off; and my friends and
+neighbours tell me that if my daughter and I make a figure and a brave
+show at Court, my husband will come to be known far more by me than
+I by him, for of course plenty of people will ask, "Who are those
+ladies in that coach?" and some servant of mine will answer, "The wife
+and daughter of Sancho Panza, governor of the island of Barataria;"
+and in this way Sancho will become known, and I'll be thought well of,
+and "to Rome for everything." I am as vexed as vexed can be that
+they have gathered no acorns this year in our village; for all that
+I send your highness about half a peck that I went to the wood to
+gather and pick out one by one myself, and I could find no bigger
+ones; I wish they were as big as ostrich eggs.
+
+Let not your high mightiness forget to write to me; and I will
+take care to answer, and let you know how I am, and whatever news
+there may be in this place, where I remain, praying our Lord to have
+your highness in his keeping and not to forget me.
+
+Sancha my daughter, and my son, kiss your worship's hands.
+
+She who would rather see your ladyship than write to you,
+
+Your servant,
+TERESA PANZA.
+
+
+
+All were greatly amused by Teresa Panza's letter, but particularly
+the duke and duchess; and the duchess asked Don Quixote's opinion
+whether they might open the letter that had come for the governor,
+which she suspected must be very good. Don Quixote said that to
+gratify them he would open it, and did so, and found that it ran as
+follows.
+
+
+TERESA PANZA'S LETTER TO HER HUSBAND SANCHO PANZA.
+
+I got thy letter, Sancho of my soul, and I promise thee and swear as
+a Catholic Christian that I was within two fingers' breadth of going
+mad I was so happy. I can tell thee, brother, when I came to hear that
+thou wert a governor I thought I should have dropped dead with pure
+joy; and thou knowest they say sudden joy kills as well as great
+sorrow; and as for Sanchica thy daughter, she leaked from sheer
+happiness. I had before me the suit thou didst send me, and the
+coral beads my lady the duchess sent me round my neck, and the letters
+in my hands, and there was the bearer of them standing by, and in
+spite of all this I verily believed and thought that what I saw and
+handled was all a dream; for who could have thought that a goatherd
+would come to be a governor of islands? Thou knowest, my friend,
+what my mother used to say, that one must live long to see much; I say
+it because I expect to see more if I live longer; for I don't expect
+to stop until I see thee a farmer of taxes or a collector of
+revenue, which are offices where, though the devil carries off those
+who make a bad use of them, still they make and handle money. My
+lady the duchess will tell thee the desire I have to go to the
+Court; consider the matter and let me know thy pleasure; I will try to
+do honour to thee by going in a coach.
+
+Neither the curate, nor the barber, nor the bachelor, nor even the
+sacristan, can believe that thou art a governor, and they say the
+whole thing is a delusion or an enchantment affair, like everything
+belonging to thy master Don Quixote; and Samson says he must go in
+search of thee and drive the government out of thy head and the
+madness out of Don Quixote's skull; I only laugh, and look at my
+string of beads, and plan out the dress I am going to make for our
+daughter out of thy suit. I sent some acorns to my lady the duchess; I
+wish they had been gold. Send me some strings of pearls if they are in
+fashion in that island. Here is the news of the village; La Berrueca
+has married her daughter to a good-for-nothing painter, who came
+here to paint anything that might turn up. The council gave him an
+order to paint his Majesty's arms over the door of the town-hall; he
+asked two ducats, which they paid him in advance; he worked for
+eight days, and at the end of them had nothing painted, and then
+said he had no turn for painting such trifling things; he returned the
+money, and for all that has married on the pretence of being a good
+workman; to be sure he has now laid aside his paint-brush and taken
+a spade in hand, and goes to the field like a gentleman. Pedro
+Lobo's son has received the first orders and tonsure, with the
+intention of becoming a priest. Minguilla, Mingo Silvato's
+granddaughter, found it out, and has gone to law with him on the score
+of having given her promise of marriage. Evil tongues say she is
+with child by him, but he denies it stoutly. There are no olives
+this year, and there is not a drop of vinegar to be had in the whole
+village. A company of soldiers passed through here; when they left
+they took away with them three of the girls of the village; I will not
+tell thee who they are; perhaps they will come back, and they will
+be sure to find those who will take them for wives with all their
+blemishes, good or bad. Sanchica is making bonelace; she earns eight
+maravedis a day clear, which she puts into a moneybox as a help
+towards house furnishing; but now that she is a governor's daughter
+thou wilt give her a portion without her working for it. The
+fountain in the plaza has run dry. A flash of lightning struck the
+gibbet, and I wish they all lit there. I look for an answer to this,
+and to know thy mind about my going to the Court; and so, God keep
+thee longer than me, or as long, for I would not leave thee in this
+world without me.
+
+Thy wife,
+TERESA PANZA.
+
+
+The letters were applauded, laughed over, relished, and admired; and
+then, as if to put the seal to the business, the courier arrived,
+bringing the one Sancho sent to Don Quixote, and this, too, was read
+out, and it raised some doubts as to the governor's simplicity. The
+duchess withdrew to hear from the page about his adventures in
+Sancho's village, which he narrated at full length without leaving a
+single circumstance unmentioned. He gave her the acorns, and also a
+cheese which Teresa had given him as being particularly good and
+superior to those of Tronchon. The duchess received it with greatest
+delight, in which we will leave her, to describe the end of the
+government of the great Sancho Panza, flower and mirror of all
+governors of islands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII
+OF THE TROUBLOUS END AND TERMINATION SANCHO PANZA'S GOVERNMENT CAME TO
+
+To fancy that in this life anything belonging to it will remain
+for ever in the same state is an idle fancy; on the contrary, in it
+everything seems to go in a circle, I mean round and round. The spring
+succeeds the summer, the summer the fall, the fall the autumn, the
+autumn the winter, and the winter the spring, and so time rolls with
+never-ceasing wheel. Man's life alone, swifter than time, speeds
+onward to its end without any hope of renewal, save it be in that
+other life which is endless and boundless. Thus saith Cide Hamete
+the Mahometan philosopher; for there are many that by the light of
+nature alone, without the light of faith, have a comprehension of
+the fleeting nature and instability of this present life and the
+endless duration of that eternal life we hope for; but our author is
+here speaking of the rapidity with which Sancho's government came to
+an end, melted away, disappeared, vanished as it were in smoke and
+shadow. For as he lay in bed on the night of the seventh day of his
+government, sated, not with bread and wine, but with delivering
+judgments and giving opinions and making laws and proclamations,
+just as sleep, in spite of hunger, was beginning to close his eyelids,
+he heard such a noise of bell-ringing and shouting that one would have
+fancied the whole island was going to the bottom. He sat up in bed and
+remained listening intently to try if he could make out what could
+be the cause of so great an uproar; not only, however, was he unable
+to discover what it was, but as countless drums and trumpets now
+helped to swell the din of the bells and shouts, he was more puzzled
+than ever, and filled with fear and terror; and getting up he put on a
+pair of slippers because of the dampness of the floor, and without
+throwing a dressing gown or anything of the kind over him he rushed
+out of the door of his room, just in time to see approaching along a
+corridor a band of more than twenty persons with lighted torches and
+naked swords in their hands, all shouting out, "To arms, to arms,
+senor governor, to arms! The enemy is in the island in countless
+numbers, and we are lost unless your skill and valour come to our
+support."
+
+Keeping up this noise, tumult, and uproar, they came to where Sancho
+stood dazed and bewildered by what he saw and heard, and as they
+approached one of them called out to him, "Arm at once, your lordship,
+if you would not have yourself destroyed and the whole island lost."
+
+"What have I to do with arming?" said Sancho. "What do I know
+about arms or supports? Better leave all that to my master Don
+Quixote, who will settle it and make all safe in a trice; for I,
+sinner that I am, God help me, don't understand these scuffles."
+
+"Ah, senor governor," said another, "what slackness of mettle this
+is! Arm yourself; here are arms for you, offensive and defensive; come
+out to the plaza and be our leader and captain; it falls upon you by
+right, for you are our governor."
+
+"Arm me then, in God's name," said Sancho, and they at once produced
+two large shields they had come provided with, and placed them upon
+him over his shirt, without letting him put on anything else, one
+shield in front and the other behind, and passing his arms through
+openings they had made, they bound him tight with ropes, so that there
+he was walled and boarded up as straight as a spindle and unable to
+bend his knees or stir a single step. In his hand they placed a lance,
+on which he leant to keep himself from falling, and as soon as they
+had him thus fixed they bade him march forward and lead them on and
+give them all courage; for with him for their guide and lamp and
+morning star, they were sure to bring their business to a successful
+issue.
+
+"How am I to march, unlucky being that I am?" said Sancho, "when I
+can't stir my knee-caps, for these boards I have bound so tight to
+my body won't let me. What you must do is carry me in your arms, and
+lay me across or set me upright in some postern, and I'll hold it
+either with this lance or with my body."
+
+"On, senor governor!" cried another, "it is fear more than the
+boards that keeps you from moving; make haste, stir yourself, for
+there is no time to lose; the enemy is increasing in numbers, the
+shouts grow louder, and the danger is pressing."
+
+Urged by these exhortations and reproaches the poor governor made an
+attempt to advance, but fell to the ground with such a crash that he
+fancied he had broken himself all to pieces. There he lay like a
+tortoise enclosed in its shell, or a side of bacon between two
+kneading-troughs, or a boat bottom up on the beach; nor did the gang
+of jokers feel any compassion for him when they saw him down; so far
+from that, extinguishing their torches they began to shout afresh
+and to renew the calls to arms with such energy, trampling on poor
+Sancho, and slashing at him over the shield with their swords in
+such a way that, if he had not gathered himself together and made
+himself small and drawn in his head between the shields, it would have
+fared badly with the poor governor, as, squeezed into that narrow
+compass, he lay, sweating and sweating again, and commending himself
+with all his heart to God to deliver him from his present peril.
+Some stumbled over him, others fell upon him, and one there was who
+took up a position on top of him for some time, and from thence as
+if from a watchtower issued orders to the troops, shouting out, "Here,
+our side! Here the enemy is thickest! Hold the breach there! Shut that
+gate! Barricade those ladders! Here with your stink-pots of pitch
+and resin, and kettles of boiling oil! Block the streets with
+feather beds!" In short, in his ardour he mentioned every little
+thing, and every implement and engine of war by means of which an
+assault upon a city is warded off, while the bruised and battered
+Sancho, who heard and suffered all, was saying to himself, "O if it
+would only please the Lord to let the island be lost at once, and I
+could see myself either dead or out of this torture!" Heaven heard his
+prayer, and when he least expected it he heard voices exclaiming,
+"Victory, victory! The enemy retreats beaten! Come, senor governor,
+get up, and come and enjoy the victory, and divide the spoils that
+have been won from the foe by the might of that invincible arm."
+
+"Lift me up," said the wretched Sancho in a woebegone voice. They
+helped him to rise, and as soon as he was on his feet said, "The enemy
+I have beaten you may nail to my forehead; I don't want to divide
+the spoils of the foe, I only beg and entreat some friend, if I have
+one, to give me a sup of wine, for I'm parched with thirst, and wipe
+me dry, for I'm turning to water."
+
+They rubbed him down, fetched him wine and unbound the shields,
+and he seated himself upon his bed, and with fear, agitation, and
+fatigue he fainted away. Those who had been concerned in the joke were
+now sorry they had pushed it so far; however, the anxiety his fainting
+away had caused them was relieved by his returning to himself. He
+asked what o'clock it was; they told him it was just daybreak. He said
+no more, and in silence began to dress himself, while all watched him,
+waiting to see what the haste with which he was putting on his clothes
+meant.
+
+He got himself dressed at last, and then, slowly, for he was
+sorely bruised and could not go fast, he proceeded to the stable,
+followed by all who were present, and going up to Dapple embraced
+him and gave him a loving kiss on the forehead, and said to him, not
+without tears in his eyes, "Come along, comrade and friend and partner
+of my toils and sorrows; when I was with you and had no cares to
+trouble me except mending your harness and feeding your little
+carcass, happy were my hours, my days, and my years; but since I
+left you, and mounted the towers of ambition and pride, a thousand
+miseries, a thousand troubles, and four thousand anxieties have
+entered into my soul;" and all the while he was speaking in this
+strain he was fixing the pack-saddle on the ass, without a word from
+anyone. Then having Dapple saddled, he, with great pain and
+difficulty, got up on him, and addressing himself to the majordomo,
+the secretary, the head-carver, and Pedro Recio the doctor and several
+others who stood by, he said, "Make way, gentlemen, and let me go back
+to my old freedom; let me go look for my past life, and raise myself
+up from this present death. I was not born to be a governor or protect
+islands or cities from the enemies that choose to attack them.
+Ploughing and digging, vinedressing and pruning, are more in my way
+than defending provinces or kingdoms. 'Saint Peter is very well at
+Rome; I mean each of us is best following the trade he was born to.
+A reaping-hook fits my hand better than a governor's sceptre; I'd
+rather have my fill of gazpacho' than be subject to the misery of a
+meddling doctor who me with hunger, and I'd rather lie in summer under
+the shade of an oak, and in winter wrap myself in a double sheepskin
+jacket in freedom, than go to bed between holland sheets and dress
+in sables under the restraint of a government. God be with your
+worships, and tell my lord the duke that 'naked I was born, naked I
+find myself, I neither lose nor gain;' I mean that without a
+farthing I came into this government, and without a farthing I go
+out of it, very different from the way governors commonly leave
+other islands. Stand aside and let me go; I have to plaster myself,
+for I believe every one of my ribs is crushed, thanks to the enemies
+that have been trampling over me to-night."
+
+"That is unnecessary, senor governor," said Doctor Recio, "for I
+will give your worship a draught against falls and bruises that will
+soon make you as sound and strong as ever; and as for your diet I
+promise your worship to behave better, and let you eat plentifully
+of whatever you like."
+
+"You spoke late," said Sancho. "I'd as soon turn Turk as stay any
+longer. Those jokes won't pass a second time. By God I'd as soon
+remain in this government, or take another, even if it was offered
+me between two plates, as fly to heaven without wings. I am of the
+breed of the Panzas, and they are every one of them obstinate, and
+if they once say 'odds,' odds it must be, no matter if it is evens, in
+spite of all the world. Here in this stable I leave the ant's wings
+that lifted me up into the air for the swifts and other birds to eat
+me, and let's take to level ground and our feet once more; and if
+they're not shod in pinked shoes of cordovan, they won't want for
+rough sandals of hemp; 'every ewe to her like,' 'and let no one
+stretch his leg beyond the length of the sheet;' and now let me
+pass, for it's growing late with me."
+
+To this the majordomo said, "Senor governor, we would let your
+worship go with all our hearts, though it sorely grieves us to lose
+you, for your wit and Christian conduct naturally make us regret
+you; but it is well known that every governor, before he leaves the
+place where he has been governing, is bound first of all to render
+an account. Let your worship do so for the ten days you have held
+the government, and then you may go and the peace of God go with you."
+
+"No one can demand it of me," said Sancho, "but he whom my lord
+the duke shall appoint; I am going to meet him, and to him I will
+render an exact one; besides, when I go forth naked as I do, there
+is no other proof needed to show that I have governed like an angel."
+
+"By God the great Sancho is right," said Doctor Recio, "and we
+should let him go, for the duke will be beyond measure glad to see
+him."
+
+They all agreed to this, and allowed him to go, first offering to
+bear him company and furnish him with all he wanted for his own
+comfort or for the journey. Sancho said he did not want anything more
+than a little barley for Dapple, and half a cheese and half a loaf
+for himself; for the distance being so short there was no occasion for
+any better or bulkier provant. They all embraced him, and he with
+tears embraced all of them, and left them filled with admiration not
+only at his remarks but at his firm and sensible resolution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+
+WHICH DEALS WITH MATTERS RELATING TO THIS HISTORY AND NO OTHER
+
+The duke and duchess resolved that the challenge Don Quixote had,
+for the reason already mentioned, given their vassal, should be
+proceeded with; and as the young man was in Flanders, whither he had
+fled to escape having Dona Rodriguez for a mother-in-law, they
+arranged to substitute for him a Gascon lacquey, named Tosilos,
+first of all carefully instructing him in all he had to do. Two days
+later the duke told Don Quixote that in four days from that time his
+opponent would present himself on the field of battle armed as a
+knight, and would maintain that the damsel lied by half a beard, nay a
+whole beard, if she affirmed that he had given her a promise of
+marriage. Don Quixote was greatly pleased at the news, and promised
+himself to do wonders in the lists, and reckoned it rare good
+fortune that an opportunity should have offered for letting his
+noble hosts see what the might of his strong arm was capable of; and
+so in high spirits and satisfaction he awaited the expiration of the
+four days, which measured by his impatience seemed spinning themselves
+out into four hundred ages. Let us leave them to pass as we do other
+things, and go and bear Sancho company, as mounted on Dapple, half
+glad, half sad, he paced along on his road to join his master, in
+whose society he was happier than in being governor of all the islands
+in the world. Well then, it so happened that before he had gone a
+great way from the island of his government (and whether it was
+island, city, town, or village that he governed he never troubled
+himself to inquire) he saw coming along the road he was travelling six
+pilgrims with staves, foreigners of that sort that beg for alms
+singing; who as they drew near arranged themselves in a line and
+lifting up their voices all together began to sing in their own
+language something that Sancho could not with the exception of one
+word which sounded plainly "alms," from which he gathered that it
+was alms they asked for in their song; and being, as Cide Hamete says,
+remarkably charitable, he took out of his alforias the half loaf and
+half cheese he had been provided with, and gave them to them,
+explaining to them by signs that he had nothing else to give them.
+They received them very gladly, but exclaimed, "Geld! Geld!"
+
+"I don't understand what you want of me, good people," said Sancho.
+
+On this one of them took a purse out of his bosom and showed it to
+Sancho, by which he comprehended they were asking for money, and
+putting his thumb to his throat and spreading his hand upwards he gave
+them to understand that he had not the sign of a coin about him, and
+urging Dapple forward he broke through them. But as he was passing,
+one of them who had been examining him very closely rushed towards
+him, and flinging his arms round him exclaimed in a loud voice and
+good Spanish, "God bless me! What's this I see? Is it possible that
+I hold in my arms my dear friend, my good neighbour Sancho Panza?
+But there's no doubt about it, for I'm not asleep, nor am I drunk just
+now."
+
+Sancho was surprised to hear himself called by his name and find
+himself embraced by a foreign pilgrim, and after regarding him
+steadily without speaking he was still unable to recognise him; but
+the pilgrim perceiving his perplexity cried, "What! and is it
+possible, Sancho Panza, that thou dost not know thy neighbour
+Ricote, the Morisco shopkeeper of thy village?"
+
+Sancho upon this looking at him more carefully began to recall his
+features, and at last recognised him perfectly, and without getting
+off the ass threw his arms round his neck saying, "Who the devil could
+have known thee, Ricote, in this mummer's dress thou art in? Tell
+me, who bas frenchified thee, and how dost thou dare to return to
+Spain, where if they catch thee and recognise thee it will go hard
+enough with thee?"
+
+"If thou dost not betray me, Sancho," said the pilgrim, "I am
+safe; for in this dress no one will recognise me; but let us turn
+aside out of the road into that grove there where my comrades are
+going to eat and rest, and thou shalt eat with them there, for they
+are very good fellows; I'll have time enough to tell thee then all
+that has happened me since I left our village in obedience to his
+Majesty's edict that threatened such severities against the
+unfortunate people of my nation, as thou hast heard."
+
+Sancho complied, and Ricote having spoken to the other pilgrims they
+withdrew to the grove they saw, turning a considerable distance out of
+the road. They threw down their staves, took off their pilgrim's
+cloaks and remained in their under-clothing; they were all
+good-looking young fellows, except Ricote, who was a man somewhat
+advanced in years. They carried alforjas all of them, and all
+apparently well filled, at least with things provocative of thirst,
+such as would summon it from two leagues off. They stretched
+themselves on the ground, and making a tablecloth of the grass they
+spread upon it bread, salt, knives, walnut, scraps of cheese, and
+well-picked ham-bones which if they were past gnawing were not past
+sucking. They also put down a black dainty called, they say, caviar,
+and made of the eggs of fish, a great thirst-wakener. Nor was there
+any lack of olives, dry, it is true, and without any seasoning, but
+for all that toothsome and pleasant. But what made the best show in
+the field of the banquet was half a dozen botas of wine, for each of
+them produced his own from his alforjas; even the good Ricote, who
+from a Morisco had transformed himself into a German or Dutchman, took
+out his, which in size might have vied with the five others. They then
+began to eat with very great relish and very leisurely, making the
+most of each morsel- very small ones of everything- they took up on
+the point of the knife; and then all at the same moment raised their
+arms and botas aloft, the mouths placed in their mouths, and all
+eyes fixed on heaven just as if they were taking aim at it; and in
+this attitude they remained ever so long, wagging their heads from
+side to side as if in acknowledgment of the pleasure they were
+enjoying while they decanted the bowels of the bottles into their
+own stomachs.
+
+Sancho beheld all, "and nothing gave him pain;" so far from that,
+acting on the proverb he knew so well, "when thou art at Rome do as
+thou seest," he asked Ricote for his bota and took aim like the rest
+of them, and with not less enjoyment. Four times did the botas bear
+being uplifted, but the fifth it was all in vain, for they were
+drier and more sapless than a rush by that time, which made the
+jollity that had been kept up so far begin to flag.
+
+Every now and then some one of them would grasp Sancho's right
+hand in his own saying, "Espanoli y Tudesqui tuto uno: bon compano;"
+and Sancho would answer, "Bon compano, jur a Di!" and then go off into
+a fit of laughter that lasted an hour, without a thought for the
+moment of anything that had befallen him in his government; for
+cares have very little sway over us while we are eating and
+drinking. At length, the wine having come to an end with them,
+drowsiness began to come over them, and they dropped asleep on their
+very table and tablecloth. Ricote and Sancho alone remained awake, for
+they had eaten more and drunk less, and Ricote drawing Sancho aside,
+they seated themselves at the foot of a beech, leaving the pilgrims
+buried in sweet sleep; and without once falling into his own Morisco
+tongue Ricote spoke as follows in pure Castilian:
+
+"Thou knowest well, neighbour and friend Sancho Panza, how the
+proclamation or edict his Majesty commanded to be issued against those
+of my nation filled us all with terror and dismay; me at least it did,
+insomuch that I think before the time granted us for quitting Spain
+was out, the full force of the penalty had already fallen upon me
+and upon my children. I decided, then, and I think wisely (just like
+one who knows that at a certain date the house he lives in will be
+taken from him, and looks out beforehand for another to change
+into), I decided, I say, to leave the town myself, alone and without
+my family, and go to seek out some place to remove them to comfortably
+and not in the hurried way in which the others took their departure;
+for I saw very plainly, and so did all the older men among us, that
+the proclamations were not mere threats, as some said, but positive
+enactments which would be enforced at the appointed time; and what
+made me believe this was what I knew of the base and extravagant
+designs which our people harboured, designs of such a nature that I
+think it was a divine inspiration that moved his Majesty to carry
+out a resolution so spirited; not that we were all guilty, for some
+there were true and steadfast Christians; but they were so few that
+they could make no head against those who were not; and it was not
+prudent to cherish a viper in the bosom by having enemies in the
+house. In short it was with just cause that we were visited with the
+penalty of banishment, a mild and lenient one in the eyes of some, but
+to us the most terrible that could be inflicted upon us. Wherever we
+are we weep for Spain; for after all we were born there and it is
+our natural fatherland. Nowhere do we find the reception our unhappy
+condition needs; and in Barbary and all the parts of Africa where we
+counted upon being received, succoured, and welcomed, it is there they
+insult and ill-treat us most. We knew not our good fortune until we
+lost it; and such is the longing we almost all of us have to return to
+Spain, that most of those who like myself know the language, and there
+are many who do, come back to it and leave their wives and children
+forsaken yonder, so great is their love for it; and now I know by
+experience the meaning of the saying, sweet is the love of one's
+country.
+
+"I left our village, as I said, and went to France, but though
+they gave us a kind reception there I was anxious to see all I
+could. I crossed into Italy, and reached Germany, and there it
+seemed to me we might live with more freedom, as the inhabitants do
+not pay any attention to trifling points; everyone lives as he
+likes, for in most parts they enjoy liberty of conscience. I took a
+house in a town near Augsburg, and then joined these pilgrims, who are
+in the habit of coming to Spain in great numbers every year to visit
+the shrines there, which they look upon as their Indies and a sure and
+certain source of gain. They travel nearly all over it, and there is
+no town out of which they do not go full up of meat and drink, as
+the saying is, and with a real, at least, in money, and they come
+off at the end of their travels with more than a hundred crowns saved,
+which, changed into gold, they smuggle out of the kingdom either in
+the hollow of their staves or in the patches of their pilgrim's cloaks
+or by some device of their own, and carry to their own country in
+spite of the guards at the posts and passes where they are searched.
+Now my purpose is, Sancho, to carry away the treasure that I left
+buried, which, as it is outside the town, I shall be able to do
+without risk, and to write, or cross over from Valencia, to my
+daughter and wife, who I know are at Algiers, and find some means of
+bringing them to some French port and thence to Germany, there to
+await what it may be God's will to do with us; for, after all, Sancho,
+I know well that Ricota my daughter and Francisca Ricota my wife are
+Catholic Christians, and though I am not so much so, still I am more
+of a Christian than a Moor, and it is always my prayer to God that
+he will open the eyes of my understanding and show me how I am to
+serve him; but what amazes me and I cannot understand is why my wife
+and daughter should have gone to Barbary rather than to France,
+where they could live as Christians."
+
+To this Sancho replied, "Remember, Ricote, that may not have been
+open to them, for Juan Tiopieyo thy wife's brother took them, and
+being a true Moor he went where he could go most easily; and another
+thing I can tell thee, it is my belief thou art going in vain to
+look for what thou hast left buried, for we heard they took from thy
+brother-in-law and thy wife a great quantity of pearls and money in
+gold which they brought to be passed."
+
+"That may be," said Ricote; "but I know they did not touch my hoard,
+for I did not tell them where it was, for fear of accidents; and so,
+if thou wilt come with me, Sancho, and help me to take it away and
+conceal it, I will give thee two hundred crowns wherewith thou
+mayest relieve thy necessities, and, as thou knowest, I know they
+are many."
+
+"I would do it," said Sancho; "but I am not at all covetous, for I
+gave up an office this morning in which, if I was, I might have made
+the walls of my house of gold and dined off silver plates before six
+months were over; and so for this reason, and because I feel I would
+be guilty of treason to my king if I helped his enemies, I would not
+go with thee if instead of promising me two hundred crowns thou wert
+to give me four hundred here in hand."
+
+"And what office is this thou hast given up, Sancho?" asked Ricote.
+
+"I have given up being governor of an island," said Sancho, "and
+such a one, faith, as you won't find the like of easily."
+
+"And where is this island?" said Ricote.
+
+"Where?" said Sancho; "two leagues from here, and it is called the
+island of Barataria."
+
+"Nonsense! Sancho," said Ricote; "islands are away out in the sea;
+there are no islands on the mainland."
+
+"What? No islands!" said Sancho; "I tell thee, friend Ricote, I left
+it this morning, and yesterday I was governing there as I pleased like
+a sagittarius; but for all that I gave it up, for it seemed to me a
+dangerous office, a governor's."
+
+"And what hast thou gained by the government?" asked Ricote.
+
+"I have gained," said Sancho, "the knowledge that I am no good for
+governing, unless it is a drove of cattle, and that the riches that
+are to be got by these governments are got at the cost of one's rest
+and sleep, ay and even one's food; for in islands the governors must
+eat little, especially if they have doctors to look after their
+health."
+
+"I don't understand thee, Sancho," said Ricote; "but it seems to
+me all nonsense thou art talking. Who would give thee islands to
+govern? Is there any scarcity in the world of cleverer men than thou
+art for governors? Hold thy peace, Sancho, and come back to thy
+senses, and consider whether thou wilt come with me as I said to
+help me to take away treasure I left buried (for indeed it may be
+called a treasure, it is so large), and I will give thee wherewithal
+to keep thee, as I told thee."
+
+"And I have told thee already, Ricote, that I will not," said
+Sancho; "let it content thee that by me thou shalt not be betrayed,
+and go thy way in God's name and let me go mine; for I know that
+well-gotten gain may be lost, but ill-gotten gain is lost, itself
+and its owner likewise."
+
+"I will not press thee, Sancho," said Ricote; "but tell me, wert
+thou in our village when my wife and daughter and brother-in-law
+left it?"
+
+"I was so," said Sancho; "and I can tell thee thy daughter left it
+looking so lovely that all the village turned out to see her, and
+everybody said she was the fairest creature in the world. She wept
+as she went, and embraced all her friends and acquaintances and
+those who came out to see her, and she begged them all to commend
+her to God and Our Lady his mother, and this in such a touching way
+that it made me weep myself, though I'm not much given to tears
+commonly; and, faith, many a one would have liked to hide her, or go
+out and carry her off on the road; but the fear of going against the
+king's command kept them back. The one who showed himself most moved
+was Don Pedro Gregorio, the rich young heir thou knowest of, and
+they say he was deep in love with her; and since she left he has not
+been seen in our village again, and we all suspect he has gone after
+her to steal her away, but so far nothing has been heard of it."
+
+"I always had a suspicion that gentleman had a passion for my
+daughter," said Ricote; "but as I felt sure of my Ricota's virtue it
+gave me no uneasiness to know that he loved her; for thou must have
+heard it said, Sancho, that the Morisco women seldom or never engage
+in amours with the old Christians; and my daughter, who I fancy
+thought more of being a Christian than of lovemaking, would not
+trouble herself about the attentions of this heir."
+
+"God grant it," said Sancho, "for it would be a bad business for
+both of them; but now let me be off, friend Ricote, for I want to
+reach where my master Don Quixote is to-night."
+
+"God be with thee, brother Sancho," said Ricote; "my comrades are
+beginning to stir, and it is time, too, for us to continue our
+journey;" and then they both embraced, and Sancho mounted Dapple,
+and Ricote leant upon his staff, and so they parted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV
+OF WHAT BEFELL SANCHO ON THE ROAD, AND OTHER THINGS THAT CANNOT BE SURPASSED
+
+The length of time he delayed with Ricote prevented Sancho from
+reaching the duke's castle that day, though he was within half a
+league of it when night, somewhat dark and cloudy, overtook him. This,
+however, as it was summer time, did not give him much uneasiness,
+and he turned aside out of the road intending to wait for morning; but
+his ill luck and hard fate so willed it that as he was searching about
+for a place to make himself as comfortable as possible, he and
+Dapple fell into a deep dark hole that lay among some very old
+buildings. As he fell he commended himself with all his heart to
+God, fancying he was not going to stop until he reached the depths
+of the bottomless pit; but it did not turn out so, for at little
+more than thrice a man's height Dapple touched bottom, and he found
+himself sitting on him without having received any hurt or damage
+whatever. He felt himself all over and held his breath to try
+whether he was quite sound or had a hole made in him anywhere, and
+finding himself all right and whole and in perfect health he was
+profuse in his thanks to God our Lord for the mercy that had been
+shown him, for he made sure he had been broken into a thousand pieces.
+He also felt along the sides of the pit with his hands to see if it
+were possible to get out of it without help, but he found they were
+quite smooth and afforded no hold anywhere, at which he was greatly
+distressed, especially when he heard how pathetically and dolefully
+Dapple was bemoaning himself, and no wonder he complained, nor was
+it from ill-temper, for in truth he was not in a very good case.
+"Alas," said Sancho, "what unexpected accidents happen at every step
+to those who live in this miserable world! Who would have said that
+one who saw himself yesterday sitting on a throne, governor of an
+island, giving orders to his servants and his vassals, would see
+himself to-day buried in a pit without a soul to help him, or
+servant or vassal to come to his relief? Here must we perish with
+hunger, my ass and myself, if indeed we don't die first, he of his
+bruises and injuries, and I of grief and sorrow. At any rate I'll
+not be as lucky as my master Don Quixote of La Mancha, when he went
+down into the cave of that enchanted Montesinos, where he found people
+to make more of him than if he had been in his own house; for it seems
+he came in for a table laid out and a bed ready made. There he saw
+fair and pleasant visions, but here I'll see, I imagine, toads and
+adders. Unlucky wretch that I am, what an end my follies and fancies
+have come to! They'll take up my bones out of this, when it is
+heaven's will that I'm found, picked clean, white and polished, and my
+good Dapple's with them, and by that, perhaps, it will be found out
+who we are, at least by such as have heard that Sancho Panza never
+separated from his ass, nor his ass from Sancho Panza. Unlucky
+wretches, I say again, that our hard fate should not let us die in our
+own country and among our own people, where if there was no help for
+our misfortune, at any rate there would be some one to grieve for it
+and to close our eyes as we passed away! O comrade and friend, how ill
+have I repaid thy faithful services! Forgive me, and entreat
+Fortune, as well as thou canst, to deliver us out of this miserable
+strait we are both in; and I promise to put a crown of laurel on thy
+head, and make thee look like a poet laureate, and give thee double
+feeds."
+
+In this strain did Sancho bewail himself, and his ass listened to
+him, but answered him never a word, such was the distress and
+anguish the poor beast found himself in. At length, after a night
+spent in bitter moanings and lamentations, day came, and by its
+light Sancho perceived that it was wholly impossible to escape out
+of that pit without help, and he fell to bemoaning his fate and
+uttering loud shouts to find out if there was anyone within hearing;
+but all his shouting was only crying in the wilderness, for there
+was not a soul anywhere in the neighbourhood to hear him, and then
+at last he gave himself up for dead. Dapple was lying on his back, and
+Sancho helped him to his feet, which he was scarcely able to keep; and
+then taking a piece of bread out of his alforjas which had shared
+their fortunes in the fall, he gave it to the ass, to whom it was
+not unwelcome, saying to him as if he understood him, "With bread
+all sorrows are less."
+
+And now he perceived on one side of the pit a hole large enough to
+admit a person if he stooped and squeezed himself into a small
+compass. Sancho made for it, and entered it by creeping, and found
+it wide and spacious on the inside, which he was able to see as a
+ray of sunlight that penetrated what might be called the roof showed
+it all plainly. He observed too that it opened and widened out into
+another spacious cavity; seeing which he made his way back to where
+the ass was, and with a stone began to pick away the clay from the
+hole until in a short time he had made room for the beast to pass
+easily, and this accomplished, taking him by the halter, he
+proceeded to traverse the cavern to see if there was any outlet at the
+other end. He advanced, sometimes in the dark, sometimes without
+light, but never without fear; "God Almighty help me!" said he to
+himself; "this that is a misadventure to me would make a good
+adventure for my master Don Quixote. He would have been sure to take
+these depths and dungeons for flowery gardens or the palaces of
+Galiana, and would have counted upon issuing out of this darkness
+and imprisonment into some blooming meadow; but I, unlucky that I
+am, hopeless and spiritless, expect at every step another pit deeper
+than the first to open under my feet and swallow me up for good;
+'welcome evil, if thou comest alone.'"
+
+In this way and with these reflections he seemed to himself to
+have travelled rather more than half a league, when at last he
+perceived a dim light that looked like daylight and found its way in
+on one side, showing that this road, which appeared to him the road to
+the other world, led to some opening.
+
+Here Cide Hamete leaves him, and returns to Don Quixote, who in high
+spirits and satisfaction was looking forward to the day fixed for
+the battle he was to fight with him who had robbed Dona Rodriguez's
+daughter of her honour, for whom he hoped to obtain satisfaction for
+the wrong and injury shamefully done to her. It came to pass, then,
+that having sallied forth one morning to practise and exercise himself
+in what he would have to do in the encounter he expected to find
+himself engaged in the next day, as he was putting Rocinante through
+his paces or pressing him to the charge, he brought his feet so
+close to a pit that but for reining him in tightly it would have
+been impossible for him to avoid falling into it. He pulled him up,
+however, without a fall, and coming a little closer examined the
+hole without dismounting; but as he was looking at it he heard loud
+cries proceeding from it, and by listening attentively was able to
+make out that he who uttered them was saying, "Ho, above there! is
+there any Christian that hears me, or any charitable gentleman that
+will take pity on a sinner buried alive, on an unfortunate disgoverned
+governor?"
+
+It struck Don Quixote that it was the voice of Sancho Panza he
+heard, whereat he was taken aback and amazed, and raising his own
+voice as much as he could, he cried out, "Who is below there? Who is
+that complaining?"
+
+"Who should be here, or who should complain," was the answer, "but
+the forlorn Sancho Panza, for his sins and for his ill-luck governor
+of the island of Barataria, squire that was to the famous knight Don
+Quixote of La Mancha?"
+
+When Don Quixote heard this his amazement was redoubled and his
+perturbation grew greater than ever, for it suggested itself to his
+mind that Sancho must be dead, and that his soul was in torment down
+there; and carried away by this idea he exclaimed, "I conjure thee
+by everything that as a Catholic Christian I can conjure thee by, tell
+me who thou art; and if thou art a soul in torment, tell me what
+thou wouldst have me do for thee; for as my profession is to give
+aid and succour to those that need it in this world, it will also
+extend to aiding and succouring the distressed of the other, who
+cannot help themselves."
+
+"In that case," answered the voice, "your worship who speaks to me
+must be my master Don Quixote of La Mancha; nay, from the tone of
+the voice it is plain it can be nobody else."
+
+"Don Quixote I am," replied Don Quixote, "he whose profession it
+is to aid and succour the living and the dead in their necessities;
+wherefore tell me who thou art, for thou art keeping me in suspense;
+because, if thou art my squire Sancho Panza, and art dead, since the
+devils have not carried thee off, and thou art by God's mercy in
+purgatory, our holy mother the Roman Catholic Church has
+intercessory means sufficient to release thee from the pains thou
+art in; and I for my part will plead with her to that end, so far as
+my substance will go; without further delay, therefore, declare
+thyself, and tell me who thou art."
+
+"By all that's good," was the answer, "and by the birth of
+whomsoever your worship chooses, I swear, Senor Don Quixote of La
+Mancha, that I am your squire Sancho Panza, and that I have never died
+all my life; but that, having given up my government for reasons
+that would require more time to explain, I fell last night into this
+pit where I am now, and Dapple is witness and won't let me lie, for
+more by token he is here with me."
+
+Nor was this all; one would have fancied the ass understood what
+Sancho said, because that moment he began to bray so loudly that the
+whole cave rang again.
+
+"Famous testimony!" exclaimed Don Quixote; "I know that bray as well
+as if I was its mother, and thy voice too, my Sancho. Wait while I
+go to the duke's castle, which is close by, and I will bring some
+one to take thee out of this pit into which thy sins no doubt have
+brought thee."
+
+"Go, your worship," said Sancho, "and come back quick for God's
+sake; for I cannot bear being buried alive any longer, and I'm dying
+of fear."
+
+Don Quixote left him, and hastened to the castle to tell the duke
+and duchess what had happened Sancho, and they were not a little
+astonished at it; they could easily understand his having fallen, from
+the confirmatory circumstance of the cave which had been in
+existence there from time immemorial; but they could not imagine how
+he had quitted the government without their receiving any intimation
+of his coming. To be brief, they fetched ropes and tackle, as the
+saying is, and by dint of many hands and much labour they drew up
+Dapple and Sancho Panza out of the darkness into the light of day. A
+student who saw him remarked, "That's the way all bad governors should
+come out of their governments, as this sinner comes out of the
+depths of the pit, dead with hunger, pale, and I suppose without a
+farthing."
+
+Sancho overheard him and said, "It is eight or ten days, brother
+growler, since I entered upon the government of the island they gave
+me, and all that time I never had a bellyful of victuals, no not for
+an hour; doctors persecuted me and enemies crushed my bones; nor had I
+any opportunity of taking bribes or levying taxes; and if that be
+the case, as it is, I don't deserve, I think, to come out in this
+fashion; but 'man proposes and God disposes;' and God knows what is
+best, and what suits each one best; and 'as the occasion, so the
+behaviour;' and 'let nobody say "I won't drink of this water;"' and
+'where one thinks there are flitches, there are no pegs;' God knows my
+meaning and that's enough; I say no more, though I could."
+
+"Be not angry or annoyed at what thou hearest, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote, "or there will never be an end of it; keep a safe
+conscience and let them say what they like; for trying to stop
+slanderers' tongues is like trying to put gates to the open plain.
+If a governor comes out of his government rich, they say he has been a
+thief; and if he comes out poor, that he has been a noodle and a
+blockhead."
+
+"They'll be pretty sure this time," said Sancho, "to set me down for
+a fool rather than a thief."
+
+Thus talking, and surrounded by boys and a crowd of people, they
+reached the castle, where in one of the corridors the duke and duchess
+stood waiting for them; but Sancho would not go up to see the duke
+until he had first put up Dapple in the stable, for he said he had
+passed a very bad night in his last quarters; then he went upstairs to
+see his lord and lady, and kneeling before them he said, "Because it
+was your highnesses' pleasure, not because of any desert of my own,
+I went to govern your island of Barataria, which 'I entered naked, and
+naked I find myself; I neither lose nor gain.' Whether I have governed
+well or ill, I have had witnesses who will say what they think fit.
+I have answered questions, I have decided causes, and always dying
+of hunger, for Doctor Pedro Recio of Tirteafuera, the island and
+governor doctor, would have it so. Enemies attacked us by night and
+put us in a great quandary, but the people of the island say they came
+off safe and victorious by the might of my arm; and may God give
+them as much health as there's truth in what they say. In short,
+during that time I have weighed the cares and responsibilities
+governing brings with it, and by my reckoning I find my shoulders
+can't bear them, nor are they a load for my loins or arrows for my
+quiver; and so, before the government threw me over I preferred to
+throw the government over; and yesterday morning I left the island
+as I found it, with the same streets, houses, and roofs it had when
+I entered it. I asked no loan of anybody, nor did I try to fill my
+pocket; and though I meant to make some useful laws, I made hardly
+any, as I was afraid they would not be kept; for in that case it comes
+to the same thing to make them or not to make them. I quitted the
+island, as I said, without any escort except my ass; I fell into a
+pit, I pushed on through it, until this morning by the light of the
+sun I saw an outlet, but not so easy a one but that, had not heaven
+sent me my master Don Quixote, I'd have stayed there till the end of
+the world. So now my lord and lady duke and duchess, here is your
+governor Sancho Panza, who in the bare ten days he has held the
+government has come by the knowledge that he would not give anything
+to be governor, not to say of an island, but of the whole world; and
+that point being settled, kissing your worships' feet, and imitating
+the game of the boys when they say, 'leap thou, and give me one,' I
+take a leap out of the government and pass into the service of my
+master Don Quixote; for after all, though in it I eat my bread in fear
+and trembling, at any rate I take my fill; and for my part, so long as
+I'm full, it's all alike to me whether it's with carrots or with
+partridges."
+
+Here Sancho brought his long speech to an end, Don Quixote having
+been the whole time in dread of his uttering a host of absurdities;
+and when he found him leave off with so few, he thanked heaven in
+his heart. The duke embraced Sancho and told him he was heartily sorry
+he had given up the government so soon, but that he would see that
+he was provided with some other post on his estate less onerous and
+more profitable. The duchess also embraced him, and gave orders that
+he should be taken good care of, as it was plain to see he had been
+badly treated and worse bruised.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI
+
+OF THE PRODIGIOUS AND UNPARALLELED BATTLE THAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN
+DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA AND THE LACQUEY TOSILOS IN DEFENCE OF THE
+DAUGHTER OF DONA RODRIGUEZ
+
+The duke and duchess had no reason to regret the joke that had
+been played upon Sancho Panza in giving him the government; especially
+as their majordomo returned the same day, and gave them a minute
+account of almost every word and deed that Sancho uttered or did
+during the time; and to wind up with, eloquently described to them the
+attack upon the island and Sancho's fright and departure, with which
+they were not a little amused. After this the history goes on to say
+that the day fixed for the battle arrived, and that the duke, after
+having repeatedly instructed his lacquey Tosilos how to deal with
+Don Quixote so as to vanquish him without killing or wounding him,
+gave orders to have the heads removed from the lances, telling Don
+Quixote that Christian charity, on which he plumed himself, could
+not suffer the battle to be fought with so much risk and danger to
+life; and that he must be content with the offer of a battlefield on
+his territory (though that was against the decree of the holy Council,
+which prohibits all challenges of the sort) and not push such an
+arduous venture to its extreme limits. Don Quixote bade his excellence
+arrange all matters connected with the affair as he pleased, as on his
+part he would obey him in everything. The dread day, then, having
+arrived, and the duke having ordered a spacious stand to be erected
+facing the court of the castle for the judges of the field and the
+appellant duennas, mother and daughter, vast crowds flocked from all
+the villages and hamlets of the neighbourhood to see the novel
+spectacle of the battle; nobody, dead or alive, in those parts
+having ever seen or heard of such a one.
+
+The first person to enter the-field and the lists was the master
+of the ceremonies, who surveyed and paced the whole ground to see that
+there was nothing unfair and nothing concealed to make the
+combatants stumble or fall; then the duennas entered and seated
+themselves, enveloped in mantles covering their eyes, nay even their
+bosoms, and displaying no slight emotion as Don Quixote appeared in
+the lists. Shortly afterwards, accompanied by several trumpets and
+mounted on a powerful steed that threatened to crush the whole
+place, the great lacquey Tosilos made his appearance on one side of
+the courtyard with his visor down and stiffly cased in a suit of stout
+shining armour. The horse was a manifest Frieslander, broad-backed and
+flea-bitten, and with half a hundred of wool hanging to each of his
+fetlocks. The gallant combatant came well primed by his master the
+duke as to how he was to bear himself against the valiant Don
+Quixote of La Mancha; being warned that he must on no account slay
+him, but strive to shirk the first encounter so as to avoid the risk
+of killing him, as he was sure to do if he met him full tilt. He
+crossed the courtyard at a walk, and coming to where the duennas
+were placed stopped to look at her who demanded him for a husband; the
+marshal of the field summoned Don Quixote, who had already presented
+himself in the courtyard, and standing by the side of Tosilos he
+addressed the duennas, and asked them if they consented that Don
+Quixote of La Mancha should do battle for their right. They said
+they did, and that whatever he should do in that behalf they
+declared rightly done, final and valid. By this time the duke and
+duchess had taken their places in a gallery commanding the
+enclosure, which was filled to overflowing with a multitude of
+people eager to see this perilous and unparalleled encounter. The
+conditions of the combat were that if Don Quixote proved the victor
+his antagonist was to marry the daughter of Dona Rodriguez; but if
+he should be vanquished his opponent was released from the promise
+that was claimed against him and from all obligations to give
+satisfaction. The master of the ceremonies apportioned the sun to
+them, and stationed them, each on the spot where he was to stand.
+The drums beat, the sound of the trumpets filled the air, the earth
+trembled under foot, the hearts of the gazing crowd were full of
+anxiety, some hoping for a happy issue, some apprehensive of an
+untoward ending to the affair, and lastly, Don Quixote, commending
+himself with all his heart to God our Lord and to the lady Dulcinea
+del Toboso, stood waiting for them to give the necessary signal for
+the onset. Our lacquey, however, was thinking of something very
+different; he only thought of what I am now going to mention.
+
+It seems that as he stood contemplating his enemy she struck him
+as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen all his life; and the
+little blind boy whom in our streets they commonly call Love had no
+mind to let slip the chance of triumphing over a lacquey heart, and
+adding it to the list of his trophies; and so, stealing gently upon
+him unseen, he drove a dart two yards long into the poor lacquey's
+left side and pierced his heart through and through; which he was able
+to do quite at his ease, for Love is invisible, and comes in and
+goes out as he likes, without anyone calling him to account for what
+he does. Well then, when they gave the signal for the onset our
+lacquey was in an ecstasy, musing upon the beauty of her whom he had
+already made mistress of his liberty, and so he paid no attention to
+the sound of the trumpet, unlike Don Quixote, who was off the
+instant he heard it, and, at the highest speed Rocinante was capable
+of, set out to meet his enemy, his good squire Sancho shouting lustily
+as he saw him start, "God guide thee, cream and flower of
+knights-errant! God give thee the victory, for thou hast the right
+on thy side!" But though Tosilos saw Don Quixote coming at him he
+never stirred a step from the spot where he was posted; and instead of
+doing so called loudly to the marshal of the field, to whom when he
+came up to see what he wanted he said, "Senor, is not this battle to
+decide whether I marry or do not marry that lady?" "Just so," was
+the answer. "Well then," said the lacquey, "I feel qualms of
+conscience, and I should lay a-heavy burden upon it if I were to
+proceed any further with the combat; I therefore declare that I
+yield myself vanquished, and that I am willing to marry the lady at
+once."
+
+The marshal of the field was lost in astonishment at the words of
+Tosilos; and as he was one of those who were privy to the
+arrangement of the affair he knew not what to say in reply. Don
+Quixote pulled up in mid career when he saw that his enemy was not
+coming on to the attack. The duke could not make out the reason why
+the battle did not go on; but the marshal of the field hastened to him
+to let him know what Tosilos said, and he was amazed and extremely
+angry at it. In the meantime Tosilos advanced to where Dona
+Rodriguez sat and said in a loud voice, "Senora, I am willing to marry
+your daughter, and I have no wish to obtain by strife and fighting
+what I can obtain in peace and without any risk to my life."
+
+The valiant Don Quixote heard him, and said, "As that is the case
+I am released and absolved from my promise; let them marry by all
+means, and as 'God our Lord has given her, may Saint Peter add his
+blessing.'"
+
+The duke had now descended to the courtyard of the castle, and going
+up to Tosilos he said to him, "Is it true, sir knight, that you
+yield yourself vanquished, and that moved by scruples of conscience
+you wish to marry this damsel?"
+
+"It is, senor," replied Tosilos.
+
+"And he does well," said Sancho, "for what thou hast to give to
+the mouse, give to the cat, and it will save thee all trouble."
+
+Tosilos meanwhile was trying to unlace his helmet, and he begged
+them to come to his help at once, as his power of breathing was
+failing him, and he could not remain so long shut up in that
+confined space. They removed it in all haste, and his lacquey features
+were revealed to public gaze. At this sight Dona Rodriguez and her
+daughter raised a mighty outcry, exclaiming, "This is a trick! This is
+a trick! They have put Tosilos, my lord the duke's lacquey, upon us in
+place of the real husband. The justice of God and the king against
+such trickery, not to say roguery!"
+
+"Do not distress yourselves, ladies," said Don Quixote; "for this is
+no trickery or roguery; or if it is, it is not the duke who is at
+the bottom of it, but those wicked enchanters who persecute me, and
+who, jealous of my reaping the glory of this victory, have turned your
+husband's features into those of this person, who you say is a lacquey
+of the duke's; take my advice, and notwithstanding the malice of my
+enemies marry him, for beyond a doubt he is the one you wish for a
+husband."
+
+When the duke heard this all his anger was near vanishing in a fit
+of laughter, and he said, "The things that happen to Senor Don Quixote
+are so extraordinary that I am ready to believe this lacquey of mine
+is not one; but let us adopt this plan and device; let us put off
+the marriage for, say, a fortnight, and let us keep this person
+about whom we are uncertain in close confinement, and perhaps in the
+course of that time he may return to his original shape; for the spite
+which the enchanters entertain against Senor Don Quixote cannot last
+so long, especially as it is of so little advantage to them to
+practise these deceptions and transformations."
+
+"Oh, senor," said Sancho, "those scoundrels are well used to
+changing whatever concerns my master from one thing into another. A
+knight that he overcame some time back, called the Knight of the
+Mirrors, they turned into the shape of the bachelor Samson Carrasco of
+our town and a great friend of ours; and my lady Dulcinea del Toboso
+they have turned into a common country wench; so I suspect this
+lacquey will have to live and die a lacquey all the days of his life."
+
+Here the Rodriguez's daughter exclaimed, "Let him be who he may,
+this man that claims me for a wife; I am thankful to him for the same,
+for I had rather he the lawful wife of a lacquey than the cheated
+mistress of a gentleman; though he who played me false is nothing of
+the kind."
+
+To be brief, all the talk and all that had happened ended in Tosilos
+being shut up until it was seen how his transformation turned out. All
+hailed Don Quixote as victor, but the greater number were vexed and
+disappointed at finding that the combatants they had been so anxiously
+waiting for had not battered one another to pieces, just as the boys
+are disappointed when the man they are waiting to see hanged does
+not come out, because the prosecution or the court has pardoned him.
+The people dispersed, the duke and Don Quixote returned to the castle,
+they locked up Tosilos, Dona Rodriguez and her daughter remained
+perfectly contented when they saw that any way the affair must end
+in marriage, and Tosilos wanted nothing else.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII
+
+WHICH TREATS OF HOW DON QUIXOTE TOOK LEAVE OF THE DUKE, AND OF
+WHAT FOLLOWED WITH THE WITTY AND IMPUDENT ALTISIDORA, ONE OF THE
+DUCHESS'S DAMSELS
+
+Don Quixote now felt it right to quit a life of such idleness as
+he was leading in the castle; for he fancied that he was making
+himself sorely missed by suffering himself to remain shut up and
+inactive amid the countless luxuries and enjoyments his hosts lavished
+upon him as a knight. and he felt too that he would have to render a
+strict account to heaven of that indolence and seclusion; and so one
+day he asked the duke and duchess to grant him permission to take
+his departure. They gave it, showing at the same time that they were
+very sorry he was leaving them. The duchess gave his wife's letters to
+Sancho Panza, who shed tears over them, saying, "Who would have
+thought that such grand hopes as the news of my government bred in
+my wife Teresa Panza's breast would end in my going back now to the
+vagabond adventures of my master Don Quixote of La Mancha? Still I'm
+glad to see my Teresa behaved as she ought in sending the acorns,
+for if she had not sent them I'd have been sorry, and she'd have shown
+herself ungrateful. It is a comfort to me that they can't call that
+present a bribe; for I had got the government already when she sent
+them, and it's but reasonable that those who have had a good turn done
+them should show their gratitude, if it's only with a trifle. After
+all I went into the government naked, and I come out of it naked; so I
+can say with a safe conscience -and that's no small matter- 'naked I
+was born, naked I find myself, I neither lose nor gain.'"
+
+Thus did Sancho soliloquise on the day of their departure, as Don
+Quixote, who had the night before taken leave of the duke and duchess,
+coming out made his appearance at an early hour in full armour in
+the courtyard of the castle. The whole household of the castle were
+watching him from the corridors, and the duke and duchess, too, came
+out to see him. Sancho was mounted on his Dapple, with his alforjas,
+valise, and proven. supremely happy because the duke's majordomo,
+the same that had acted the part of the Trifaldi, had given him a
+little purse with two hundred gold crowns to meet the necessary
+expenses of the road, but of this Don Quixote knew nothing as yet.
+While all were, as has been said, observing him, suddenly from among
+the duennas and handmaidens the impudent and witty Altisidora lifted
+up her voice and said in pathetic tones:
+
+Give ear, cruel knight;
+  Draw rein; where's the need
+Of spurring the flanks
+  Of that ill-broken steed?
+From what art thou flying?
+  No dragon I am,
+Not even a sheep,
+  But a tender young lamb.
+Thou hast jilted a maiden
+  As fair to behold
+As nymph of Diana
+  Or Venus of old.
+
+Bireno, AEneas, what worse shall I call thee?
+
+Barabbas go with thee! All evil befall thee!
+
+In thy claws, ruthless robber,
+  Thou bearest away
+The heart of a meek
+  Loving maid for thy prey,
+Three kerchiefs thou stealest,
+  And garters a pair,
+From legs than the whitest
+  Of marble more fair;
+And the sighs that pursue thee
+  Would burn to the ground
+Two thousand Troy Towns,
+  If so many were found.
+
+Bireno, AEneas, what worse shall I call thee?
+
+Barabbas go with thee! All evil befall thee!
+
+May no bowels of mercy
+  To Sancho be granted,
+And thy Dulcinea
+  Be left still enchanted,
+May thy falsehood to me
+  Find its punishment in her,
+For in my land the just
+  Often pays for the sinner.
+May thy grandest adventures
+  Discomfitures prove,
+May thy joys be all dreams,
+  And forgotten thy love.
+
+Bireno, AEneas, what worse shall I call thee?
+
+Barabbas go with thee! All evil befall thee!
+
+May thy name be abhorred
+  For thy conduct to ladies,
+From London to England,
+  From Seville to Cadiz;
+May thy cards be unlucky,
+  Thy hands contain ne'er a
+King, seven, or ace
+  When thou playest primera;
+When thy corns are cut
+  May it be to the quick;
+When thy grinders are drawn
+  May the roots of them stick.
+
+Bireno, AEneas, what worse shall I call thee?
+
+Barabbas go with thee! All evil befall thee!
+
+
+All the while the unhappy Altisidora was bewailing herself in the
+above strain Don Quixote stood staring at her; and without uttering
+a word in reply to her he turned round to Sancho and said, "Sancho
+my friend, I conjure thee by the life of thy forefathers tell me the
+truth; say, hast thou by any chance taken the three kerchiefs and
+the garters this love-sick maid speaks of?"
+
+To this Sancho made answer, "The three kerchiefs I have; but the
+garters, as much as 'over the hills of Ubeda.'"
+
+The duchess was amazed at Altisidora's assurance; she knew that
+she was bold, lively, and impudent, but not so much so as to venture
+to make free in this fashion; and not being prepared for the joke, her
+astonishment was all the greater. The duke had a mind to keep up the
+sport, so he said, "It does not seem to me well done in you, sir
+knight, that after having received the hospitality that has been
+offered you in this very castle, you should have ventured to carry off
+even three kerchiefs, not to say my handmaid's garters. It shows a bad
+heart and does not tally with your reputation. Restore her garters, or
+else I defy you to mortal combat, for I am not afraid of rascally
+enchanters changing or altering my features as they changed his who
+encountered you into those of my lacquey, Tosilos."
+
+"God forbid," said Don Quixote, "that I should draw my sword against
+your illustrious person from which I have received such great favours.
+The kerchiefs I will restore, as Sancho says he has them; as to the
+garters that is impossible, for I have not got them, neither has he;
+and if your handmaiden here will look in her hiding-places, depend
+upon it she will find them. I have never been a thief, my lord duke,
+nor do I mean to be so long as I live, if God cease not to have me
+in his keeping. This damsel by her own confession speaks as one in
+love, for which I am not to blame, and therefore need not ask
+pardon, either of her or of your excellence, whom I entreat to have
+a better opinion of me, and once more to give me leave to pursue my
+journey."
+
+"And may God so prosper it, Senor Don Quixote," said the duchess,
+"that we may always hear good news of your exploits; God speed you;
+for the longer you stay, the more you inflame the hearts of the
+damsels who behold you; and as for this one of mine, I will so
+chastise her that she will not transgress again, either with her
+eyes or with her words."
+
+"One word and no more, O valiant Don Quixote, I ask you to hear,"
+said Altisidora, "and that is that I beg your pardon about the theft
+of the garters; for by God and upon my soul I have got them on, and
+I have fallen into the same blunder as he did who went looking for his
+ass being all the while mounted on it."
+
+"Didn't I say so?" said Sancho. "I'm a likely one to hide thefts!
+Why if I wanted to deal in them, opportunities came ready enough to me
+in my government."
+
+Don Quixote bowed his head, and saluted the duke and duchess and all
+the bystanders, and wheeling Rocinante round, Sancho following him
+on Dapple, he rode out of the castle, shaping his course for
+Saragossa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII
+
+WHICH TELLS HOW ADVENTURES CAME CROWDING ON DON QUIXOTE IN SUCH
+NUMBERS THAT THEY GAVE ONE ANOTHER NO BREATHING-TIME
+
+When Don Quixote saw himself in open country, free, and relieved
+from the attentions of Altisidora, he felt at his ease, and in fresh
+spirits to take up the pursuit of chivalry once more; and turning to
+Sancho he said, "Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts
+that heaven has bestowed upon men; no treasures that the earth holds
+buried or the sea conceals can compare with it; for freedom, as for
+honour, life may and should be ventured; and on the other hand,
+captivity is the greatest evil that can fall to the lot of man. I
+say this, Sancho, because thou hast seen the good cheer, the abundance
+we have enjoyed in this castle we are leaving; well then, amid those
+dainty banquets and snow-cooled beverages I felt as though I were
+undergoing the straits of hunger, because I did not enjoy them with
+the same freedom as if they had been mine own; for the sense of
+being under an obligation to return benefits and favours received is a
+restraint that checks the independence of the spirit. Happy he, to
+whom heaven has given a piece of bread for which he is not bound to
+give thanks to any but heaven itself!"
+
+"For all your worship says," said Sancho, "it is not becoming that
+there should he no thanks on our part for two hundred gold crowns that
+the duke's majordomo has given me in a little purse which I carry next
+my heart, like a warming plaster or comforter, to meet any chance
+calls; for we shan't always find castles where they'll entertain us;
+now and then we may light upon roadside inns where they'll cudgel us."
+
+In conversation of this sort the knight and squire errant were
+pursuing their journey, when, after they had gone a little more than
+half a league, they perceived some dozen men dressed like labourers
+stretched upon their cloaks on the grass of a green meadow eating
+their dinner. They had beside them what seemed to be white sheets
+concealing some objects under them, standing upright or lying flat,
+and arranged at intervals. Don Quixote approached the diners, and,
+saluting them courteously first, he asked them what it was those
+cloths covered. "Senor," answered one of the party, "under these
+cloths are some images carved in relief intended for a retablo we
+are putting up in our village; we carry them covered up that they
+may not be soiled, and on our shoulders that they may not be broken."
+
+"With your good leave," said Don Quixote, "I should like to see
+them; for images that are carried so carefully no doubt must be fine
+ones."
+
+"I should think they were!" said the other; "let the money they cost
+speak for that; for as a matter of fact there is not one of them
+that does not stand us in more than fifty ducats; and that your
+worship may judge; wait a moment, and you shall see with your own
+eyes;" and getting up from his dinner he went and uncovered the
+first image, which proved to be one of Saint George on horseback
+with a serpent writhing at his feet and the lance thrust down its
+throat with all that fierceness that is usually depicted. The whole
+group was one blaze of gold, as the saying is. On seeing it Don
+Quixote said, "That knight was one of the best knights-errant the army
+of heaven ever owned; he was called Don Saint George, and he was
+moreover a defender of maidens. Let us see this next one."
+
+The man uncovered it, and it was seen to be that of Saint Martin
+on his horse, dividing his cloak with the beggar. The instant Don
+Quixote saw it he said, "This knight too was one of the Christian
+adventurers, but I believe he was generous rather than valiant, as
+thou mayest perceive, Sancho, by his dividing his cloak with the
+beggar and giving him half of it; no doubt it was winter at the
+time, for otherwise he would have given him the whole of it, so
+charitable was he."
+
+"It was not that, most likely," said Sancho, "but that he held
+with the proverb that says, 'For giving and keeping there's need of
+brains.'"
+
+Don Quixote laughed, and asked them to take off the next cloth,
+underneath which was seen the image of the patron saint of the
+Spains seated on horseback, his sword stained with blood, trampling on
+Moors and treading heads underfoot; and on seeing it Don Quixote
+exclaimed, "Ay, this is a knight, and of the squadrons of Christ! This
+one is called Don Saint James the Moorslayer, one of the bravest
+saints and knights the world ever had or heaven has now."
+
+They then raised another cloth which it appeared covered Saint
+Paul falling from his horse, with all the details that are usually
+given in representations of his conversion. When Don Quixote saw it,
+rendered in such lifelike style that one would have said Christ was
+speaking and Paul answering, "This," he said, "was in his time the
+greatest enemy that the Church of God our Lord had, and the greatest
+champion it will ever have; a knight-errant in life, a steadfast saint
+in death, an untiring labourer in the Lord's vineyard, a teacher of
+the Gentiles, whose school was heaven, and whose instructor and master
+was Jesus Christ himself."
+
+There were no more images, so Don Quixote bade them cover them up
+again, and said to those who had brought them, "I take it as a happy
+omen, brothers, to have seen what I have; for these saints and knights
+were of the same profession as myself, which is the calling of arms;
+only there is this difference between them and me, that they were
+saints, and fought with divine weapons, and I am a sinner and fight
+with human ones. They won heaven by force of arms, for heaven
+suffereth violence; and I, so far, know not what I have won by dint of
+my sufferings; but if my Dulcinea del Toboso were to be released
+from hers, perhaps with mended fortunes and a mind restored to
+itself I might direct my steps in a better path than I am following at
+present."
+
+"May God hear and sin be deaf," said Sancho to this.
+
+The men were filled with wonder, as well at the figure as at the
+words of Don Quixote, though they did not understand one half of
+what he meant by them. They finished their dinner, took their images
+on their backs, and bidding farewell to Don Quixote resumed their
+journey.
+
+Sancho was amazed afresh at the extent of his master's knowledge, as
+much as if he had never known him, for it seemed to him that there was
+no story or event in the world that he had not at his fingers' ends
+and fixed in his memory, and he said to him, "In truth, master mine,
+if this that has happened to us to-day is to be called an adventure,
+it has been one of the sweetest and pleasantest that have befallen
+us in the whole course of our travels; we have come out of it
+unbelaboured and undismayed, neither have we drawn sword nor have we
+smitten the earth with our bodies, nor have we been left famishing;
+blessed be God that he has let me see such a thing with my own eyes!"
+
+"Thou sayest well, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "but remember all
+times are not alike nor do they always run the same way; and these
+things the vulgar commonly call omens, which are not based upon any
+natural reason, will by him who is wise be esteemed and reckoned happy
+accidents merely. One of these believers in omens will get up of a
+morning, leave his house, and meet a friar of the order of the blessed
+Saint Francis, and, as if he had met a griffin, he will turn about and
+go home. With another Mendoza the salt is spilt on his table, and
+gloom is spilt over his heart, as if nature was obliged to give
+warning of coming misfortunes by means of such trivial things as
+these. The wise man and the Christian should not trifle with what it
+may please heaven to do. Scipio on coming to Africa stumbled as he
+leaped on shore; his soldiers took it as a bad omen; but he,
+clasping the soil with his arms, exclaimed, 'Thou canst not escape me,
+Africa, for I hold thee tight between my arms.' Thus, Sancho,
+meeting those images has been to me a most happy occurrence."
+
+"I can well believe it," said Sancho; "but I wish your worship would
+tell me what is the reason that the Spaniards, when they are about
+to give battle, in calling on that Saint James the Moorslayer, say
+'Santiago and close Spain!' Is Spain, then, open, so that it is
+needful to close it; or what is the meaning of this form?"
+
+"Thou art very simple, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "God, look you,
+gave that great knight of the Red Cross to Spain as her patron saint
+and protector, especially in those hard struggles the Spaniards had
+with the Moors; and therefore they invoke and call upon him as their
+defender in all their battles; and in these he has been many a time
+seen beating down, trampling under foot, destroying and slaughtering
+the Hagarene squadrons in the sight of all; of which fact I could give
+thee many examples recorded in truthful Spanish histories."
+
+Sancho changed the subject, and said to his master, "I marvel,
+senor, at the boldness of Altisidora, the duchess's handmaid; he
+whom they call Love must have cruelly pierced and wounded her; they
+say he is a little blind urchin who, though blear-eyed, or more
+properly speaking sightless, if he aims at a heart, be it ever so
+small, hits it and pierces it through and through with his arrows. I
+have heard it said too that the arrows of Love are blunted and
+robbed of their points by maidenly modesty and reserve; but with
+this Altisidora it seems they are sharpened rather than blunted."
+
+"Bear in mind, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that love is influenced
+by no consideration, recognises no restraints of reason, and is of the
+same nature as death, that assails alike the lofty palaces of kings
+and the humble cabins of shepherds; and when it takes entire
+possession of a heart, the first thing it does is to banish fear and
+shame from it; and so without shame Altisidora declared her passion,
+which excited in my mind embarrassment rather than commiseration."
+
+"Notable cruelty!" exclaimed Sancho; "unheard-of ingratitude! I
+can only say for myself that the very smallest loving word of hers
+would have subdued me and made a slave of me. The devil! What a
+heart of marble, what bowels of brass, what a soul of mortar! But I
+can't imagine what it is that this damsel saw in your worship that
+could have conquered and captivated her so. What gallant figure was
+it, what bold bearing, what sprightly grace, what comeliness of
+feature, which of these things by itself, or what all together,
+could have made her fall in love with you? For indeed and in truth
+many a time I stop to look at your worship from the sole of your
+foot to the topmost hair of your head, and I see more to frighten
+one than to make one fall in love; moreover I have heard say that
+beauty is the first and main thing that excites love, and as your
+worship has none at all, I don't know what the poor creature fell in
+love with."
+
+"Recollect, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "there are two sorts of
+beauty, one of the mind, the other of the body; that of the mind
+displays and exhibits itself in intelligence, in modesty, in
+honourable conduct, in generosity, in good breeding; and all these
+qualities are possible and may exist in an ugly man; and when it is
+this sort of beauty and not that of the body that is the attraction,
+love is apt to spring up suddenly and violently. I, Sancho, perceive
+clearly enough that I am not beautiful, but at the same time I know
+I am not hideous; and it is enough for an honest man not to be a
+monster to he an object of love, if only he possesses the endowments
+of mind I have mentioned."
+
+While engaged in this discourse they were making their way through a
+wood that lay beyond the road, when suddenly, without expecting
+anything of the kind, Don Quixote found himself caught in some nets of
+green cord stretched from one tree to another; and unable to
+conceive what it could be, he said to Sancho, "Sancho, it strikes me
+this affair of these nets will prove one of the strangest adventures
+imaginable. May I die if the enchanters that persecute me are not
+trying to entangle me in them and delay my journey, by way of
+revenge for my obduracy towards Altisidora. Well then let me tell them
+that if these nets, instead of being green cord, were made of the
+hardest diamonds, or stronger than that wherewith the jealous god of
+blacksmiths enmeshed Venus and Mars, I would break them as easily as
+if they were made of rushes or cotton threads." But just as he was
+about to press forward and break through all, suddenly from among some
+trees two shepherdesses of surpassing beauty presented themselves to
+his sight- or at least damsels dressed like shepherdesses, save that
+their jerkins and sayas were of fine brocade; that is to say, the
+sayas were rich farthingales of gold embroidered tabby. Their hair,
+that in its golden brightness vied with the beams of the sun itself,
+fell loose upon their shoulders and was crowned with garlands twined
+with green laurel and red everlasting; and their years to all
+appearance were not under fifteen nor above eighteen. Such was the
+spectacle that filled Sancho with amazement, fascinated Don Quixote,
+made the sun halt in his course to behold them, and held all four in a
+strange silence. One of the shepherdesses, at length, was the first to
+speak and said to Don Quixote, "Hold, sir knight, and do not break
+these nets; for they are not spread here to do you any harm, but
+only for our amusement; and as I know you will ask why they have
+been put up, and who we are, I will tell you in a few words. In a
+village some two leagues from this, where there are many people of
+quality and rich gentlefolk, it was agreed upon by a number of friends
+and relations to come with their wives, sons and daughters,
+neighbours, friends and kinsmen, and make holiday in this spot,
+which is one of the pleasantest in the whole neighbourhood, setting up
+a new pastoral Arcadia among ourselves, we maidens dressing
+ourselves as shepherdesses and the youths as shepherds. We have
+prepared two eclogues, one by the famous poet Garcilasso, the other by
+the most excellent Camoens, in its own Portuguese tongue, but we
+have not as yet acted them. Yesterday was the first day of our
+coming here; we have a few of what they say are called field-tents
+pitched among the trees on the bank of an ample brook that
+fertilises all these meadows; last night we spread these nets in the
+trees here to snare the silly little birds that startled by the
+noise we make may fly into them. If you please to he our guest, senor,
+you will be welcomed heartily and courteously, for here just now
+neither care nor sorrow shall enter."
+
+She held her peace and said no more, and Don Quixote made answer,
+"Of a truth, fairest lady, Actaeon when he unexpectedly beheld Diana
+bathing in the stream could not have been more fascinated and
+wonderstruck than I at the sight of your beauty. I commend your mode
+of entertainment, and thank you for the kindness of your invitation;
+and if I can serve you, you may command me with full confidence of
+being obeyed, for my profession is none other than to show myself
+grateful, and ready to serve persons of all conditions, but especially
+persons of quality such as your appearance indicates; and if,
+instead of taking up, as they probably do, but a small space, these
+nets took up the whole surface of the globe, I would seek out new
+worlds through which to pass, so as not to break them; and that ye may
+give some degree of credence to this exaggerated language of mine,
+know that it is no less than Don Quixote of La Mancha that makes
+this declaration to you, if indeed it be that such a name has
+reached your ears."
+
+"Ah! friend of my soul," instantly exclaimed the other
+shepherdess, "what great good fortune has befallen us! Seest thou this
+gentleman we have before us? Well then let me tell thee he is the most
+valiant and the most devoted and the most courteous gentleman in all
+the world, unless a history of his achievements that has been
+printed and I have read is telling lies and deceiving us. I will lay a
+wager that this good fellow who is with him is one Sancho Panza his
+squire, whose drolleries none can equal."
+
+"That's true," said Sancho; "I am that same droll and squire you
+speak of, and this gentleman is my master Don Quixote of La Mancha,
+the same that's in the history and that they talk about."
+
+"Oh, my friend," said the other, "let us entreat him to stay; for it
+will give our fathers and brothers infinite pleasure; I too have heard
+just what thou hast told me of the valour of the one and the
+drolleries of the other; and what is more, of him they say that he
+is the most constant and loyal lover that was ever heard of, and
+that his lady is one Dulcinea del Toboso, to whom all over Spain the
+palm of beauty is awarded."
+
+"And justly awarded," said Don Quixote, "unless, indeed, your
+unequalled beauty makes it a matter of doubt. But spare yourselves the
+trouble, ladies, of pressing me to stay, for the urgent calls of my
+profession do not allow me to take rest under any circumstances."
+
+At this instant there came up to the spot where the four stood a
+brother of one of the two shepherdesses, like them in shepherd
+costume, and as richly and gaily dressed as they were. They told him
+that their companion was the valiant Don Quixote of La Mancha, and the
+other Sancho his squire, of whom he knew already from having read
+their history. The gay shepherd offered him his services and begged
+that he would accompany him to their tents, and Don Quixote had to
+give way and comply. And now the gave was started, and the nets were
+filled with a variety of birds that deceived by the colour fell into
+the danger they were flying from. Upwards of thirty persons, all gaily
+attired as shepherds and shepherdesses, assembled on the spot, and
+were at once informed who Don Quixote and his squire were, whereat
+they were not a little delighted, as they knew of him already
+through his history. They repaired to the tents, where they found
+tables laid out, and choicely, plentifully, and neatly furnished. They
+treated Don Quixote as a person of distinction, giving him the place
+of honour, and all observed him, and were full of astonishment at
+the spectacle. At last the cloth being removed, Don Quixote with great
+composure lifted up his voice and said:
+
+"One of the greatest sins that men are guilty of is- some will say
+pride- but I say ingratitude, going by the common saying that hell
+is full of ingrates. This sin, so far as it has lain in my power, I
+have endeavoured to avoid ever since I have enjoyed the faculty of
+reason; and if I am unable to requite good deeds that have been done
+me by other deeds, I substitute the desire to do so; and if that be
+not enough I make them known publicly; for he who declares and makes
+known the good deeds done to him would repay them by others if it were
+in his power, and for the most part those who receive are the
+inferiors of those who give. Thus, God is superior to all because he
+is the supreme giver, and the offerings of man fall short by an
+infinite distance of being a full return for the gifts of God; but
+gratitude in some degree makes up for this deficiency and shortcoming.
+I therefore, grateful for the favour that has been extended to me
+here, and unable to make a return in the same measure, restricted as I
+am by the narrow limits of my power, offer what I can and what I
+have to offer in my own way; and so I declare that for two full days I
+will maintain in the middle of this highway leading to Saragossa, that
+these ladies disguised as shepherdesses, who are here present, are the
+fairest and most courteous maidens in the world, excepting only the
+peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, sole mistress of my thoughts, be it said
+without offence to those who hear me, ladies and gentlemen."
+
+On hearing this Sancho, who had been listening with great attention,
+cried out in a loud voice, "Is it possible there is anyone in the
+world who will dare to say and swear that this master of mine is a
+madman? Say, gentlemen shepherds, is there a village priest, be he
+ever so wise or learned, who could say what my master has said; or
+is there knight-errant, whatever renown he may have as a man of
+valour, that could offer what my master has offered now?"
+
+Don Quixote turned upon Sancho, and with a countenance glowing
+with anger said to him, "Is it possible, Sancho, there is anyone in
+the whole world who will say thou art not a fool, with a lining to
+match, and I know not what trimmings of impertinence and roguery?
+Who asked thee to meddle in my affairs, or to inquire whether I am a
+wise man or a blockhead? Hold thy peace; answer me not a word;
+saddle Rocinante if he be unsaddled; and let us go to put my offer
+into execution; for with the right that I have on my side thou
+mayest reckon as vanquished all who shall venture to question it;" and
+in a great rage, and showing his anger plainly, he rose from his seat,
+leaving the company lost in wonder, and making them feel doubtful
+whether they ought to regard him as a madman or a rational being. In
+the end, though they sought to dissuade him from involving himself
+in such a challenge, assuring him they admitted his gratitude as fully
+established, and needed no fresh proofs to be convinced of his valiant
+spirit, as those related in the history of his exploits were
+sufficient, still Don Quixote persisted in his resolve; and mounted on
+Rocinante, bracing his buckler on his arm and grasping his lance, he
+posted himself in the middle of a high road that was not far from
+the green meadow. Sancho followed on Dapple, together with all the
+members of the pastoral gathering, eager to see what would be the
+upshot of his vainglorious and extraordinary proposal.
+
+Don Quixote, then, having, as has been said, planted himself in
+the middle of the road, made the welkin ring with words to this
+effect: "Ho ye travellers and wayfarers, knights, squires, folk on
+foot or on horseback, who pass this way or shall pass in the course of
+the next two days! Know that Don Quixote of La Mancha,
+knight-errant, is posted here to maintain by arms that the beauty
+and courtesy enshrined in the nymphs that dwell in these meadows and
+groves surpass all upon earth, putting aside the lady of my heart,
+Dulcinea del Toboso. Wherefore, let him who is of the opposite opinion
+come on, for here I await him."
+
+Twice he repeated the same words, and twice they fell unheard by any
+adventurer; but fate, that was guiding affairs for him from better
+to better, so ordered it that shortly afterwards there appeared on the
+road a crowd of men on horseback, many of them with lances in their
+hands, all riding in a compact body and in great haste. No sooner
+had those who were with Don Quixote seen them than they turned about
+and withdrew to some distance from the road, for they knew that if
+they stayed some harm might come to them; but Don Quixote with
+intrepid heart stood his ground, and Sancho Panza shielded himself
+with Rocinante's hind-quarters. The troop of lancers came up, and
+one of them who was in advance began shouting to Don Quixote, "Get out
+of the way, you son of the devil, or these bulls will knock you to
+pieces!"
+
+"Rabble!" returned Don Quixote, "I care nothing for bulls, be they
+the fiercest Jarama breeds on its banks. Confess at once,
+scoundrels, that what I have declared is true; else ye have to deal
+with me in combat."
+
+The herdsman had no time to reply, nor Don Quixote to get out of the
+way even if he wished; and so the drove of fierce bulls and tame
+bullocks, together with the crowd of herdsmen and others who were
+taking them to be penned up in a village where they were to be run the
+next day, passed over Don Quixote and over Sancho, Rocinante and
+Dapple, hurling them all to the earth and rolling them over on the
+ground. Sancho was left crushed, Don Quixote scared, Dapple belaboured
+and Rocinante in no very sound condition. They all got up, however, at
+length, and Don Quixote in great haste, stumbling here and falling
+there, started off running after the drove, shouting out, "Hold! stay!
+ye rascally rabble, a single knight awaits you, and he is not of the
+temper or opinion of those who say, 'For a flying enemy make a
+bridge of silver.'" The retreating party in their haste, however,
+did not stop for that, or heed his menaces any more than last year's
+clouds. Weariness brought Don Quixote to a halt, and more enraged than
+avenged he sat down on the road to wait until Sancho, Rocinante and
+Dapple came up. When they reached him master and man mounted once
+more, and without going back to bid farewell to the mock or
+imitation Arcadia, and more in humiliation than contentment, they
+continued their journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX
+
+WHEREIN IS RELATED THE STRANGE THING, WHICH MAY BE REGARDED AS AN
+ADVENTURE, THAT HAPPENED DON QUIXOTE
+
+A clear limpid spring which they discovered in a cool grove relieved
+Don Quixote and Sancho of the dust and fatigue due to the unpolite
+behaviour of the bulls, and by the side of this, having turned
+Dapple and Rocinante loose without headstall or bridle, the forlorn
+pair, master and man, seated themselves. Sancho had recourse to the
+larder of his alforjas and took out of them what he called the prog;
+Don Quixote rinsed his mouth and bathed his face, by which cooling
+process his flagging energies were revived. Out of pure vexation he
+remained without eating, and out of pure politeness Sancho did not
+venture to touch a morsel of what was before him, but waited for his
+master to act as taster. Seeing, however, that, absorbed in thought,
+he was forgetting to carry the bread to his mouth, he said never a
+word, and trampling every sort of good breeding under foot, began to
+stow away in his paunch the bread and cheese that came to his hand.
+
+"Eat, Sancho my friend," said Don Quixote; "support life, which is
+of more consequence to thee than to me, and leave me to die under
+the pain of my thoughts and pressure of my misfortunes. I was born,
+Sancho, to live dying, and thou to die eating; and to prove the
+truth of what I say, look at me, printed in histories, famed in
+arms, courteous in behaviour, honoured by princes, courted by maidens;
+and after all, when I looked forward to palms, triumphs, and crowns,
+won and earned by my valiant deeds, I have this morning seen myself
+trampled on, kicked, and crushed by the feet of unclean and filthy
+animals. This thought blunts my teeth, paralyses my jaws, cramps my
+hands, and robs me of all appetite for food; so much so that I have
+a mind to let myself die of hunger, the cruelest death of all deaths."
+
+"So then," said Sancho, munching hard all the time, "your worship
+does not agree with the proverb that says, 'Let Martha die, but let
+her die with a full belly.' I, at any rate, have no mind to kill
+myself; so far from that, I mean to do as the cobbler does, who
+stretches the leather with his teeth until he makes it reach as far as
+he wants. I'll stretch out my life by eating until it reaches the
+end heaven has fixed for it; and let me tell you, senor, there's no
+greater folly than to think of dying of despair as your worship
+does; take my advice, and after eating lie down and sleep a bit on
+this green grass-mattress, and you will see that when you awake you'll
+feel something better."
+
+Don Quixote did as he recommended, for it struck him that Sancho's
+reasoning was more like a philosopher's than a blockhead's, and said
+he, "Sancho, if thou wilt do for me what I am going to tell thee my
+ease of mind would be more assured and my heaviness of heart not so
+great; and it is this; to go aside a little while I am sleeping in
+accordance with thy advice, and, making bare thy carcase to the air,
+to give thyself three or four hundred lashes with Rocinante's reins,
+on account of the three thousand and odd thou art to give thyself
+for the disenchantment of Dulcinea; for it is a great pity that the
+poor lady should be left enchanted through thy carelessness and
+negligence."
+
+"There is a good deal to be said on that point," said Sancho; "let
+us both go to sleep now, and after that, God has decreed what will
+happen. Let me tell your worship that for a man to whip himself in
+cold blood is a hard thing, especially if the stripes fall upon an
+ill-nourished and worse-fed body. Let my lady Dulcinea have
+patience, and when she is least expecting it, she will see me made a
+riddle of with whipping, and 'until death it's all life;' I mean
+that I have still life in me, and the desire to make good what I
+have promised."
+
+Don Quixote thanked him, and ate a little, and Sancho a good deal,
+and then they both lay down to sleep, leaving those two inseparable
+friends and comrades, Rocinante and Dapple, to their own devices and
+to feed unrestrained upon the abundant grass with which the meadow was
+furnished. They woke up rather late, mounted once more and resumed
+their journey, pushing on to reach an inn which was in sight,
+apparently a league off. I say an inn, because Don Quixote called it
+so, contrary to his usual practice of calling all inns castles. They
+reached it, and asked the landlord if they could put up there. He said
+yes, with as much comfort and as good fare as they could find in
+Saragossa. They dismounted, and Sancho stowed away his larder in a
+room of which the landlord gave him the key. He took the beasts to the
+stable, fed them, and came back to see what orders Don Quixote, who
+was seated on a bench at the door, had for him, giving special
+thanks to heaven that this inn had not been taken for a castle by
+his master. Supper-time came, and they repaired to their room, and
+Sancho asked the landlord what he had to give them for supper. To this
+the landlord replied that his mouth should be the measure; he had only
+to ask what he would; for that inn was provided with the birds of
+the air and the fowls of the earth and the fish of the sea.
+
+"There's no need of all that," said Sancho; "if they'll roast us a
+couple of chickens we'll be satisfied, for my master is delicate and
+eats little, and I'm not over and above gluttonous."
+
+The landlord replied he had no chickens, for the kites had stolen
+them.
+
+"Well then," said Sancho, "let senor landlord tell them to roast a
+pullet, so that it is a tender one."
+
+"Pullet! My father!" said the landlord; "indeed and in truth it's
+only yesterday I sent over fifty to the city to sell; but saving
+pullets ask what you will."
+
+"In that case," said Sancho, "you will not be without veal or kid."
+
+"Just now," said the landlord, "there's none in the house, for
+it's all finished; but next week there will he enough and to spare."
+
+"Much good that does us," said Sancho; "I'll lay a bet that all
+these short-comings are going to wind up in plenty of bacon and eggs."
+
+"By God," said the landlord, "my guest's wits must he precious dull;
+I tell him I have neither pullets nor hens, and he wants me to have
+eggs! Talk of other dainties, if you please, and don't ask for hens
+again."
+
+"Body o' me!" said Sancho, "let's settle the matter; say at once
+what you have got, and let us have no more words about it."
+
+"In truth and earnest, senor guest," said the landlord, "all I
+have is a couple of cow-heels like calves' feet, or a couple of
+calves' feet like cowheels; they are boiled with chick-peas, onions,
+and bacon, and at this moment they are crying 'Come eat me, come eat
+me."
+
+"I mark them for mine on the spot," said Sancho; "let nobody touch
+them; I'll pay better for them than anyone else, for I could not
+wish for anything more to my taste; and I don't care a pin whether
+they are feet or heels."
+
+"Nobody shall touch them," said the landlord; "for the other
+guests I have, being persons of high quality, bring their own cook and
+caterer and larder with them."
+
+"If you come to people of quality," said Sancho, "there's nobody
+more so than my master; but the calling he follows does not allow of
+larders or store-rooms; we lay ourselves down in the middle of a
+meadow, and fill ourselves with acorns or medlars."
+
+Here ended Sancho's conversation with the landlord, Sancho not
+caring to carry it any farther by answering him; for he had already
+asked him what calling or what profession it was his master was of.
+
+Supper-time having come, then, Don Quixote betook himself to his
+room, the landlord brought in the stew-pan just as it was, and he
+sat himself down to sup very resolutely. It seems that in another
+room, which was next to Don Quixote's, with nothing but a thin
+partition to separate it, he overheard these words, "As you live,
+Senor Don Jeronimo, while they are bringing supper, let us read
+another chapter of the Second Part of 'Don Quixote of La Mancha.'"
+
+The instant Don Quixote heard his own name be started to his feet
+and listened with open ears to catch what they said about him, and
+heard the Don Jeronimo who had been addressed say in reply, "Why would
+you have us read that absurd stuff, Don Juan, when it is impossible
+for anyone who has read the First Part of the history of 'Don
+Quixote of La Mancha' to take any pleasure in reading this Second
+Part?"
+
+"For all that," said he who was addressed as Don Juan, "we shall
+do well to read it, for there is no book so bad but it has something
+good in it. What displeases me most in it is that it represents Don
+Quixote as now cured of his love for Dulcinea del Toboso."
+
+On hearing this Don Quixote, full of wrath and indignation, lifted
+up his voice and said, "Whoever he may be who says that Don Quixote of
+La Mancha has forgotten or can forget Dulcinea del Toboso, I will
+teach him with equal arms that what he says is very far from the
+truth; for neither can the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso be
+forgotten, nor can forgetfulness have a place in Don Quixote; his
+motto is constancy, and his profession to maintain the same with his
+life and never wrong it."
+
+"Who is this that answers us?" said they in the next room.
+
+"Who should it be," said Sancho, "but Don Quixote of La Mancha
+himself, who will make good all he has said and all he will say; for
+pledges don't trouble a good payer."
+
+Sancho had hardly uttered these words when two gentlemen, for such
+they seemed to be, entered the room, and one of them, throwing his
+arms round Don Quixote's neck, said to him, "Your appearance cannot
+leave any question as to your name, nor can your name fail to identify
+your appearance; unquestionably, senor, you are the real Don Quixote
+of La Mancha, cynosure and morning star of knight-errantry, despite
+and in defiance of him who has sought to usurp your name and bring
+to naught your achievements, as the author of this book which I here
+present to you has done;" and with this he put a book which his
+companion carried into the hands of Don Quixote, who took it, and
+without replying began to run his eye over it; but he presently
+returned it saying, "In the little I have seen I have discovered three
+things in this author that deserve to be censured. The first is some
+words that I have read in the preface; the next that the language is
+Aragonese, for sometimes he writes without articles; and the third,
+which above all stamps him as ignorant, is that he goes wrong and
+departs from the truth in the most important part of the history,
+for here he says that my squire Sancho Panza's wife is called Mari
+Gutierrez, when she is called nothing of the sort, but Teresa Panza;
+and when a man errs on such an important point as this there is good
+reason to fear that he is in error on every other point in the
+history."
+
+"A nice sort of historian, indeed!" exclaimed Sancho at this; "he
+must know a deal about our affairs when he calls my wife Teresa Panza,
+Mari Gutierrez; take the book again, senor, and see if I am in it
+and if he has changed my name."
+
+"From your talk, friend," said Don Jeronimo, "no doubt you are
+Sancho Panza, Senor Don Quixote's squire."
+
+"Yes, I am," said Sancho; "and I'm proud of it."
+
+"Faith, then," said the gentleman, "this new author does not
+handle you with the decency that displays itself in your person; he
+makes you out a heavy feeder and a fool, and not in the least droll,
+and a very different being from the Sancho described in the First Part
+of your master's history."
+
+"God forgive him," said Sancho; "he might have left me in my
+corner without troubling his head about me; 'let him who knows how
+ring the bells; 'Saint Peter is very well in Rome.'"
+
+The two gentlemen pressed Don Quixote to come into their room and
+have supper with them, as they knew very well there was nothing in
+that inn fit for one of his sort. Don Quixote, who was always
+polite, yielded to their request and supped with them. Sancho stayed
+behind with the stew. and invested with plenary delegated authority
+seated himself at the head of the table, and the landlord sat down
+with him, for he was no less fond of cow-heel and calves' feet than
+Sancho was.
+
+While at supper Don Juan asked Don Quixote what news he had of the
+lady Dulcinea del Toboso, was she married, had she been brought to
+bed, or was she with child, or did she in maidenhood, still preserving
+her modesty and delicacy, cherish the remembrance of the tender
+passion of Senor Don Quixote?
+
+To this he replied, "Dulcinea is a maiden still, and my passion more
+firmly rooted than ever, our intercourse unsatisfactory as before, and
+her beauty transformed into that of a foul country wench;" and then he
+proceeded to give them a full and particular account of the
+enchantment of Dulcinea, and of what had happened him in the cave of
+Montesinos, together with what the sage Merlin had prescribed for
+her disenchantment, namely the scourging of Sancho.
+
+Exceedingly great was the amusement the two gentlemen derived from
+hearing Don Quixote recount the strange incidents of his history;
+and if they were amazed by his absurdities they were equally amazed by
+the elegant style in which he delivered them. On the one hand they
+regarded him as a man of wit and sense, and on the other he seemed
+to them a maundering blockhead, and they could not make up their minds
+whereabouts between wisdom and folly they ought to place him.
+
+Sancho having finished his supper, and left the landlord in the X
+condition, repaired to the room where his master was, and as he came
+in said, "May I die, sirs, if the author of this book your worships
+have got has any mind that we should agree; as he calls me glutton
+(according to what your worships say) I wish he may not call me
+drunkard too."
+
+"But he does," said Don Jeronimo; "I cannot remember, however, in
+what way, though I know his words are offensive, and what is more,
+lying, as I can see plainly by the physiognomy of the worthy Sancho
+before me."
+
+"Believe me," said Sancho, "the Sancho and the Don Quixote of this
+history must be different persons from those that appear in the one
+Cide Hamete Benengeli wrote, who are ourselves; my master valiant,
+wise, and true in love, and I simple, droll, and neither glutton nor
+drunkard."
+
+"I believe it," said Don Juan; "and were it possible, an order
+should be issued that no one should have the presumption to deal
+with anything relating to Don Quixote, save his original author Cide
+Hamete; just as Alexander commanded that no one should presume to
+paint his portrait save Apelles."
+
+"Let him who will paint me," said Don Quixote; "but let him not
+abuse me; for patience will often break down when they heap insults
+upon it."
+
+"None can be offered to Senor Don Quixote," said Don Juan, "that
+he himself will not be able to avenge, if he does not ward it off with
+the shield of his patience, which, I take it, is great and strong."
+
+A considerable portion of the night passed in conversation of this
+sort, and though Don Juan wished Don Quixote to read more of the
+book to see what it was all about, he was not to be prevailed upon,
+saying that he treated it as read and pronounced it utterly silly;
+and, if by any chance it should come to its author's ears that he
+had it in his hand, he did not want him to flatter himself with the
+idea that he had read it; for our thoughts, and still more our eyes,
+should keep themselves aloof from what is obscene and filthy.
+
+They asked him whither he meant to direct his steps. He replied,
+to Saragossa, to take part in the harness jousts which were held in
+that city every year. Don Juan told him that the new history described
+how Don Quixote, let him be who he might, took part there in a tilting
+at the ring, utterly devoid of invention, poor in mottoes, very poor
+in costume, though rich in sillinesses.
+
+"For that very reason," said Don Quixote, "I will not set foot in
+Saragossa; and by that means I shall expose to the world the lie of
+this new history writer, and people will see that I am not the Don
+Quixote he speaks of."
+
+"You will do quite right," said Don Jeronimo; "and there are other
+jousts at Barcelona in which Senor Don Quixote may display his
+prowess."
+
+"That is what I mean to do," said Don Quixote; "and as it is now
+time, I pray your worships to give me leave to retire to bed, and to
+place and retain me among the number of your greatest friends and
+servants."
+
+"And me too," said Sancho; "maybe I'll be good for something."
+
+With this they exchanged farewells, and Don Quixote and Sancho
+retired to their room, leaving Don Juan and Don Jeronimo amazed to see
+the medley he made of his good sense and his craziness; and they
+felt thoroughly convinced that these, and not those their Aragonese
+author described, were the genuine Don Quixote and Sancho. Don Quixote
+rose betimes, and bade adieu to his hosts by knocking at the partition
+of the other room. Sancho paid the landlord magnificently, and
+recommended him either to say less about the providing of his inn or
+to keep it better provided.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LX
+
+OF WHAT HAPPENED DON QUIXOTE ON HIS WAY TO BARCELONA
+
+It was a fresh morning giving promise of a cool day as Don Quixote
+quitted the inn, first of all taking care to ascertain the most direct
+road to Barcelona without touching upon Saragossa; so anxious was he
+to make out this new historian, who they said abused him so, to be a
+liar. Well, as it fell out, nothing worthy of being recorded
+happened him for six days, at the end of which, having turned aside
+out of the road, he was overtaken by night in a thicket of oak or cork
+trees; for on this point Cide Hamete is not as precise as he usually
+is on other matters.
+
+Master and man dismounted from their beasts, and as soon as they had
+settled themselves at the foot of the trees, Sancho, who had had a
+good noontide meal that day, let himself, without more ado, pass the
+gates of sleep. But Don Quixote, whom his thoughts, far more than
+hunger, kept awake, could not close an eye, and roamed in fancy to and
+fro through all sorts of places. At one moment it seemed to him that
+he was in the cave of Montesinos and saw Dulcinea, transformed into
+a country wench, skipping and mounting upon her she-ass; again that
+the words of the sage Merlin were sounding in his ears, setting
+forth the conditions to be observed and the exertions to be made for
+the disenchantment of Dulcinea. He lost all patience when he
+considered the laziness and want of charity of his squire Sancho;
+for to the best of his belief he had only given himself five lashes, a
+number paltry and disproportioned to the vast number required. At this
+thought he felt such vexation and anger that he reasoned the matter
+thus: "If Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot, saying, 'To cut
+comes to the same thing as to untie,' and yet did not fail to become
+lord paramount of all Asia, neither more nor less could happen now
+in Dulcinea's disenchantment if I scourge Sancho against his will;
+for, if it is the condition of the remedy that Sancho shall receive
+three thousand and odd lashes, what does it matter to me whether he
+inflicts them himself, or some one else inflicts them, when the
+essential point is that he receives them, let them come from
+whatever quarter they may?"
+
+With this idea he went over to Sancho, having first taken
+Rocinante's reins and arranged them so as to be able to flog him
+with them, and began to untie the points (the common belief is he
+had but one in front) by which his breeches were held up; but the
+instant he approached him Sancho woke up in his full senses and
+cried out, "What is this? Who is touching me and untrussing me?"
+
+"It is I," said Don Quixote, "and I come to make good thy
+shortcomings and relieve my own distresses; I come to whip thee,
+Sancho, and wipe off some portion of the debt thou hast undertaken.
+Dulcinea is perishing, thou art living on regardless, I am dying of
+hope deferred; therefore untruss thyself with a good will, for mine it
+is, here, in this retired spot, to give thee at least two thousand
+lashes."
+
+"Not a bit of it," said Sancho; "let your worship keep quiet, or
+else by the living God the deaf shall hear us; the lashes I pledged
+myself to must be voluntary and not forced upon me, and just now I
+have no fancy to whip myself; it is enough if I give you my word to
+flog and flap myself when I have a mind."
+
+"It will not do to leave it to thy courtesy, Sancho," said Don
+Quixote, "for thou art hard of heart and, though a clown, tender of
+flesh;" and at the same time he strove and struggled to untie him.
+
+Seeing this Sancho got up, and grappling with his master he
+gripped him with all his might in his arms, giving him a trip with the
+heel stretched him on the ground on his back, and pressing his right
+knee on his chest held his hands in his own so that he could neither
+move nor breathe.
+
+"How now, traitor!" exclaimed Don Quixote. "Dost thou revolt against
+thy master and natural lord? Dost thou rise against him who gives thee
+his bread?"
+
+"I neither put down king, nor set up king," said Sancho; "I only
+stand up for myself who am my own lord; if your worship promises me to
+be quiet, and not to offer to whip me now, I'll let you go free and
+unhindered; if not-
+
+Traitor and Dona Sancha's foe,
+Thou diest on the spot."
+
+
+Don Quixote gave his promise, and swore by the life of his
+thoughts not to touch so much as a hair of his garments, and to
+leave him entirely free and to his own discretion to whip himself
+whenever he pleased.
+
+Sancho rose and removed some distance from the spot, but as he was
+about to place himself leaning against another tree he felt
+something touch his head, and putting up his hands encountered
+somebody's two feet with shoes and stockings on them. He trembled with
+fear and made for another tree, where the very same thing happened
+to him, and he fell a-shouting, calling upon Don Quixote to come and
+protect him. Don Quixote did so, and asked him what had happened to
+him, and what he was afraid of. Sancho replied that all the trees were
+full of men's feet and legs. Don Quixote felt them, and guessed at
+once what it was, and said to Sancho, "Thou hast nothing to be
+afraid of, for these feet and legs that thou feelest but canst not see
+belong no doubt to some outlaws and freebooters that have been
+hanged on these trees; for the authorities in these parts are wont
+to hang them up by twenties and thirties when they catch them; whereby
+I conjecture that I must be near Barcelona;" and it was, in fact, as
+he supposed; with the first light they looked up and saw that the
+fruit hanging on those trees were freebooters' bodies.
+
+And now day dawned; and if the dead freebooters had scared them,
+their hearts were no less troubled by upwards of forty living ones,
+who all of a sudden surrounded them, and in the Catalan tongue bade
+them stand and wait until their captain came up. Don Quixote was on
+foot with his horse unbridled and his lance leaning against a tree,
+and in short completely defenceless; he thought it best therefore to
+fold his arms and bow his head and reserve himself for a more
+favourable occasion and opportunity. The robbers made haste to
+search Dapple, and did not leave him a single thing of all he
+carried in the alforjas and in the valise; and lucky it was for Sancho
+that the duke's crowns and those he brought from home were in a girdle
+that he wore round him; but for all that these good folk would have
+stripped him, and even looked to see what he had hidden between the
+skin and flesh, but for the arrival at that moment of their captain,
+who was about thirty-four years of age apparently, strongly built,
+above the middle height, of stern aspect and swarthy complexion. He
+was mounted upon a powerful horse, and had on a coat of mail, with
+four of the pistols they call petronels in that country at his
+waist. He saw that his squires (for so they call those who follow that
+trade) were about to rifle Sancho Panza, but he ordered them to desist
+and was at once obeyed, so the girdle escaped. He wondered to see
+the lance leaning against the tree, the shield on the ground, and
+Don Quixote in armour and dejected, with the saddest and most
+melancholy face that sadness itself could produce; and going up to him
+he said, "Be not so cast down, good man, for you have not fallen
+into the hands of any inhuman Busiris, but into Roque Guinart's, which
+are more merciful than cruel."
+
+"The cause of my dejection," returned Don Quixote, "is not that I
+have fallen into thy hands, O valiant Roque, whose fame is bounded
+by no limits on earth, but that my carelessness should have been so
+great that thy soldiers should have caught me unbridled, when it is my
+duty, according to the rule of knight-errantry which I profess, to
+be always on the alert and at all times my own sentinel; for let me
+tell thee, great Roque, had they found me on my horse, with my lance
+and shield, it would not have been very easy for them to reduce me
+to submission, for I am Don Quixote of La Mancha, he who hath filled
+the whole world with his achievements."
+
+Roque Guinart at once perceived that Don Quixote's weakness was more
+akin to madness than to swagger; and though he had sometimes heard him
+spoken of, he never regarded the things attributed to him as true, nor
+could he persuade himself that such a humour could become dominant
+in the heart of man; he was extremely glad, therefore, to meet him and
+test at close quarters what he had heard of him at a distance; so he
+said to him, "Despair not, valiant knight, nor regard as an untoward
+fate the position in which thou findest thyself; it may be that by
+these slips thy crooked fortune will make itself straight; for
+heaven by strange circuitous ways, mysterious and incomprehensible
+to man, raises up the fallen and makes rich the poor."
+
+Don Quixote was about to thank him, when they heard behind them a
+noise as of a troop of horses; there was, however, but one, riding
+on which at a furious pace came a youth, apparently about twenty years
+of age, clad in green damask edged with gold and breeches and a
+loose frock, with a hat looped up in the Walloon fashion,
+tight-fitting polished boots, gilt spurs, dagger and sword, and in his
+hand a musketoon, and a pair of pistols at his waist.
+
+Roque turned round at the noise and perceived this comely figure,
+which drawing near thus addressed him, "I came in quest of thee,
+valiant Roque, to find in thee if not a remedy at least relief in my
+misfortune; and not to keep thee in suspense, for I see thou dost
+not recognise me, I will tell thee who I am; I am Claudia Jeronima,
+the daughter of Simon Forte, thy good friend, and special enemy of
+Clauquel Torrellas, who is thine also as being of the faction
+opposed to thee. Thou knowest that this Torrellas has a son who is
+called, or at least was not two hours since, Don Vicente Torrellas.
+Well, to cut short the tale of my misfortune, I will tell thee in a
+few words what this youth has brought upon me. He saw me, he paid
+court to me, I listened to him, and, unknown to my father, I loved
+him; for there is no woman, however secluded she may live or close she
+may be kept, who will not have opportunities and to spare for
+following her headlong impulses. In a word, he pledged himself to be
+mine, and I promised to be his, without carrying matters any
+further. Yesterday I learned that, forgetful of his pledge to me, he
+was about to marry another, and that he was to go this morning to
+plight his troth, intelligence which overwhelmed and exasperated me;
+my father not being at home I was able to adopt this costume you
+see, and urging my horse to speed I overtook Don Vicente about a
+league from this, and without waiting to utter reproaches or hear
+excuses I fired this musket at him, and these two pistols besides, and
+to the best of my belief I must have lodged more than two bullets in
+his body, opening doors to let my honour go free, enveloped in his
+blood. I left him there in the hands of his servants, who did not dare
+and were not able to interfere in his defence, and I come to seek from
+thee a safe-conduct into France, where I have relatives with whom I
+can live; and also to implore thee to protect my father, so that Don
+Vicente's numerous kinsmen may not venture to wreak their lawless
+vengeance upon him."
+
+Roque, filled with admiration at the gallant bearing, high spirit,
+comely figure, and adventure of the fair Claudia, said to her,
+"Come, senora, let us go and see if thy enemy is dead; and then we
+will consider what will be best for thee." Don Quixote, who had been
+listening to what Claudia said and Roque Guinart said in reply to her,
+exclaimed, "Nobody need trouble himself with the defence of this lady,
+for I take it upon myself. Give me my horse and arms, and wait for
+me here; I will go in quest of this knight, and dead or alive I will
+make him keep his word plighted to so great beauty."
+
+"Nobody need have any doubt about that," said Sancho, "for my master
+has a very happy knack of matchmaking; it's not many days since he
+forced another man to marry, who in the same way backed out of his
+promise to another maiden; and if it had not been for his
+persecutors the enchanters changing the man's proper shape into a
+lacquey's the said maiden would not be one this minute."
+
+Roque, who was paying more attention to the fair Claudia's adventure
+than to the words of master or man, did not hear them; and ordering
+his squires to restore to Sancho everything they had stripped Dapple
+of, he directed them to return to the place where they had been
+quartered during the night, and then set off with Claudia at full
+speed in search of the wounded or slain Don Vicente. They reached
+the spot where Claudia met him, but found nothing there save freshly
+spilt blood; looking all round, however, they descried some people
+on the slope of a hill above them, and concluded, as indeed it
+proved to be, that it was Don Vicente, whom either dead or alive his
+servants were removing to attend to his wounds or to bury him. They
+made haste to overtake them, which, as the party moved slowly, they
+were able to do with ease. They found Don Vicente in the arms of his
+servants, whom he was entreating in a broken feeble voice to leave him
+there to die, as the pain of his wounds would not suffer him to go any
+farther. Claudia and Roque threw themselves off their horses and
+advanced towards him; the servants were overawed by the appearance
+of Roque, and Claudia was moved by the sight of Don Vicente, and going
+up to him half tenderly half sternly, she seized his hand and said
+to him, "Hadst thou given me this according to our compact thou
+hadst never come to this pass."
+
+The wounded gentleman opened his all but closed eyes, and
+recognising Claudia said, "I see clearly, fair and mistaken lady, that
+it is thou that hast slain me, a punishment not merited or deserved by
+my feelings towards thee, for never did I mean to, nor could I,
+wrong thee in thought or deed."
+
+"It is not true, then," said Claudia, "that thou wert going this
+morning to marry Leonora the daughter of the rich Balvastro?"
+
+"Assuredly not," replied Don Vicente; "my cruel fortune must have
+carried those tidings to thee to drive thee in thy jealousy to take my
+life; and to assure thyself of this, press my hands and take me for
+thy husband if thou wilt; I have no better satisfaction to offer
+thee for the wrong thou fanciest thou hast received from me."
+
+Claudia wrung his hands, and her own heart was so wrung that she lay
+fainting on the bleeding breast of Don Vicente, whom a death spasm
+seized the same instant. Roque was in perplexity and knew not what
+to do; the servants ran to fetch water to sprinkle their faces, and
+brought some and bathed them with it. Claudia recovered from her
+fainting fit, but not so Don Vicente from the paroxysm that had
+overtaken him, for his life had come to an end. On perceiving this,
+Claudia, when she had convinced herself that her beloved husband was
+no more, rent the air with her sighs and made the heavens ring with
+her lamentations; she tore her hair and scattered it to the winds, she
+beat her face with her hands and showed all the signs of grief and
+sorrow that could be conceived to come from an afflicted heart.
+"Cruel, reckless woman!" she cried, "how easily wert thou moved to
+carry out a thought so wicked! O furious force of jealousy, to what
+desperate lengths dost thou lead those that give thee lodging in their
+bosoms! O husband, whose unhappy fate in being mine hath borne thee
+from the marriage bed to the grave!"
+
+So vehement and so piteous were the lamentations of Claudia that
+they drew tears from Roque's eyes, unused as they were to shed them on
+any occasion. The servants wept, Claudia swooned away again and again,
+and the whole place seemed a field of sorrow and an abode of
+misfortune. In the end Roque Guinart directed Don Vicente's servants
+to carry his body to his father's village, which was close by, for
+burial. Claudia told him she meant to go to a monastery of which an
+aunt of hers was abbess, where she intended to pass her life with a
+better and everlasting spouse. He applauded her pious resolution,
+and offered to accompany her whithersoever she wished, and to
+protect her father against the kinsmen of Don Vicente and all the
+world, should they seek to injure him. Claudia would not on any
+account allow him to accompany her; and thanking him for his offers as
+well as she could, took leave of him in tears. The servants of Don
+Vicente carried away his body, and Roque returned to his comrades, and
+so ended the love of Claudia Jeronima; but what wonder, when it was
+the insuperable and cruel might of jealousy that wove the web of her
+sad story?
+
+Roque Guinart found his squires at the place to which he had ordered
+them, and Don Quixote on Rocinante in the midst of them delivering a
+harangue to them in which he urged them to give up a mode of life so
+full of peril, as well to the soul as to the body; but as most of them
+were Gascons, rough lawless fellows, his speech did not make much
+impression on them. Roque on coming up asked Sancho if his men had
+returned and restored to him the treasures and jewels they had
+stripped off Dapple. Sancho said they had, but that three kerchiefs
+that were worth three cities were missing.
+
+"What are you talking about, man?" said one of the bystanders; "I
+have got them, and they are not worth three reals."
+
+"That is true," said Don Quixote; "but my squire values them at
+the rate he says, as having been given me by the person who gave
+them."
+
+Roque Guinart ordered them to be restored at once; and making his
+men fall in in line he directed all the clothing, jewellery, and money
+that they had taken since the last distribution to be produced; and
+making a hasty valuation, and reducing what could not be divided
+into money, he made shares for the whole band so equitably and
+carefully, that in no case did he exceed or fall short of strict
+distributive justice.
+
+When this had been done, and all left satisfied, Roque observed to
+Don Quixote, "If this scrupulous exactness were not observed with
+these fellows there would be no living with them."
+
+Upon this Sancho remarked, "From what I have seen here, justice is
+such a good thing that there is no doing without it, even among the
+thieves themselves."
+
+One of the squires heard this, and raising the butt-end of his
+harquebuss would no doubt have broken Sancho's head with it had not
+Roque Guinart called out to him to hold his hand. Sancho was
+frightened out of his wits, and vowed not to open his lips so long
+as he was in the company of these people.
+
+At this instant one or two of those squires who were posted as
+sentinels on the roads, to watch who came along them and report what
+passed to their chief, came up and said, "Senor, there is a great
+troop of people not far off coming along the road to Barcelona."
+
+To which Roque replied, "Hast thou made out whether they are of
+the sort that are after us, or of the sort we are after?"
+
+"The sort we are after," said the squire.
+
+"Well then, away with you all," said Roque, "and bring them here
+to me at once without letting one of them escape."
+
+They obeyed, and Don Quixote, Sancho, and Roque, left by themselves,
+waited to see what the squires brought, and while they were waiting
+Roque said to Don Quixote, "It must seem a strange sort of life to
+Senor Don Quixote, this of ours, strange adventures, strange
+incidents, and all full of danger; and I do not wonder that it
+should seem so, for in truth I must own there is no mode of life
+more restless or anxious than ours. What led me into it was a
+certain thirst for vengeance, which is strong enough to disturb the
+quietest hearts. I am by nature tender-hearted and kindly, but, as I
+said, the desire to revenge myself for a wrong that was done me so
+overturns all my better impulses that I keep on in this way of life in
+spite of what conscience tells me; and as one depth calls to
+another, and one sin to another sin, revenges have linked themselves
+together, and I have taken upon myself not only my own but those of
+others: it pleases God, however, that, though I see myself in this
+maze of entanglements, I do not lose all hope of escaping from it
+and reaching a safe port."
+
+Don Quixote was amazed to hear Roque utter such excellent and just
+sentiments, for he did not think that among those who followed such
+trades as robbing, murdering, and waylaying, there could be anyone
+capable of a virtuous thought, and he said in reply, "Senor Roque, the
+beginning of health lies in knowing the disease and in the sick
+man's willingness to take the medicines which the physician
+prescribes; you are sick, you know what ails you, and heaven, or
+more properly speaking God, who is our physician, will administer
+medicines that will cure you, and cure gradually, and not of a
+sudden or by a miracle; besides, sinners of discernment are nearer
+amendment than those who are fools; and as your worship has shown good
+sense in your remarks, all you have to do is to keep up a good heart
+and trust that the weakness of your conscience will be strengthened.
+And if you have any desire to shorten the journey and put yourself
+easily in the way of salvation, come with me, and I will show you
+how to become a knight-errant, a calling wherein so many hardships and
+mishaps are encountered that if they be taken as penances they will
+lodge you in heaven in a trice."
+
+Roque laughed at Don Quixote's exhortation, and changing the
+conversation he related the tragic affair of Claudia Jeronima, at
+which Sancho was extremely grieved; for he had not found the young
+woman's beauty, boldness, and spirit at all amiss.
+
+And now the squires despatched to make the prize came up, bringing
+with them two gentlemen on horseback, two pilgrims on foot, and a
+coach full of women with some six servants on foot and on horseback in
+attendance on them, and a couple of muleteers whom the gentlemen had
+with them. The squires made a ring round them, both victors and
+vanquished maintaining profound silence, waiting for the great Roque
+Guinart to speak. He asked the gentlemen who they were, whither they
+were going, and what money they carried with them; "Senor," replied
+one of them, "we are two captains of Spanish infantry; our companies
+are at Naples, and we are on our way to embark in four galleys which
+they say are at Barcelona under orders for Sicily; and we have about
+two or three hundred crowns, with which we are, according to our
+notions, rich and contented, for a soldier's poverty does not allow
+a more extensive hoard."
+
+Roque asked the pilgrims the same questions he had put to the
+captains, and was answered that they were going to take ship for Rome,
+and that between them they might have about sixty reals. He asked also
+who was in the coach, whither they were bound and what money they had,
+and one of the men on horseback replied, "The persons in the coach are
+my lady Dona Guiomar de Quinones, wife of the regent of the Vicaria at
+Naples, her little daughter, a handmaid and a duenna; we six
+servants are in attendance upon her, and the money amounts to six
+hundred crowns."
+
+"So then," said Roque Guinart, "we have got here nine hundred crowns
+and sixty reals; my soldiers must number some sixty; see how much
+there falls to each, for I am a bad arithmetician." As soon as the
+robbers heard this they raised a shout of "Long life to Roque Guinart,
+in spite of the lladres that seek his ruin!"
+
+The captains showed plainly the concern they felt, the regent's lady
+was downcast, and the pilgrims did not at all enjoy seeing their
+property confiscated. Roque kept them in suspense in this way for a
+while; but he had no desire to prolong their distress, which might
+be seen a bowshot off, and turning to the captains he said, "Sirs,
+will your worships be pleased of your courtesy to lend me sixty
+crowns, and her ladyship the regent's wife eighty, to satisfy this
+band that follows me, for 'it is by his singing the abbot gets his
+dinner;' and then you may at once proceed on your journey, free and
+unhindered, with a safe-conduct which I shall give you, so that if you
+come across any other bands of mine that I have scattered in these
+parts, they may do you no harm; for I have no intention of doing
+injury to soldiers, or to any woman, especially one of quality."
+
+Profuse and hearty were the expressions of gratitude with which
+the captains thanked Roque for his courtesy and generosity; for such
+they regarded his leaving them their own money. Senora Dona Guiomar de
+Quinones wanted to throw herself out of the coach to kiss the feet and
+hands of the great Roque, but he would not suffer it on any account;
+so far from that, he begged her pardon for the wrong he had done her
+under pressure of the inexorable necessities of his unfortunate
+calling. The regent's lady ordered one of her servants to give the
+eighty crowns that had been assessed as her share at once, for the
+captains had already paid down their sixty. The pilgrims were about to
+give up the whole of their little hoard, but Roque bade them keep
+quiet, and turning to his men he said, "Of these crowns two fall to
+each man and twenty remain over; let ten be given to these pilgrims,
+and the other ten to this worthy squire that he may be able to speak
+favourably of this adventure;" and then having writing materials, with
+which he always went provided, brought to him, he gave them in writing
+a safe-conduct to the leaders of his bands; and bidding them
+farewell let them go free and filled with admiration at his
+magnanimity, his generous disposition, and his unusual conduct, and
+inclined to regard him as an Alexander the Great rather than a
+notorious robber.
+
+One of the squires observed in his mixture of Gascon and Catalan,
+"This captain of ours would make a better friar than highwayman; if he
+wants to be so generous another time, let it be with his own
+property and not ours."
+
+The unlucky wight did not speak so low but that Roque overheard him,
+and drawing his sword almost split his head in two, saying, "That is
+the way I punish impudent saucy fellows." They were all taken aback,
+and not one of them dared to utter a word, such deference did they pay
+him. Roque then withdrew to one side and wrote a letter to a friend of
+his at Barcelona, telling him that the famous Don Quixote of La
+Mancha, the knight-errant of whom there was so much talk, was with
+him, and was, he assured him, the drollest and wisest man in the
+world; and that in four days from that date, that is to say, on
+Saint John the Baptist's Day, he was going to deposit him in full
+armour mounted on his horse Rocinante, together with his squire Sancho
+on an ass, in the middle of the strand of the city; and bidding him
+give notice of this to his friends the Niarros, that they might divert
+themselves with him. He wished, he said, his enemies the Cadells could
+be deprived of this pleasure; but that was impossible, because the
+crazes and shrewd sayings of Don Quixote and the humours of his squire
+Sancho Panza could not help giving general pleasure to all the
+world. He despatched the letter by one of his squires, who, exchanging
+the costume of a highwayman for that of a peasant, made his way into
+Barcelona and gave it to the person to whom it was directed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI
+
+OF WHAT HAPPENED DON QUIXOTE ON ENTERING BARCELONA, TOGETHER WITH
+OTHER MATTERS THAT PARTAKE OF THE TRUE RATHER THAN OF THE INGENIOUS
+
+Don Quixote passed three days and three nights with Roque, and had
+he passed three hundred years he would have found enough to observe
+and wonder at in his mode of life. At daybreak they were in one
+spot, at dinner-time in another; sometimes they fled without knowing
+from whom, at other times they lay in wait, not knowing for what. They
+slept standing, breaking their slumbers to shift from place to
+place. There was nothing but sending out spies and scouts, posting
+sentinels and blowing the matches of harquebusses, though they carried
+but few, for almost all used flintlocks. Roque passed his nights in
+some place or other apart from his men, that they might not know where
+he was, for the many proclamations the viceroy of Barcelona had issued
+against his life kept him in fear and uneasiness, and he did not
+venture to trust anyone, afraid that even his own men would kill him
+or deliver him up to the authorities; of a truth, a weary miserable
+life! At length, by unfrequented roads, short cuts, and secret
+paths, Roque, Don Quixote, and Sancho, together with six squires,
+set out for Barcelona. They reached the strand on Saint John's Eve
+during the night; and Roque, after embracing Don Quixote and Sancho
+(to whom he presented the ten crowns he had promised but had not until
+then given), left them with many expressions of good-will on both
+sides.
+
+Roque went back, while Don Quixote remained on horseback, just as he
+was, waiting for day, and it was not long before the countenance of
+the fair Aurora began to show itself at the balconies of the east,
+gladdening the grass and flowers, if not the ear, though to gladden
+that too there came at the same moment a sound of clarions and
+drums, and a din of bells, and a tramp, tramp, and cries of "Clear the
+way there!" of some runners, that seemed to issue from the city. The
+dawn made way for the sun that with a face broader than a buckler
+began to rise slowly above the low line of the horizon; Don Quixote
+and Sancho gazed all round them; they beheld the sea, a sight until
+then unseen by them; it struck them as exceedingly spacious and broad,
+much more so than the lakes of Ruidera which they had seen in La
+Mancha. They saw the galleys along the beach, which, lowering their
+awnings, displayed themselves decked with streamers and pennons that
+trembled in the breeze and kissed and swept the water, while on
+board the bugles, trumpets, and clarions were sounding and filling the
+air far and near with melodious warlike notes. Then they began to move
+and execute a kind of skirmish upon the calm water, while a vast
+number of horsemen on fine horses and in showy liveries, issuing
+from the city, engaged on their side in a somewhat similar movement.
+The soldiers on board the galleys kept up a ceaseless fire, which they
+on the walls and forts of the city returned, and the heavy cannon rent
+the air with the tremendous noise they made, to which the gangway guns
+of the galleys replied. The bright sea, the smiling earth, the clear
+air -though at times darkened by the smoke of the guns- all seemed
+to fill the whole multitude with unexpected delight. Sancho could
+not make out how it was that those great masses that moved over the
+sea had so many feet.
+
+And now the horsemen in livery came galloping up with shouts and
+outlandish cries and cheers to where Don Quixote stood amazed and
+wondering; and one of them, he to whom Roque had sent word, addressing
+him exclaimed, "Welcome to our city, mirror, beacon, star and cynosure
+of all knight-errantry in its widest extent! Welcome, I say, valiant
+Don Quixote of La Mancha; not the false, the fictitious, the
+apocryphal, that these latter days have offered us in lying histories,
+but the true, the legitimate, the real one that Cide Hamete Benengeli,
+flower of historians, has described to us!"
+
+Don Quixote made no answer, nor did the horsemen wait for one, but
+wheeling again with all their followers, they began curvetting round
+Don Quixote, who, turning to Sancho, said, "These gentlemen have
+plainly recognised us; I will wager they have read our history, and
+even that newly printed one by the Aragonese."
+
+The cavalier who had addressed Don Quixote again approached him
+and said, "Come with us, Senor Don Quixote, for we are all of us
+your servants and great friends of Roque Guinart's;" to which Don
+Quixote returned, "If courtesy breeds courtesy, yours, sir knight,
+is daughter or very nearly akin to the great Roque's; carry me where
+you please; I will have no will but yours, especially if you deign
+to employ it in your service."
+
+The cavalier replied with words no less polite, and then, all
+closing in around him, they set out with him for the city, to the
+music of the clarions and the drums. As they were entering it, the
+wicked one, who is the author of all mischief, and the boys who are
+wickeder than the wicked one, contrived that a couple of these
+audacious irrepressible urchins should force their way through the
+crowd, and lifting up, one of them Dapple's tail and the other
+Rocinante's, insert a bunch of furze under each. The poor beasts
+felt the strange spurs and added to their anguish by pressing their
+tails tight, so much so that, cutting a multitude of capers, they
+flung their masters to the ground. Don Quixote, covered with shame and
+out of countenance, ran to pluck the plume from his poor jade's
+tail, while Sancho did the same for Dapple. His conductors tried to
+punish the audacity of the boys, but there was no possibility of doing
+so, for they hid themselves among the hundreds of others that were
+following them. Don Quixote and Sancho mounted once more, and with the
+same music and acclamations reached their conductor's house, which was
+large and stately, that of a rich gentleman, in short; and there for
+the present we will leave them, for such is Cide Hamete's pleasure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII
+
+WHICH DEALS WITH THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENCHANTED HEAD, TOGETHER
+WITH OTHER TRIVIAL MATTERS WHICH CANNOT BE LEFT UNTOLD
+
+Don Quixote's host was one Don Antonio Moreno by name, a gentleman
+of wealth and intelligence, and very fond of diverting himself in
+any fair and good-natured way; and having Don Quixote in his house
+he set about devising modes of making him exhibit his mad points in
+some harmless fashion; for jests that give pain are no jests, and no
+sport is worth anything if it hurts another. The first thing he did
+was to make Don Quixote take off his armour, and lead him, in that
+tight chamois suit we have already described and depicted more than
+once, out on a balcony overhanging one of the chief streets of the
+city, in full view of the crowd and of the boys, who gazed at him as
+they would at a monkey. The cavaliers in livery careered before him
+again as though it were for him alone, and not to enliven the festival
+of the day, that they wore it, and Sancho was in high delight, for
+it seemed to him that, how he knew not, he had fallen upon another
+Camacho's wedding, another house like Don Diego de Miranda's,
+another castle like the duke's. Some of Don Antonio's friends dined
+with him that day, and all showed honour to Don Quixote and treated
+him as a knight-errant, and he becoming puffed up and exalted in
+consequence could not contain himself for satisfaction. Such were
+the drolleries of Sancho that all the servants of the house, and all
+who heard him, were kept hanging upon his lips. While at table Don
+Antonio said to him, "We hear, worthy Sancho, that you are so fond
+of manjar blanco and forced-meat balls, that if you have any left, you
+keep them in your bosom for the next day."
+
+"No, senor, that's not true," said Sancho, "for I am more cleanly
+than greedy, and my master Don Quixote here knows well that we two are
+used to live for a week on a handful of acorns or nuts. To be sure, if
+it so happens that they offer me a heifer, I run with a halter; I
+mean, I eat what I'm given, and make use of opportunities as I find
+them; but whoever says that I'm an out-of-the-way eater or not
+cleanly, let me tell him that he is wrong; and I'd put it in a
+different way if I did not respect the honourable beards that are at
+the table."
+
+"Indeed," said Don Quixote, "Sancho's moderation and cleanliness
+in eating might be inscribed and graved on plates of brass, to be kept
+in eternal remembrance in ages to come. It is true that when he is
+hungry there is a certain appearance of voracity about him, for he
+eats at a great pace and chews with both jaws; but cleanliness he is
+always mindful of; and when he was governor he learned how to eat
+daintily, so much so that he eats grapes, and even pomegranate pips,
+with a fork."
+
+"What!" said Don Antonio, "has Sancho been a governor?"
+
+"Ay," said Sancho, "and of an island called Barataria. I governed it
+to perfection for ten days; and lost my rest all the time; and learned
+to look down upon all the governments in the world; I got out of it by
+taking to flight, and fell into a pit where I gave myself up for dead,
+and out of which I escaped alive by a miracle."
+
+Don Quixote then gave them a minute account of the whole affair of
+Sancho's government, with which he greatly amused his hearers.
+
+On the cloth being removed Don Antonio, taking Don Quixote by the
+hand, passed with him into a distant room in which there was nothing
+in the way of furniture except a table, apparently of jasper,
+resting on a pedestal of the same, upon which was set up, after the
+fashion of the busts of the Roman emperors, a head which seemed to
+be of bronze. Don Antonio traversed the whole apartment with Don
+Quixote and walked round the table several times, and then said, "Now,
+Senor Don Quixote, that I am satisfied that no one is listening to us,
+and that the door is shut, I will tell you of one of the rarest
+adventures, or more properly speaking strange things, that can be
+imagined, on condition that you will keep what I say to you in the
+remotest recesses of secrecy."
+
+"I swear it," said Don Quixote, "and for greater security I will put
+a flag-stone over it; for I would have you know, Senor Don Antonio"
+(he had by this time learned his name), "that you are addressing one
+who, though he has ears to hear, has no tongue to speak; so that you
+may safely transfer whatever you have in your bosom into mine, and
+rely upon it that you have consigned it to the depths of silence."
+
+"In reliance upon that promise," said Don Antonio, "I will
+astonish you with what you shall see and hear, and relieve myself of
+some of the vexation it gives me to have no one to whom I can
+confide my secrets, for they are not of a sort to be entrusted to
+everybody."
+
+Don Quixote was puzzled, wondering what could be the object of
+such precautions; whereupon Don Antonio taking his hand passed it over
+the bronze head and the whole table and the pedestal of jasper on
+which it stood, and then said, "This head, Senor Don Quixote, has been
+made and fabricated by one of the greatest magicians and wizards the
+world ever saw, a Pole, I believe, by birth, and a pupil of the famous
+Escotillo of whom such marvellous stories are told. He was here in
+my house, and for a consideration of a thousand crowns that I gave him
+he constructed this head, which has the property and virtue of
+answering whatever questions are put to its ear. He observed the
+points of the compass, he traced figures, he studied the stars, he
+watched favourable moments, and at length brought it to the perfection
+we shall see to-morrow, for on Fridays it is mute, and this being
+Friday we must wait till the next day. In the interval your worship
+may consider what you would like to ask it; and I know by experience
+that in all its answers it tells the truth."
+
+Don Quixote was amazed at the virtue and property of the head, and
+was inclined to disbelieve Don Antonio; but seeing what a short time
+he had to wait to test the matter, he did not choose to say anything
+except that he thanked him for having revealed to him so mighty a
+secret. They then quitted the room, Don Antonio locked the door, and
+they repaired to the chamber where the rest of the gentlemen were
+assembled. In the meantime Sancho had recounted to them several of the
+adventures and accidents that had happened his master.
+
+That afternoon they took Don Quixote out for a stroll, not in his
+armour but in street costume, with a surcoat of tawny cloth upon
+him, that at that season would have made ice itself sweat. Orders were
+left with the servants to entertain Sancho so as not to let him
+leave the house. Don Quixote was mounted, not on Rocinante, but upon a
+tall mule of easy pace and handsomely caparisoned. They put the
+surcoat on him, and on the back, without his perceiving it, they
+stitched a parchment on which they wrote in large letters, "This is
+Don Quixote of La Mancha." As they set out upon their excursion the
+placard attracted the eyes of all who chanced to see him, and as
+they read out, "This is Don Quixote of La Mancha," Don Quixote was
+amazed to see how many people gazed at him, called him by his name,
+and recognised him, and turning to Don Antonio, who rode at his
+side, he observed to him, "Great are the privileges knight-errantry
+involves, for it makes him who professes it known and famous in
+every region of the earth; see, Don Antonio, even the very boys of
+this city know me without ever having seen me."
+
+"True, Senor Don Quixote," returned Don Antonio; "for as fire cannot
+be hidden or kept secret, virtue cannot escape being recognised; and
+that which is attained by the profession of arms shines
+distinguished above all others."
+
+It came to pass, however, that as Don Quixote was proceeding amid
+the acclamations that have been described, a Castilian, reading the
+inscription on his back, cried out in a loud voice, "The devil take
+thee for a Don Quixote of La Mancha! What! art thou here, and not dead
+of the countless drubbings that have fallen on thy ribs? Thou art mad;
+and if thou wert so by thyself, and kept thyself within thy madness,
+it would not be so bad; but thou hast the gift of making fools and
+blockheads of all who have anything to do with thee or say to thee.
+Why, look at these gentlemen bearing thee company! Get thee home,
+blockhead, and see after thy affairs, and thy wife and children, and
+give over these fooleries that are sapping thy brains and skimming
+away thy wits."
+
+"Go your own way, brother," said Don Antonio, "and don't offer
+advice to those who don't ask you for it. Senor Don Quixote is in
+his full senses, and we who bear him company are not fools; virtue
+is to be honoured wherever it may be found; go, and bad luck to you,
+and don't meddle where you are not wanted."
+
+"By God, your worship is right," replied the Castilian; "for to
+advise this good man is to kick against the pricks; still for all that
+it fills me with pity that the sound wit they say the blockhead has in
+everything should dribble away by the channel of his
+knight-errantry; but may the bad luck your worship talks of follow
+me and all my descendants, if, from this day forth, though I should
+live longer than Methuselah, I ever give advice to anybody even if
+he asks me for it."
+
+The advice-giver took himself off, and they continued their
+stroll; but so great was the press of the boys and people to read
+the placard, that Don Antonio was forced to remove it as if he were
+taking off something else.
+
+Night came and they went home, and there was a ladies' dancing
+party, for Don Antonio's wife, a lady of rank and gaiety, beauty and
+wit, had invited some friends of hers to come and do honour to her
+guest and amuse themselves with his strange delusions. Several of them
+came, they supped sumptuously, the dance began at about ten o'clock.
+Among the ladies were two of a mischievous and frolicsome turn, and,
+though perfectly modest, somewhat free in playing tricks for
+harmless diversion sake. These two were so indefatigable in taking Don
+Quixote out to dance that they tired him down, not only in body but in
+spirit. It was a sight to see the figure Don Quixote made, long, lank,
+lean, and yellow, his garments clinging tight to him, ungainly, and
+above all anything but agile. The gay ladies made secret love to
+him, and he on his part secretly repelled them, but finding himself
+hard pressed by their blandishments he lifted up his voice and
+exclaimed, "Fugite, partes adversae! Leave me in peace, unwelcome
+overtures; avaunt, with your desires, ladies, for she who is queen
+of mine, the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, suffers none but hers to
+lead me captive and subdue me;" and so saying he sat down on the floor
+in the middle of the room, tired out and broken down by all this
+exertion in the dance.
+
+Don Antonio directed him to be taken up bodily and carried to bed,
+and the first that laid hold of him was Sancho, saying as he did so,
+"In an evil hour you took to dancing, master mine; do you fancy all
+mighty men of valour are dancers, and all knights-errant given to
+capering? If you do, I can tell you you are mistaken; there's many a
+man would rather undertake to kill a giant than cut a caper. If it had
+been the shoe-fling you were at I could take your place, for I can
+do the shoe-fling like a gerfalcon; but I'm no good at dancing."
+
+With these and other observations Sancho set the whole ball-room
+laughing, and then put his master to bed, covering him up well so that
+he might sweat out any chill caught after his dancing.
+
+The next day Don Antonio thought he might as well make trial of
+the enchanted head, and with Don Quixote, Sancho, and two others,
+friends of his, besides the two ladies that had tired out Don
+Quixote at the ball, who had remained for the night with Don Antonio's
+wife, he locked himself up in the chamber where the head was. He
+explained to them the property it possessed and entrusted the secret
+to them, telling them that now for the first time he was going to
+try the virtue of the enchanted head; but except Don Antonio's two
+friends no one else was privy to the mystery of the enchantment, and
+if Don Antonio had not first revealed it to them they would have
+been inevitably reduced to the same state of amazement as the rest, so
+artfully and skilfully was it contrived.
+
+The first to approach the ear of the head was Don Antonio himself,
+and in a low voice but not so low as not to be audible to all, he said
+to it, "Head, tell me by the virtue that lies in thee what am I at
+this moment thinking of?"
+
+The head, without any movement of the lips, answered in a clear
+and distinct voice, so as to be heard by all, "I cannot judge of
+thoughts."
+
+All were thunderstruck at this, and all the more so as they saw that
+there was nobody anywhere near the table or in the whole room that
+could have answered. "How many of us are here?" asked Don Antonio once
+more; and it was answered him in the same way softly, "Thou and thy
+wife, with two friends of thine and two of hers, and a famous knight
+called Don Quixote of La Mancha, and a squire of his, Sancho Panza
+by name."
+
+Now there was fresh astonishment; now everyone's hair was standing
+on end with awe; and Don Antonio retiring from the head exclaimed,
+"This suffices to show me that I have not been deceived by him who
+sold thee to me, O sage head, talking head, answering head,
+wonderful head! Let some one else go and put what question he likes to
+it."
+
+And as women are commonly impulsive and inquisitive, the first to
+come forward was one of the two friends of Don Antonio's wife, and her
+question was, "Tell me, Head, what shall I do to be very beautiful?"
+and the answer she got was, "Be very modest."
+
+"I question thee no further," said the fair querist.
+
+Her companion then came up and said, "I should like to know, Head,
+whether my husband loves me or not;" the answer given to her was,
+"Think how he uses thee, and thou mayest guess;" and the married
+lady went off saying, "That answer did not need a question; for of
+course the treatment one receives shows the disposition of him from
+whom it is received."
+
+Then one of Don Antonio's two friends advanced and asked it, "Who am
+I?" "Thou knowest," was the answer. "That is not what I ask thee,"
+said the gentleman, "but to tell me if thou knowest me." "Yes, I
+know thee, thou art Don Pedro Noriz," was the reply.
+
+"I do not seek to know more," said the gentleman, "for this is
+enough to convince me, O Head, that thou knowest everything;" and as
+he retired the other friend came forward and asked it, "Tell me, Head,
+what are the wishes of my eldest son?"
+
+"I have said already," was the answer, "that I cannot judge of
+wishes; however, I can tell thee the wish of thy son is to bury thee."
+
+"That's 'what I see with my eyes I point out with my finger,'"
+said the gentleman, "so I ask no more."
+
+Don Antonio's wife came up and said, "I know not what to ask thee,
+Head; I would only seek to know of thee if I shall have many years
+of enjoyment of my good husband;" and the answer she received was,
+"Thou shalt, for his vigour and his temperate habits promise many
+years of life, which by their intemperance others so often cut short."
+
+Then Don Quixote came forward and said, "Tell me, thou that
+answerest, was that which I describe as having happened to me in the
+cave of Montesinos the truth or a dream? Will Sancho's whipping be
+accomplished without fail? Will the disenchantment of Dulcinea be
+brought about?"
+
+"As to the question of the cave," was the reply, "there is much to
+be said; there is something of both in it. Sancho's whipping will
+proceed leisurely. The disenchantment of Dulcinea will attain its
+due consummation."
+
+"I seek to know no more," said Don Quixote; "let me but see Dulcinea
+disenchanted, and I will consider that all the good fortune I could
+wish for has come upon me all at once."
+
+The last questioner was Sancho, and his questions were, "Head, shall
+I by any chance have another government? Shall I ever escape from
+the hard life of a squire? Shall I get back to see my wife and
+children?" To which the answer came, "Thou shalt govern in thy
+house; and if thou returnest to it thou shalt see thy wife and
+children; and on ceasing to serve thou shalt cease to be a squire."
+
+"Good, by God!" said Sancho Panza; "I could have told myself that;
+the prophet Perogrullo could have said no more."
+
+"What answer wouldst thou have, beast?" said Don Quixote; "is it not
+enough that the replies this head has given suit the questions put
+to it?"
+
+"Yes, it is enough," said Sancho; "but I should have liked it to
+have made itself plainer and told me more."
+
+The questions and answers came to an end here, but not the wonder
+with which all were filled, except Don Antonio's two friends who
+were in the secret. This Cide Hamete Benengeli thought fit to reveal
+at once, not to keep the world in suspense, fancying that the head had
+some strange magical mystery in it. He says, therefore, that on the
+model of another head, the work of an image maker, which he had seen
+at Madrid, Don Antonio made this one at home for his own amusement and
+to astonish ignorant people; and its mechanism was as follows. The
+table was of wood painted and varnished to imitate jasper, and the
+pedestal on which it stood was of the same material, with four eagles'
+claws projecting from it to support the weight more steadily. The
+head, which resembled a bust or figure of a Roman emperor, and was
+coloured like bronze, was hollow throughout, as was the table, into
+which it was fitted so exactly that no trace of the joining was
+visible. The pedestal of the table was also hollow and communicated
+with the throat and neck of the head, and the whole was in
+communication with another room underneath the chamber in which the
+head stood. Through the entire cavity in the pedestal, table, throat
+and neck of the bust or figure, there passed a tube of tin carefully
+adjusted and concealed from sight. In the room below corresponding
+to the one above was placed the person who was to answer, with his
+mouth to the tube, and the voice, as in an ear-trumpet, passed from
+above downwards, and from below upwards, the words coming clearly
+and distinctly; it was impossible, thus, to detect the trick. A nephew
+of Don Antonio's, a smart sharp-witted student, was the answerer,
+and as he had been told beforehand by his uncle who the persons were
+that would come with him that day into the chamber where the head was,
+it was an easy matter for him to answer the first question at once and
+correctly; the others he answered by guess-work, and, being clever,
+cleverly. Cide Hamete adds that this marvellous contrivance stood
+for some ten or twelve days; but that, as it became noised abroad
+through the city that he had in his house an enchanted head that
+answered all who asked questions of it, Don Antonio, fearing it
+might come to the ears of the watchful sentinels of our faith,
+explained the matter to the inquisitors, who commanded him to break it
+up and have done with it, lest the ignorant vulgar should be
+scandalised. By Don Quixote, however, and by Sancho the head was still
+held to be an enchanted one, and capable of answering questions,
+though more to Don Quixote's satisfaction than Sancho's.
+
+The gentlemen of the city, to gratify Don Antonio and also to do the
+honours to Don Quixote, and give him an opportunity of displaying
+his folly, made arrangements for a tilting at the ring in six days
+from that time, which, however, for reason that will be mentioned
+hereafter, did not take place.
+
+Don Quixote took a fancy to stroll about the city quietly and on
+foot, for he feared that if he went on horseback the boys would follow
+him; so he and Sancho and two servants that Don Antonio gave him set
+out for a walk. Thus it came to pass that going along one of the
+streets Don Quixote lifted up his eyes and saw written in very large
+letters over a door, "Books printed here," at which he was vastly
+pleased, for until then he had never seen a printing office, and he
+was curious to know what it was like. He entered with all his
+following, and saw them drawing sheets in one place, correcting in
+another, setting up type here, revising there; in short all the work
+that is to be seen in great printing offices. He went up to one case
+and asked what they were about there; the workmen told him, he watched
+them with wonder, and passed on. He approached one man, among
+others, and asked him what he was doing. The workman replied,
+"Senor, this gentleman here" (pointing to a man of prepossessing
+appearance and a certain gravity of look) "has translated an Italian
+book into our Spanish tongue, and I am setting it up in type for the
+press."
+
+"What is the title of the book?" asked Don Quixote; to which the
+author replied, "Senor, in Italian the book is called Le Bagatelle."
+
+"And what does Le Bagatelle import in our Spanish?" asked Don
+Quixote.
+
+"Le Bagatelle," said the author, "is as though we should say in
+Spanish Los Juguetes; but though the book is humble in name it has
+good solid matter in it."
+
+"I," said Don Quixote, "have some little smattering of Italian,
+and I plume myself on singing some of Ariosto's stanzas; but tell
+me, senor- I do not say this to test your ability, but merely out of
+curiosity- have you ever met with the word pignatta in your book?"
+
+"Yes, often," said the author.
+
+"And how do you render that in Spanish?"
+
+"How should I render it," returned the author, "but by olla?"
+
+"Body o' me," exclaimed Don Quixote, "what a proficient you are in
+the Italian language! I would lay a good wager that where they say
+in Italian piace you say in Spanish place, and where they say piu
+you say mas, and you translate su by arriba and giu by abajo."
+
+"I translate them so of course," said the author, "for those are
+their proper equivalents."
+
+"I would venture to swear," said Don Quixote, "that your worship
+is not known in the world, which always begrudges their reward to rare
+wits and praiseworthy labours. What talents lie wasted there! What
+genius thrust away into corners! What worth left neglected! Still it
+seems to me that translation from one language into another, if it
+be not from the queens of languages, the Greek and the Latin, is
+like looking at Flemish tapestries on the wrong side; for though the
+figures are visible, they are full of threads that make them
+indistinct, and they do not show with the smoothness and brightness of
+the right side; and translation from easy languages argues neither
+ingenuity nor command of words, any more than transcribing or
+copying out one document from another. But I do not mean by this to
+draw the inference that no credit is to be allowed for the work of
+translating, for a man may employ himself in ways worse and less
+profitable to himself. This estimate does not include two famous
+translators, Doctor Cristobal de Figueroa, in his Pastor Fido, and Don
+Juan de Jauregui, in his Aminta, wherein by their felicity they
+leave it in doubt which is the translation and which the original. But
+tell me, are you printing this book at your own risk, or have you sold
+the copyright to some bookseller?"
+
+"I print at my own risk," said the author, "and I expect to make a
+thousand ducats at least by this first edition, which is to be of
+two thousand copies that will go off in a twinkling at six reals
+apiece."
+
+"A fine calculation you are making!" said Don Quixote; "it is
+plain you don't know the ins and outs of the printers, and how they
+play into one another's hands. I promise you when you find yourself
+saddled with two thousand copies you will feel so sore that it will
+astonish you, particularly if the book is a little out of the common
+and not in any way highly spiced."
+
+"What!" said the author, "would your worship, then, have me give
+it to a bookseller who will give three maravedis for the copyright and
+think he is doing me a favour? I do not print my books to win fame
+in the world, for I am known in it already by my works; I want to make
+money, without which reputation is not worth a rap."
+
+"God send your worship good luck," said Don Quixote; and he moved on
+to another case, where he saw them correcting a sheet of a book with
+the title of "Light of the Soul;" noticing it he observed, "Books like
+this, though there are many of the kind, are the ones that deserve
+to be printed, for many are the sinners in these days, and lights
+unnumbered are needed for all that are in darkness."
+
+He passed on, and saw they were also correcting another book, and
+when he asked its title they told him it was called, "The Second
+Part of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha," by one of
+Tordesillas.
+
+"I have heard of this book already," said Don Quixote, "and verily
+and on my conscience I thought it had been by this time burned to
+ashes as a meddlesome intruder; but its Martinmas will come to it as
+it does to every pig; for fictions have the more merit and charm about
+them the more nearly they approach the truth or what looks like it;
+and true stories, the truer they are the better they are;" and so
+saying he walked out of the printing office with a certain amount of
+displeasure in his looks. That same day Don Antonio arranged to take
+him to see the galleys that lay at the beach, whereat Sancho was in
+high delight, as he had never seen any all his life. Don Antonio
+sent word to the commandant of the galleys that he intended to bring
+his guest, the famous Don Quixote of La Mancha, of whom the commandant
+and all the citizens had already heard, that afternoon to see them;
+and what happened on board of them will be told in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII
+
+OF THE MISHAP THAT BEFELL SANCHO PANZA THROUGH THE VISIT TO THE
+GALLEYS, AND THE STRANGE ADVENTURE OF THE FAIR MORISCO
+
+
+Profound were Don Quixote's reflections on the reply of the
+enchanted head, not one of them, however, hitting on the secret of the
+trick, but all concentrated on the promise, which he regarded as a
+certainty, of Dulcinea's disenchantment. This he turned over in his
+mind again and again with great satisfaction, fully persuaded that
+he would shortly see its fulfillment; and as for Sancho, though, as
+has been said, he hated being a governor, still he had a longing to be
+giving orders and finding himself obeyed once more; this is the
+misfortune that being in authority, even in jest, brings with it.
+
+To resume; that afternoon their host Don Antonio Moreno and his
+two friends, with Don Quixote and Sancho, went to the galleys. The
+commandant had been already made aware of his good fortune in seeing
+two such famous persons as Don Quixote and Sancho, and the instant
+they came to the shore all the galleys struck their awnings and the
+clarions rang out. A skiff covered with rich carpets and cushions of
+crimson velvet was immediately lowered into the water, and as Don
+Quixote stepped on board of it, the leading galley fired her gangway
+gun, and the other galleys did the same; and as he mounted the
+starboard ladder the whole crew saluted him (as is the custom when a
+personage of distinction comes on board a galley) by exclaiming "Hu,
+hu, hu," three times. The general, for so we shall call him, a
+Valencian gentleman of rank, gave him his hand and embraced him,
+saying, "I shall mark this day with a white stone as one of the
+happiest I can expect to enjoy in my lifetime, since I have seen Senor
+Don Quixote of La Mancha, pattern and image wherein we see contained
+and condensed all that is worthy in knight-errantry."
+
+Don Quixote delighted beyond measure with such a lordly reception,
+replied to him in words no less courteous. All then proceeded to the
+poop, which was very handsomely decorated, and seated themselves on
+the bulwark benches; the boatswain passed along the gangway and
+piped all hands to strip, which they did in an instant. Sancho, seeing
+such a number of men stripped to the skin, was taken aback, and
+still more when he saw them spread the awning so briskly that it
+seemed to him as if all the devils were at work at it; but all this
+was cakes and fancy bread to what I am going to tell now. Sancho was
+seated on the captain's stage, close to the aftermost rower on the
+right-hand side. He, previously instructed in what he was to do,
+laid hold of Sancho, hoisting him up in his arms, and the whole
+crew, who were standing ready, beginning on the right, proceeded to
+pass him on, whirling him along from hand to hand and from bench to
+bench with such rapidity that it took the sight out of poor Sancho's
+eyes, and he made quite sure that the devils themselves were flying
+away with him; nor did they leave off with him until they had sent him
+back along the left side and deposited him on the poop; and the poor
+fellow was left bruised and breathless and all in a sweat, and
+unable to comprehend what it was that had happened to him.
+
+Don Quixote when he saw Sancho's flight without wings asked the
+general if this was a usual ceremony with those who came on board
+the galleys for the first time; for, if so, as he had no intention
+of adopting them as a profession, he had no mind to perform such feats
+of agility, and if anyone offered to lay hold of him to whirl him
+about, he vowed to God he would kick his soul out; and as he said this
+he stood up and clapped his hand upon his sword. At this instant
+they struck the awning and lowered the yard with a prodigious
+rattle. Sancho thought heaven was coming off its hinges and going to
+fall on his head, and full of terror he ducked it and buried it
+between his knees; nor were Don Quixote's knees altogether under
+control, for he too shook a little, squeezed his shoulders together
+and lost colour. The crew then hoisted the yard with the same rapidity
+and clatter as when they lowered it, all the while keeping silence
+as though they had neither voice nor breath. The boatswain gave the
+signal to weigh anchor, and leaping upon the middle of the gangway
+began to lay on to the shoulders of the crew with his courbash or
+whip, and to haul out gradually to sea.
+
+When Sancho saw so many red feet (for such he took the oars to be)
+moving all together, he said to himself, "It's these that are the real
+chanted things, and not the ones my master talks of. What can those
+wretches have done to be so whipped; and how does that one man who
+goes along there whistling dare to whip so many? I declare this is
+hell, or at least purgatory!"
+
+Don Quixote, observing how attentively Sancho regarded what was
+going on, said to him, "Ah, Sancho my friend, how quickly and
+cheaply might you finish off the disenchantment of Dulcinea, if you
+would strip to the waist and take your place among those gentlemen!
+Amid the pain and sufferings of so many you would not feel your own
+much; and moreover perhaps the sage Merlin would allow each of these
+lashes, being laid on with a good hand, to count for ten of those
+which you must give yourself at last."
+
+The general was about to ask what these lashes were, and what was
+Dulcinea's disenchantment, when a sailor exclaimed, "Monjui signals
+that there is an oared vessel off the coast to the west."
+
+On hearing this the general sprang upon the gangway crying, "Now
+then, my sons, don't let her give us the slip! It must be some
+Algerine corsair brigantine that the watchtower signals to us." The
+three others immediately came alongside the chief galley to receive
+their orders. The general ordered two to put out to sea while he
+with the other kept in shore, so that in this way the vessel could not
+escape them. The crews plied the oars driving the galleys so furiously
+that they seemed to fly. The two that had put out to sea, after a
+couple of miles sighted a vessel which, so far as they could make out,
+they judged to be one of fourteen or fifteen banks, and so she proved.
+As soon as the vessel discovered the galleys she went about with the
+object and in the hope of making her escape by her speed; but the
+attempt failed, for the chief galley was one of the fastest vessels
+afloat, and overhauled her so rapidly that they on board the
+brigantine saw clearly there was no possibility of escaping, and the
+rais therefore would have had them drop their oars and give themselves
+up so as not to provoke the captain in command of our galleys to
+anger. But chance, directing things otherwise, so ordered it that just
+as the chief galley came close enough for those on board the vessel to
+hear the shouts from her calling on them to surrender, two Toraquis,
+that is to say two Turks, both drunken, that with a dozen more were on
+board the brigantine, discharged their muskets, killing two of the
+soldiers that lined the sides of our vessel. Seeing this the general
+swore he would not leave one of those he found on board the vessel
+alive, but as he bore down furiously upon her she slipped away from
+him underneath the oars. The galley shot a good way ahead; those on
+board the vessel saw their case was desperate, and while the galley
+was coming about they made sail, and by sailing and rowing once more
+tried to sheer off; but their activity did not do them as much good as
+their rashness did them harm, for the galley coming up with them in
+a little more than half a mile threw her oars over them and took the
+whole of them alive. The other two galleys now joined company and
+all four returned with the prize to the beach, where a vast
+multitude stood waiting for them, eager to see what they brought back.
+The general anchored close in, and perceived that the viceroy of the
+city was on the shore. He ordered the skiff to push off to fetch
+him, and the yard to be lowered for the purpose of hanging forthwith
+the rais and the rest of the men taken on board the vessel, about
+six-and-thirty in number, all smart fellows and most of them Turkish
+musketeers. He asked which was the rais of the brigantine, and was
+answered in Spanish by one of the prisoners (who afterwards proved
+to he a Spanish renegade), "This young man, senor that you see here is
+our rais," and he pointed to one of the handsomest and most
+gallant-looking youths that could be imagined. He did not seem to be
+twenty years of age.
+
+"Tell me, dog," said the general, "what led thee to kill my
+soldiers, when thou sawest it was impossible for thee to escape? Is
+that the way to behave to chief galleys? Knowest thou not that
+rashness is not valour? Faint prospects of success should make men
+bold, but not rash."
+
+The rais was about to reply, but the general could not at that
+moment listen to him, as he had to hasten to receive the viceroy,
+who was now coming on board the galley, and with him certain of his
+attendants and some of the people.
+
+"You have had a good chase, senor general," said the viceroy.
+
+"Your excellency shall soon see how good, by the game strung up to
+this yard," replied the general.
+
+"How so?" returned the viceroy.
+
+"Because," said the general, "against all law, reason, and usages of
+war they have killed on my hands two of the best soldiers on board
+these galleys, and I have sworn to hang every man that I have taken,
+but above all this youth who is the rais of the brigantine," and he
+pointed to him as he stood with his hands already bound and the rope
+round his neck, ready for death.
+
+The viceroy looked at him, and seeing him so well-favoured, so
+graceful, and so submissive, he felt a desire to spare his life, the
+comeliness of the youth furnishing him at once with a letter of
+recommendation. He therefore questioned him, saying, "Tell me, rais,
+art thou Turk, Moor, or renegade?"
+
+To which the youth replied, also in Spanish, "I am neither Turk, nor
+Moor, nor renegade."
+
+"What art thou, then?" said the viceroy.
+
+"A Christian woman," replied the youth.
+
+"A woman and a Christian, in such a dress and in such circumstances!
+It is more marvellous than credible," said the viceroy.
+
+"Suspend the execution of the sentence," said the youth; "your
+vengeance will not lose much by waiting while I tell you the story
+of my life."
+
+What heart could be so hard as not to he softened by these words, at
+any rate so far as to listen to what the unhappy youth had to say? The
+general bade him say what he pleased, but not to expect pardon for his
+flagrant offence. With this permission the youth began in these words.
+
+"Born of Morisco parents, I am of that nation, more unhappy than
+wise, upon which of late a sea of woes has poured down. In the
+course of our misfortune I was carried to Barbary by two uncles of
+mine, for it was in vain that I declared I was a Christian, as in fact
+I am, and not a mere pretended one, or outwardly, but a true
+Catholic Christian. It availed me nothing with those charged with
+our sad expatriation to protest this, nor would my uncles believe
+it; on the contrary, they treated it as an untruth and a subterfuge
+set up to enable me to remain behind in the land of my birth; and
+so, more by force than of my own will, they took me with them. I had a
+Christian mother, and a father who was a man of sound sense and a
+Christian too; I imbibed the Catholic faith with my mother's milk, I
+was well brought up, and neither in word nor in deed did I, I think,
+show any sign of being a Morisco. To accompany these virtues, for such
+I hold them, my beauty, if I possess any, grew with my growth; and
+great as was the seclusion in which I lived it was not so great but
+that a young gentleman, Don Gaspar Gregorio by name, eldest son of a
+gentleman who is lord of a village near ours, contrived to find
+opportunities of seeing me. How he saw me, how we met, how his heart
+was lost to me, and mine not kept from him, would take too long to
+tell, especially at a moment when I am in dread of the cruel cord that
+threatens me interposing between tongue and throat; I will only say,
+therefore, that Don Gregorio chose to accompany me in our
+banishment. He joined company with the Moriscoes who were going
+forth from other villages, for he knew their language very well, and
+on the voyage he struck up a friendship with my two uncles who were
+carrying me with them; for my father, like a wise and far-sighted man,
+as soon as he heard the first edict for our expulsion, quitted the
+village and departed in quest of some refuge for us abroad. He left
+hidden and buried, at a spot of which I alone have knowledge, a
+large quantity of pearls and precious stones of great value,
+together with a sum of money in gold cruzadoes and doubloons. He
+charged me on no account to touch the treasure, if by any chance
+they expelled us before his return. I obeyed him, and with my
+uncles, as I have said, and others of our kindred and neighbours,
+passed over to Barbary, and the place where we took up our abode was
+Algiers, much the same as if we had taken it up in hell itself. The
+king heard of my beauty, and report told him of my wealth, which was
+in some degree fortunate for me. He summoned me before him, and
+asked me what part of Spain I came from, and what money and jewels I
+had. I mentioned the place, and told him the jewels and money were
+buried there; but that they might easily be recovered if I myself went
+back for them. All this I told him, in dread lest my beauty and not
+his own covetousness should influence him. While he was engaged in
+conversation with me, they brought him word that in company with me
+was one of the handsomest and most graceful youths that could be
+imagined. I knew at once that they were speaking of Don Gaspar
+Gregorio, whose comeliness surpasses the most highly vaunted beauty. I
+was troubled when I thought of the danger he was in, for among those
+barbarous Turks a fair youth is more esteemed than a woman, be she
+ever so beautiful. The king immediately ordered him to be brought
+before him that he might see him, and asked me if what they said about
+the youth was true. I then, almost as if inspired by heaven, told
+him it was, but that I would have him to know it was not a man, but
+a woman like myself, and I entreated him to allow me to go and dress
+her in the attire proper to her, so that her beauty might be seen to
+perfection, and that she might present herself before him with less
+embarrassment. He bade me go by all means, and said that the next
+day we should discuss the plan to be adopted for my return to Spain to
+carry away the hidden treasure. I saw Don Gaspar, I told him the
+danger he was in if he let it be seen he was a man, I dressed him as a
+Moorish woman, and that same afternoon I brought him before the
+king, who was charmed when he saw him, and resolved to keep the damsel
+and make a present of her to the Grand Signor; and to avoid the risk
+she might run among the women of his seraglio, and distrustful of
+himself, he commanded her to be placed in the house of some Moorish
+ladies of rank who would protect and attend to her; and thither he was
+taken at once. What we both suffered (for I cannot deny that I love
+him) may be left to the imagination of those who are separated if they
+love one an. other dearly. The king then arranged that I should return
+to Spain in this brigantine, and that two Turks, those who killed your
+soldiers, should accompany me. There also came with me this Spanish
+renegade"- and here she pointed to him who had first spoken- "whom I
+know to be secretly a Christian, and to be more desirous of being left
+in Spain than of returning to Barbary. The rest of the crew of the
+brigantine are Moors and Turks, who merely serve as rowers. The two
+Turks, greedy and insolent, instead of obeying the orders we had to
+land me and this renegade in Christian dress (with which we came
+provided) on the first Spanish ground we came to, chose to run along
+the coast and make some prize if they could, fearing that if they
+put us ashore first, we might, in case of some accident befalling
+us, make it known that the brigantine was at sea, and thus, if there
+happened to be any galleys on the coast, they might be taken. We
+sighted this shore last night, and knowing nothing of these galleys,
+we were discovered, and the result was what you have seen. To sum
+up, there is Don Gregorio in woman's dress, among women, in imminent
+danger of his life; and here am I, with hands bound, in expectation,
+or rather in dread, of losing my life, of which I am already weary.
+Here, sirs, ends my sad story, as true as it is unhappy; all I ask
+of you is to allow me to die like a Christian, for, as I have
+already said, I am not to be charged with the offence of which those
+of my nation are guilty;" and she stood silent, her eyes filled with
+moving tears, accompanied by plenty from the bystanders. The
+viceroy, touched with compassion, went up to her without speaking
+and untied the cord that bound the hands of the Moorish girl.
+
+But all the while the Morisco Christian was telling her strange
+story, an elderly pilgrim, who had come on board of the galley at
+the same time as the viceroy, kept his eyes fixed upon her; and the
+instant she ceased speaking he threw himself at her feet, and
+embracing them said in a voice broken by sobs and sighs, "O Ana Felix,
+my unhappy daughter, I am thy father Ricote, come back to look for
+thee, unable to live without thee, my soul that thou art!"
+
+At these words of his, Sancho opened his eyes and raised his head,
+which he had been holding down, brooding over his unlucky excursion;
+and looking at the pilgrim he recognised in him that same Ricote he
+met the day he quitted his government, and felt satisfied that this
+was his daughter. She being now unbound embraced her father,
+mingling her tears with his, while he addressing the general and the
+viceroy said, "This, sirs, is my daughter, more unhappy in her
+adventures than in her name. She is Ana Felix, surnamed Ricote,
+celebrated as much for her own beauty as for my wealth. I quitted my
+native land in search of some shelter or refuge for us abroad, and
+having found one in Germany I returned in this pilgrim's dress, in the
+company of some other German pilgrims, to seek my daughter and take up
+a large quantity of treasure I had left buried. My daughter I did
+not find, the treasure I found and have with me; and now, in this
+strange roundabout way you have seen, I find the treasure that more
+than all makes me rich, my beloved daughter. If our innocence and
+her tears and mine can with strict justice open the door to
+clemency, extend it to us, for we never had any intention of
+injuring you, nor do we sympathise with the aims of our people, who
+have been justly banished."
+
+"I know Ricote well," said Sancho at this, "and I know too that what
+he says about Ana Felix being his daughter is true; but as to those
+other particulars about going and coming, and having good or bad
+intentions, I say nothing."
+
+While all present stood amazed at this strange occurrence the
+general said, "At any rate your tears will not allow me to keep my
+oath; live, fair Ana Felix, all the years that heaven has allotted
+you; but these rash insolent fellows must pay the penalty of the crime
+they have committed;" and with that he gave orders to have the two
+Turks who had killed his two soldiers hanged at once at the
+yard-arm. The viceroy, however, begged him earnestly not to hang them,
+as their behaviour savoured rather of madness than of bravado. The
+general yielded to the viceroy's request, for revenge is not easily
+taken in cold blood. They then tried to devise some scheme for
+rescuing Don Gaspar Gregorio from the danger in which he had been
+left. Ricote offered for that object more than two thousand ducats
+that he had in pearls and gems; they proposed several plans, but
+none so good as that suggested by the renegade already mentioned,
+who offered to return to Algiers in a small vessel of about six banks,
+manned by Christian rowers, as he knew where, how, and when he could
+and should land, nor was he ignorant of the house in which Don
+Gaspar was staying. The general and the viceroy had some hesitation
+about placing confidence in the renegade and entrusting him with the
+Christians who were to row, but Ana Felix said she could answer for
+him, and her father offered to go and pay the ransom of the Christians
+if by any chance they should not be forthcoming. This, then, being
+agreed upon, the viceroy landed, and Don Antonio Moreno took the
+fair Morisco and her father home with him, the viceroy charging him to
+give them the best reception and welcome in his power, while on his
+own part he offered all that house contained for their
+entertainment; so great was the good-will and kindliness the beauty of
+Ana Felix had infused into his heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV
+
+TREATING OF THE ADVENTURE WHICH GAVE DON QUIXOTE MORE UNHAPPINESS
+THAN ALL THAT HAD HITHERTO BEFALLEN HIM
+
+
+The wife of Don Antonio Moreno, so the history says, was extremely
+happy to see Ana Felix in her house. She welcomed her with great
+kindness, charmed as well by her beauty as by her intelligence; for in
+both respects the fair Morisco was richly endowed, and all the
+people of the city flocked to see her as though they had been summoned
+by the ringing of the bells.
+
+Don Quixote told Don Antonio that the plan adopted for releasing Don
+Gregorio was not a good one, for its risks were greater than its
+advantages, and that it would be better to land himself with his
+arms and horse in Barbary; for he would carry him off in spite of
+the whole Moorish host, as Don Gaiferos carried off his wife
+Melisendra.
+
+"Remember, your worship," observed Sancho on hearing him say so,
+"Senor Don Gaiferos carried off his wife from the mainland, and took
+her to France by land; but in this case, if by chance we carry off Don
+Gregorio, we have no way of bringing him to Spain, for there's the sea
+between."
+
+"There's a remedy for everything except death," said Don Quixote;
+"if they bring the vessel close to the shore we shall be able to get
+on board though all the world strive to prevent us."
+
+"Your worship hits it off mighty well and mighty easy," said Sancho;
+"but 'it's a long step from saying to doing;' and I hold to the
+renegade, for he seems to me an honest good-hearted fellow."
+
+Don Antonio then said that if the renegade did not prove successful,
+the expedient of the great Don Quixote's expedition to Barbary
+should be adopted. Two days afterwards the renegade put to sea in a
+light vessel of six oars a-side manned by a stout crew, and two days
+later the galleys made sail eastward, the general having begged the
+viceroy to let him know all about the release of Don Gregorio and
+about Ana Felix, and the viceroy promised to do as he requested.
+
+One morning as Don Quixote went out for a stroll along the beach,
+arrayed in full armour (for, as he often said, that was "his only
+gear, his only rest the fray," and he never was without it for a
+moment), he saw coming towards him a knight, also in full armour, with
+a shining moon painted on his shield, who, on approaching sufficiently
+near to be heard, said in a loud voice, addressing himself to Don
+Quixote, "Illustrious knight, and never sufficiently extolled Don
+Quixote of La Mancha, I am the Knight of the White Moon, whose
+unheard-of achievements will perhaps have recalled him to thy
+memory. I come to do battle with thee and prove the might of thy
+arm, to the end that I make thee acknowledge and confess that my lady,
+let her be who she may, is incomparably fairer than thy Dulcinea del
+Toboso. If thou dost acknowledge this fairly and openly, thou shalt
+escape death and save me the trouble of inflicting it upon thee; if
+thou fightest and I vanquish thee, I demand no other satisfaction than
+that, laying aside arms and abstaining from going in quest of
+adventures, thou withdraw and betake thyself to thine own village
+for the space of a year, and live there without putting hand to sword,
+in peace and quiet and beneficial repose, the same being needful for
+the increase of thy substance and the salvation of thy soul; and if
+thou dost vanquish me, my head shall be at thy disposal, my arms and
+horse thy spoils, and the renown of my deeds transferred and added
+to thine. Consider which will be thy best course, and give me thy
+answer speedily, for this day is all the time I have for the
+despatch of this business."
+
+Don Quixote was amazed and astonished, as well at the Knight of
+the White Moon's arrogance, as at his reason for delivering the
+defiance, and with calm dignity he answered him, "Knight of the
+White Moon, of whose achievements I have never heard until now, I will
+venture to swear you have never seen the illustrious Dulcinea; for had
+you seen her I know you would have taken care not to venture
+yourself upon this issue, because the sight would have removed all
+doubt from your mind that there ever has been or can be a beauty to be
+compared with hers; and so, not saying you lie, but merely that you
+are not correct in what you state, I accept your challenge, with the
+conditions you have proposed, and at once, that the day you have fixed
+may not expire; and from your conditions I except only that of the
+renown of your achievements being transferred to me, for I know not of
+what sort they are nor what they may amount to; I am satisfied with my
+own, such as they be. Take, therefore, the side of the field you
+choose, and I will do the same; and to whom God shall give it may
+Saint Peter add his blessing."
+
+The Knight of the White Moon had been seen from the city, and it was
+told the viceroy how he was in conversation with Don Quixote. The
+viceroy, fancying it must be some fresh adventure got up by Don
+Antonio Moreno or some other gentleman of the city, hurried out at
+once to the beach accompanied by Don Antonio and several other
+gentlemen, just as Don Quixote was wheeling Rocinante round in order
+to take up the necessary distance. The viceroy upon this, seeing
+that the pair of them were evidently preparing to come to the
+charge, put himself between them, asking them what it was that led
+them to engage in combat all of a sudden in this way. The Knight of
+the White Moon replied that it was a question of precedence of beauty;
+and briefly told him what he had said to Don Quixote, and how the
+conditions of the defiance agreed upon on both sides had been
+accepted. The viceroy went over to Don Antonio, and asked in a low
+voice did he know who the Knight of the White Moon was, or was it some
+joke they were playing on Don Quixote. Don Antonio replied that he
+neither knew who he was nor whether the defiance was in joke or in
+earnest. This answer left the viceroy in a state of perplexity, not
+knowing whether he ought to let the combat go on or not; but unable to
+persuade himself that it was anything but a joke he fell back, saying,
+"If there be no other way out of it, gallant knights, except to
+confess or die, and Don Quixote is inflexible, and your worship of the
+White Moon still more so, in God's hand be it, and fall on."
+
+He of the White Moon thanked the viceroy in courteous and
+well-chosen words for the permission he gave them, and so did Don
+Quixote, who then, commending himself with all his heart to heaven and
+to his Dulcinea, as was his custom on the eve of any combat that
+awaited him, proceeded to take a little more distance, as he saw his
+antagonist was doing the same; then, without blast of trumpet or other
+warlike instrument to give them the signal to charge, both at the same
+instant wheeled their horses; and he of the White Moon, being the
+swifter, met Don Quixote after having traversed two-thirds of the
+course, and there encountered him with such violence that, without
+touching him with his lance (for he held it high, to all appearance
+purposely), he hurled Don Quixote and Rocinante to the earth, a
+perilous fall. He sprang upon him at once, and placing the lance
+over his visor said to him, "You are vanquished, sir knight, nay
+dead unless you admit the conditions of our defiance."
+
+Don Quixote, bruised and stupefied, without raising his visor said
+in a weak feeble voice as if he were speaking out of a tomb, "Dulcinea
+del Toboso is the fairest woman in the world, and I the most
+unfortunate knight on earth; it is not fitting that this truth
+should suffer by my feebleness; drive your lance home, sir knight, and
+take my life, since you have taken away my honour."
+
+"That will I not, in sooth," said he of the White Moon; "live the
+fame of the lady Dulcinea's beauty undimmed as ever; all I require
+is that the great Don Quixote retire to his own home for a year, or
+for so long a time as shall by me be enjoined upon him, as we agreed
+before engaging in this combat."
+
+The viceroy, Don Antonio, and several others who were present
+heard all this, and heard too how Don Quixote replied that so long
+as nothing in prejudice of Dulcinea was demanded of him, he would
+observe all the rest like a true and loyal knight. The engagement
+given, he of the White Moon wheeled about, and making obeisance to the
+viceroy with a movement of the head, rode away into the city at a half
+gallop. The viceroy bade Don Antonio hasten after him, and by some
+means or other find out who he was. They raised Don Quixote up and
+uncovered his face, and found him pale and bathed with sweat.
+Rocinante from the mere hard measure he had received lay unable to
+stir for the present. Sancho, wholly dejected and woebegone, knew
+not what to say or do. He fancied that all was a dream, that the whole
+business was a piece of enchantment. Here was his master defeated, and
+bound not to take up arms for a year. He saw the light of the glory of
+his achievements obscured; the hopes of the promises lately made him
+swept away like smoke before the wind; Rocinante, he feared, was
+crippled for life, and his master's bones out of joint; for if he were
+only shaken out of his madness it would be no small luck. In the end
+they carried him into the city in a hand-chair which the viceroy
+sent for, and thither the viceroy himself returned, cager to ascertain
+who this Knight of the White Moon was who had left Don Quixote in such
+a sad plight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV
+
+WHEREIN IS MADE KNOWN WHO THE KNIGHT OF THE WHITE MOON WAS; LIKEWISE
+DON GREGORIO'S RELEASE, AND OTHER EVENTS
+
+
+Don Antonia Moreno followed the Knight of the White Moon, and a
+number of boys followed him too, nay pursued him, until they had him
+fairly housed in a hostel in the heart of the city. Don Antonio, eager
+to make his acquaintance, entered also; a squire came out to meet
+him and remove his armour, and he shut himself into a lower room,
+still attended by Don Antonio, whose bread would not bake until he had
+found out who he was. He of the White Moon, seeing then that the
+gentleman would not leave him, said, "I know very well, senor, what
+you have come for; it is to find out who I am; and as there is no
+reason why I should conceal it from you, while my servant here is
+taking off my armour I will tell you the true state of the case,
+without leaving out anything. You must know, senor, that I am called
+the bachelor Samson Carrasco. I am of the same village as Don
+Quixote of La Mancha, whose craze and folly make all of us who know
+him feel pity for him, and I am one of those who have felt it most;
+and persuaded that his chance of recovery lay in quiet and keeping
+at home and in his own house, I hit upon a device for keeping him
+there. Three months ago, therefore, I went out to meet him as a
+knight-errant, under the assumed name of the Knight of the Mirrors,
+intending to engage him in combat and overcome him without hurting
+him, making it the condition of our combat that the vanquished
+should be at the disposal of the victor. What I meant to demand of him
+(for I regarded him as vanquished already) was that he should return
+to his own village, and not leave it for a whole year, by which time
+he might he cured. But fate ordered it otherwise, for he vanquished me
+and unhorsed me, and so my plan failed. He went his way, and I came
+back conquered, covered with shame, and sorely bruised by my fall,
+which was a particularly dangerous one. But this did not quench my
+desire to meet him again and overcome him, as you have seen to-day.
+And as he is so scrupulous in his observance of the laws of
+knight-errantry, he will, no doubt, in order to keep his word, obey
+the injunction I have laid upon him. This, senor, is how the matter
+stands, and I have nothing more to tell you. I implore of you not to
+betray me, or tell Don Quixote who I am; so that my honest
+endeavours may be successful, and that a man of excellent wits- were
+he only rid of the fooleries of chivalry- may get them back again."
+
+"O senor," said Don Antonio, "may God forgive you the wrong you have
+done the whole world in trying to bring the most amusing madman in
+it back to his senses. Do you not see, senor, that the gain by Don
+Quixote's sanity can never equal the enjoyment his crazes give? But my
+belief is that all the senor bachelor's pains will be of no avail to
+bring a man so hopelessly cracked to his senses again; and if it
+were not uncharitable, I would say may Don Quixote never be cured, for
+by his recovery we lose not only his own drolleries, but his squire
+Sancho Panza's too, any one of which is enough to turn melancholy
+itself into merriment. However, I'll hold my peace and say nothing
+to him, and we'll see whether I am right in my suspicion that Senor
+Carrasco's efforts will be fruitless."
+
+The bachelor replied that at all events the affair promised well,
+and he hoped for a happy result from it; and putting his services at
+Don Antonio's commands he took his leave of him; and having had his
+armour packed at once upon a mule, he rode away from the city the same
+day on the horse he rode to battle, and returned to his own country
+without meeting any adventure calling for record in this veracious
+history.
+
+Don Antonio reported to the viceroy what Carrasco told him, and
+the viceroy was not very well pleased to hear it, for with Don
+Quixote's retirement there was an end to the amusement of all who knew
+anything of his mad doings.
+
+Six days did Don Quixote keep his bed, dejected, melancholy, moody
+and out of sorts, brooding over the unhappy event of his defeat.
+Sancho strove to comfort him, and among other things he said to him,
+"Hold up your head, senor, and be of good cheer if you can, and give
+thanks to heaven that if you have had a tumble to the ground you
+have not come off with a broken rib; and, as you know that 'where they
+give they take,' and that 'there are not always fletches where there
+are pegs,' a fig for the doctor, for there's no need of him to cure
+this ailment. Let us go home, and give over going about in search of
+adventures in strange lands and places; rightly looked at, it is I
+that am the greater loser, though it is your worship that has had
+the worse usage. With the government I gave up all wish to be a
+governor again, but I did not give up all longing to be a count; and
+that will never come to pass if your worship gives up becoming a
+king by renouncing the calling of chivalry; and so my hopes are
+going to turn into smoke."
+
+"Peace, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "thou seest my suspension and
+retirement is not to exceed a year; I shall soon return to my honoured
+calling, and I shall not be at a loss for a kingdom to win and a
+county to bestow on thee."
+
+"May God hear it and sin be deaf," said Sancho; "I have always heard
+say that 'a good hope is better than a bad holding."
+
+As they were talking Don Antonio came in looking extremely pleased
+and exclaiming, "Reward me for my good news, Senor Don Quixote! Don
+Gregorio and the renegade who went for him have come ashore- ashore do
+I say? They are by this time in the viceroy's house, and will be
+here immediately."
+
+Don Quixote cheered up a little and said, "Of a truth I am almost
+ready to say I should have been glad had it turned out just the
+other way, for it would have obliged me to cross over to Barbary,
+where by the might of my arm I should have restored to liberty, not
+only Don Gregorio, but all the Christian captives there are in
+Barbary. But what am I saying, miserable being that I am? Am I not
+he that has been conquered? Am I not he that has been overthrown? Am I
+not he who must not take up arms for a year? Then what am I making
+professions for; what am I bragging about; when it is fitter for me to
+handle the distaff than the sword?"
+
+"No more of that, senor," said Sancho; "'let the hen live, even
+though it be with her pip; 'today for thee and to-morrow for me;' in
+these affairs of encounters and whacks one must not mind them, for
+he that falls to-day may get up to-morrow; unless indeed he chooses to
+lie in bed, I mean gives way to weakness and does not pluck up fresh
+spirit for fresh battles; let your worship get up now to receive Don
+Gregorio; for the household seems to be in a bustle, and no doubt he
+has come by this time;" and so it proved, for as soon as Don
+Gregorio and the renegade had given the viceroy an account of the
+voyage out and home, Don Gregorio, eager to see Ana Felix, came with
+the renegade to Don Antonio's house. When they carried him away from
+Algiers he was in woman's dress; on board the vessel, however, he
+exchanged it for that of a captive who escaped with him; but in
+whatever dress he might be he looked like one to be loved and served
+and esteemed, for he was surpassingly well-favoured, and to judge by
+appearances some seventeen or eighteen years of age. Ricote and his
+daughter came out to welcome him, the father with tears, the
+daughter with bashfulness. They did not embrace each other, for
+where there is deep love there will never be overmuch boldness. Seen
+side by side, the comeliness of Don Gregorio and the beauty of Ana
+Felix were the admiration of all who were present. It was silence that
+spoke for the lovers at that moment, and their eyes were the tongues
+that declared their pure and happy feelings. The renegade explained
+the measures and means he had adopted to rescue Don Gregorio, and
+Don Gregorio at no great length, but in a few words, in which he
+showed that his intelligence was in advance of his years, described
+the peril and embarrassment he found himself in among the women with
+whom he had sojourned. To conclude, Ricote liberally recompensed and
+rewarded as well the renegade as the men who had rowed; and the
+renegade effected his readmission into the body of the Church and
+was reconciled with it, and from a rotten limb became by penance and
+repentance a clean and sound one.
+
+Two days later the viceroy discussed with Don Antonio the steps they
+should take to enable Ana Felix and her father to stay in Spain, for
+it seemed to them there could be no objection to a daughter who was so
+good a Christian and a father to all appearance so well disposed
+remaining there. Don Antonio offered to arrange the matter at the
+capital, whither he was compelled to go on some other business,
+hinting that many a difficult affair was settled there with the help
+of favour and bribes.
+
+"Nay," said Ricote, who was present during the conversation, "it
+will not do to rely upon favour or bribes, because with the great
+Don Bernardino de Velasco, Conde de Salazar, to whom his Majesty has
+entrusted our expulsion, neither entreaties nor promises, bribes nor
+appeals to compassion, are of any use; for though it is true he
+mingles mercy with justice, still, seeing that the whole body of our
+nation is tainted and corrupt, he applies to it the cautery that burns
+rather than the salve that soothes; and thus, by prudence, sagacity,
+care and the fear he inspires, he has borne on his mighty shoulders
+the weight of this great policy and carried it into effect, all our
+schemes and plots, importunities and wiles, being ineffectual to blind
+his Argus eyes, ever on the watch lest one of us should remain
+behind in concealment, and like a hidden root come in course of time
+to sprout and bear poisonous fruit in Spain, now cleansed, and
+relieved of the fear in which our vast numbers kept it. Heroic resolve
+of the great Philip the Third, and unparalleled wisdom to have
+entrusted it to the said Don Bernardino de Velasco!"
+
+"At any rate," said Don Antonio, "when I am there I will make all
+possible efforts, and let heaven do as pleases it best; Don Gregorio
+will come with me to relieve the anxiety which his parents must be
+suffering on account of his absence; Ana Felix will remain in my house
+with my wife, or in a monastery; and I know the viceroy will be glad
+that the worthy Ricote should stay with him until we see what terms
+I can make."
+
+The viceroy agreed to all that was proposed; but Don Gregorio on
+learning what had passed declared he could not and would not on any
+account leave Ana Felix; however, as it was his purpose to go and
+see his parents and devise some way of returning for her, he fell in
+with the proposed arrangement. Ana Felix remained with Don Antonio's
+wife, and Ricote in the viceroy's house.
+
+The day for Don Antonio's departure came; and two days later that
+for Don Quixote's and Sancho's, for Don Quixote's fall did not
+suffer him to take the road sooner. There were tears and sighs,
+swoonings and sobs, at the parting between Don Gregorio and Ana Felix.
+Ricote offered Don Gregorio a thousand crowns if he would have them,
+but he would not take any save five which Don Antonio lent him and
+he promised to repay at the capital. So the two of them took their
+departure, and Don Quixote and Sancho afterwards, as has been
+already said, Don Quixote without his armour and in travelling gear,
+and Sancho on foot, Dapple being loaded with the armour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVI
+
+WHICH TREATS OF WHAT HE WHO READS WILL SEE, OR WHAT HE WHO HAS IT
+READ TO HIM WILL HEAR
+
+
+As he left Barcelona, Don Quixote turned gaze upon the spot where he
+had fallen. "Here Troy was," said he; "here my ill-luck, not my
+cowardice, robbed me of all the glory I had won; here Fortune made
+me the victim of her caprices; here the lustre of my achievements
+was dimmed; here, in a word, fell my happiness never to rise again."
+
+"Senor," said Sancho on hearing this, "it is the part of brave
+hearts to be patient in adversity just as much as to be glad in
+prosperity; I judge by myself, for, if when I was a governor I was
+glad, now that I am a squire and on foot I am not sad; and I have
+heard say that she whom commonly they call Fortune is a drunken
+whimsical jade, and, what is more, blind, and therefore neither sees
+what she does, nor knows whom she casts down or whom she sets up."
+
+"Thou art a great philosopher, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "thou
+speakest very sensibly; I know not who taught thee. But I can tell
+thee there is no such thing as Fortune in the world, nor does anything
+which takes place there, be it good or bad, come about by chance,
+but by the special preordination of heaven; and hence the common
+saying that 'each of us is the maker of his own Fortune.' I have
+been that of mine; but not with the proper amount of prudence, and
+my self-confidence has therefore made me pay dearly; for I ought to
+have reflected that Rocinante's feeble strength could not resist the
+mighty bulk of the Knight of the White Moon's horse. In a word, I
+ventured it, I did my best, I was overthrown, but though I lost my
+honour I did not lose nor can I lose the virtue of keeping my word.
+When I was a knight-errant, daring and valiant, I supported my
+achievements by hand and deed, and now that I am a humble squire I
+will support my words by keeping the promise I have given. Forward
+then, Sancho my friend, let us go to keep the year of the novitiate in
+our own country, and in that seclusion we shall pick up fresh strength
+to return to the by me never-forgotten calling of arms."
+
+"Senor," returned Sancho, "travelling on foot is not such a pleasant
+thing that it makes me feel disposed or tempted to make long
+marches. Let us leave this armour hung up on some tree, instead of
+some one that has been hanged; and then with me on Dapple's back and
+my feet off the ground we will arrange the stages as your worship
+pleases to measure them out; but to suppose that I am going to
+travel on foot, and make long ones, is to suppose nonsense."
+
+"Thou sayest well, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "let my armour be hung
+up for a trophy, and under it or round it we will carve on the trees
+what was inscribed on the trophy of Roland's armour-
+
+             These let none move
+ Who dareth not his might with Roland prove."
+
+
+"That's the very thing," said Sancho; "and if it was not that we
+should feel the want of Rocinante on the road, it would be as well
+to leave him hung up too."
+
+"And yet, I had rather not have either him or the armour hung up,"
+said Don Quixote, "that it may not be said, 'for good service a bad
+return.'"
+
+"Your worship is right," said Sancho; "for, as sensible people hold,
+'the fault of the ass must not be laid on the pack-saddle;' and, as in
+this affair the fault is your worship's, punish yourself and don't let
+your anger break out against the already battered and bloody armour,
+or the meekness of Rocinante, or the tenderness of my feet, trying
+to make them travel more than is reasonable."
+
+In converse of this sort the whole of that day went by, as did the
+four succeeding ones, without anything occurring to interrupt their
+journey, but on the fifth as they entered a village they found a great
+number of people at the door of an inn enjoying themselves, as it
+was a holiday. Upon Don Quixote's approach a peasant called out,
+"One of these two gentlemen who come here, and who don't know the
+parties, will tell us what we ought to do about our wager."
+
+"That I will, certainly," said Don Quixote, "and according to the
+rights of the case, if I can manage to understand it."
+
+"Well, here it is, worthy sir," said the peasant; "a man of this
+village who is so fat that he weighs twenty stone challenged
+another, a neighbour of his, who does not weigh more than nine, to run
+a race. The agreement was that they were to run a distance of a
+hundred paces with equal weights; and when the challenger was asked
+how the weights were to be equalised he said that the other, as he
+weighed nine stone, should put eleven in iron on his back, and that in
+this way the twenty stone of the thin man would equal the twenty stone
+of the fat one."
+
+"Not at all," exclaimed Sancho at once, before Don Quixote could
+answer; "it's for me, that only a few days ago left off being a
+governor and a judge, as all the world knows, to settle these doubtful
+questions and give an opinion in disputes of all sorts."
+
+"Answer in God's name, Sancho my friend," said Don Quixote, "for I
+am not fit to give crumbs to a cat, my wits are so confused and
+upset."
+
+With this permission Sancho said to the peasants who stood clustered
+round him, waiting with open mouths for the decision to come from his,
+"Brothers, what the fat man requires is not in reason, nor has it a
+shadow of justice in it; because, if it be true, as they say, that the
+challenged may choose the weapons, the other has no right to choose
+such as will prevent and keep him from winning. My decision,
+therefore, is that the fat challenger prune, peel, thin, trim and
+correct himself, and take eleven stone of his flesh off his body, here
+or there, as he pleases, and as suits him best; and being in this
+way reduced to nine stone weight, he will make himself equal and
+even with nine stone of his opponent, and they will be able to run
+on equal terms."
+
+"By all that's good," said one of the peasants as he heard
+Sancho's decision, "but the gentleman has spoken like a saint, and
+given judgment like a canon! But I'll be bound the fat man won't
+part with an ounce of his flesh, not to say eleven stone."
+
+"The best plan will be for them not to run," said another, "so
+that neither the thin man break down under the weight, nor the fat one
+strip himself of his flesh; let half the wager be spent in wine, and
+let's take these gentlemen to the tavern where there's the best, and
+'over me be the cloak when it rains."
+
+"I thank you, sirs," said Don Quixote; "but I cannot stop for an
+instant, for sad thoughts and unhappy circumstances force me to seem
+discourteous and to travel apace;" and spurring Rocinante he pushed
+on, leaving them wondering at what they had seen and heard, at his own
+strange figure and at the shrewdness of his servant, for such they
+took Sancho to be; and another of them observed, "If the servant is so
+clever, what must the master be? I'll bet, if they are going to
+Salamanca to study, they'll come to be alcaldes of the Court in a
+trice; for it's a mere joke- only to read and read, and have
+interest and good luck; and before a man knows where he is he finds
+himself with a staff in his hand or a mitre on his head."
+
+That night master and man passed out in the fields in the open
+air, and the next day as they were pursuing their journey they saw
+coming towards them a man on foot with alforjas at the neck and a
+javelin or spiked staff in his hand, the very cut of a foot courier;
+who, as soon as he came close to Don Quixote, increased his pace and
+half running came up to him, and embracing his right thigh, for he
+could reach no higher, exclaimed with evident pleasure, "O Senor Don
+Quixote of La Mancha, what happiness it will be to the heart of my
+lord the duke when he knows your worship is coming back to his castle,
+for he is still there with my lady the duchess!"
+
+"I do not recognise you, friend," said Don Quixote, "nor do I know
+who you are, unless you tell me."
+
+"I am Tosilos, my lord the duke's lacquey, Senor Don Quixote,"
+replied the courier; "he who refused to fight your worship about
+marrying the daughter of Dona Rodriguez."
+
+"God bless me!" exclaimed Don Quixote; "is it possible that you
+are the one whom mine enemies the enchanters changed into the
+lacquey you speak of in order to rob me of the honour of that battle?"
+
+"Nonsense, good sir!" said the messenger; "there was no
+enchantment or transformation at all; I entered the lists just as much
+lacquey Tosilos as I came out of them lacquey Tosilos. I thought to
+marry without fighting, for the girl had taken my fancy; but my scheme
+had a very different result, for as soon as your worship had left
+the castle my lord the duke had a hundred strokes of the stick given
+me for having acted contrary to the orders he gave me before
+engaging in the combat; and the end of the whole affair is that the
+girl has become a nun, and Dona Rodriguez has gone back to Castile,
+and I am now on my way to Barcelona with a packet of letters for the
+viceroy which my master is sending him. If your worship would like a
+drop, sound though warm, I have a gourd here full of the best, and
+some scraps of Tronchon cheese that will serve as a provocative and
+wakener of your thirst if so be it is asleep."
+
+"I take the offer," said Sancho; "no more compliments about it; pour
+out, good Tosilos, in spite of all the enchanters in the Indies."
+
+"Thou art indeed the greatest glutton in the world, Sancho," said
+Don Quixote, "and the greatest booby on earth, not to be able to see
+that this courier is enchanted and this Tosilos a sham one; stop
+with him and take thy fill; I will go on slowly and wait for thee to
+come up with me."
+
+The lacquey laughed, unsheathed his gourd, unwalletted his scraps,
+and taking out a small loaf of bread he and Sancho seated themselves
+on the green grass, and in peace and good fellowship finished off
+the contents of the alforjas down to the bottom, so resolutely that
+they licked the wrapper of the letters, merely because it smelt of
+cheese.
+
+Said Tosilos to Sancho, "Beyond a doubt, Sancho my friend, this
+master of thine ought to be a madman."
+
+"Ought!" said Sancho; "he owes no man anything; he pays for
+everything, particularly when the coin is madness. I see it plain
+enough, and I tell him so plain enough; but what's the use? especially
+now that it is all over with him, for here he is beaten by the
+Knight of the White Moon."
+
+Tosilos begged him to explain what had happened him, but Sancho
+replied that it would not be good manners to leave his master
+waiting for him; and that some other day if they met there would be
+time enough for that; and then getting up, after shaking his doublet
+and brushing the crumbs out of his beard, he drove Dapple on before
+him, and bidding adieu to Tosilos left him and rejoined his master,
+who was waiting for him under the shade of a tree.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVII
+
+OF THE RESOLUTION DON QUIXOTE FORMED TO TURN SHEPHERD AND TAKE TO
+A LIFE IN THE FIELDS WHILE THE YEAR FOR WHICH HE HAD GIVEN HIS WORD
+WAS RUNNING ITS COURSE; WITH OTHER EVENTS TRULY DELECTABLE AND HAPPY
+
+
+If a multitude of reflections used to harass Don Quixote before he
+had been overthrown, a great many more harassed him since his fall. He
+was under the shade of a tree, as has been said, and there, like flies
+on honey, thoughts came crowding upon him and stinging him. Some of
+them turned upon the disenchantment of Dulcinea, others upon the
+life he was about to lead in his enforced retirement. Sancho came up
+and spoke in high praise of the generous disposition of the lacquey
+Tosilos.
+
+"Is it possible, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that thou dost still
+think that he yonder is a real lacquey? Apparently it has escaped
+thy memory that thou hast seen Dulcinea turned and transformed into
+a peasant wench, and the Knight of the Mirrors into the bachelor
+Carrasco; all the work of the enchanters that persecute me. But tell
+me now, didst thou ask this Tosilos, as thou callest him, what has
+become of Altisidora, did she weep over my absence, or has she already
+consigned to oblivion the love thoughts that used to afflict her
+when I was present?"
+
+"The thoughts that I had," said Sancho, "were not such as to leave
+time for asking fool's questions. Body o' me, senor! is your worship
+in a condition now to inquire into other people's thoughts, above
+all love thoughts?"
+
+"Look ye, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "there is a great difference
+between what is done out of love and what is done out of gratitude.
+A knight may very possibly he proof against love; but it is
+impossible, strictly speaking, for him to be ungrateful. Altisidora,
+to all appearance, loved me truly; she gave me the three kerchiefs
+thou knowest of; she wept at my departure, she cursed me, she abused
+me, casting shame to the winds she bewailed herself in public; all
+signs that she adored me; for the wrath of lovers always ends in
+curses. I had no hopes to give her, nor treasures to offer her, for
+mine are given to Dulcinea, and the treasures of knights-errant are
+like those of the fairies,' illusory and deceptive; all I can give her
+is the place in my memory I keep for her, without prejudice,
+however, to that which I hold devoted to Dulcinea, whom thou art
+wronging by thy remissness in whipping thyself and scourging that
+flesh- would that I saw it eaten by wolves- which would rather keep
+itself for the worms than for the relief of that poor lady."
+
+"Senor," replied Sancho, "if the truth is to be told, I cannot
+persuade myself that the whipping of my backside has anything to do
+with the disenchantment of the enchanted; it is like saying, 'If
+your head aches rub ointment on your knees;' at any rate I'll make
+bold to swear that in all the histories dealing with knight-errantry
+that your worship has read you have never come across anybody
+disenchanted by whipping; but whether or no I'll whip myself when I
+have a fancy for it, and the opportunity serves for scourging myself
+comfortably."
+
+"God grant it," said Don Quixote; "and heaven give thee grace to
+take it to heart and own the obligation thou art under to help my
+lady, who is thine also, inasmuch as thou art mine."
+
+As they pursued their journey talking in this way they came to the
+very same spot where they had been trampled on by the bulls. Don
+Quixote recognised it, and said he to Sancho, "This is the meadow
+where we came upon those gay shepherdesses and gallant shepherds who
+were trying to revive and imitate the pastoral Arcadia there, an
+idea as novel as it was happy, in emulation whereof, if so he thou
+dost approve of it, Sancho, I would have ourselves turn shepherds,
+at any rate for the time I have to live in retirement. I will buy some
+ewes and everything else requisite for the pastoral calling; and, I
+under the name of the shepherd Quixotize and thou as the shepherd
+Panzino, we will roam the woods and groves and meadows singing songs
+here, lamenting in elegies there, drinking of the crystal waters of
+the springs or limpid brooks or flowing rivers. The oaks will yield us
+their sweet fruit with bountiful hand, the trunks of the hard cork
+trees a seat, the willows shade, the roses perfume, the widespread
+meadows carpets tinted with a thousand dyes; the clear pure air will
+give us breath, the moon and stars lighten the darkness of the night
+for us, song shall be our delight, lamenting our joy, Apollo will
+supply us with verses, and love with conceits whereby we shall make
+ourselves famed for ever, not only in this but in ages to come."
+
+"Egad," said Sancho, "but that sort of life squares, nay corners,
+with my notions; and what is more the bachelor Samson Carrasco and
+Master Nicholas the barber won't have well seen it before they'll want
+to follow it and turn shepherds along with us; and God grant it may
+not come into the curate's head to join the sheepfold too, he's so
+jovial and fond of enjoying himself."
+
+"Thou art in the right of it, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "and the
+bachelor Samson Carrasco, if he enters the pastoral fraternity, as
+no doubt he will, may call himself the shepherd Samsonino, or
+perhaps the shepherd Carrascon; Nicholas the barber may call himself
+Niculoso, as old Boscan formerly was called Nemoroso; as for the
+curate I don't know what name we can fit to him unless it be something
+derived from his title, and we call him the shepherd Curiambro. For
+the shepherdesses whose lovers we shall be, we can pick names as we
+would pears; and as my lady's name does just as well for a
+shepherdess's as for a princess's, I need not trouble myself to look
+for one that will suit her better; to thine, Sancho, thou canst give
+what name thou wilt."
+
+"I don't mean to give her any but Teresona," said Sancho, "which
+will go well with her stoutness and with her own right name, as she is
+called Teresa; and then when I sing her praises in my verses I'll show
+how chaste my passion is, for I'm not going to look 'for better
+bread than ever came from wheat' in other men's houses. It won't do
+for the curate to have a shepherdess, for the sake of good example;
+and if the bachelor chooses to have one, that is his look-out."
+
+"God bless me, Sancho my friend!" said Don Quixote, "what a life
+we shall lead! What hautboys and Zamora bagpipes we shall hear, what
+tabors, timbrels, and rebecks! And then if among all these different
+sorts of music that of the albogues is heard, almost all the
+pastoral instruments will be there."
+
+"What are albogues?" asked Sancho, "for I never in my life heard
+tell of them or saw them."
+
+"Albogues," said Don Quixote, "are brass plates like candlesticks
+that struck against one another on the hollow side make a noise which,
+if not very pleasing or harmonious, is not disagreeable and accords
+very well with the rude notes of the bagpipe and tabor. The word
+albogue is Morisco, as are all those in our Spanish tongue that
+begin with al; for example, almohaza, almorzar, alhombra, alguacil,
+alhucema, almacen, alcancia, and others of the same sort, of which
+there are not many more; our language has only three that are
+Morisco and end in i, which are borcegui, zaquizami, and maravedi.
+Alheli and alfaqui are seen to be Arabic, as well by the al at the
+beginning as by the they end with. I mention this incidentally, the
+chance allusion to albogues having reminded me of it; and it will be
+of great assistance to us in the perfect practice of this calling that
+I am something of a poet, as thou knowest, and that besides the
+bachelor Samson Carrasco is an accomplished one. Of the curate I say
+nothing; but I will wager he has some spice of the poet in him, and no
+doubt Master Nicholas too, for all barbers, or most of them, are
+guitar players and stringers of verses. I will bewail my separation;
+thou shalt glorify thyself as a constant lover; the shepherd Carrascon
+will figure as a rejected one, and the curate Curiambro as whatever
+may please him best; and so all will go as gaily as heart could wish."
+
+To this Sancho made answer, "I am so unlucky, senor, that I'm afraid
+the day will never come when I'll see myself at such a calling. O what
+neat spoons I'll make when I'm a shepherd! What messes, creams,
+garlands, pastoral odds and ends! And if they don't get me a name
+for wisdom, they'll not fail to get me one for ingenuity. My
+daughter Sanchica will bring us our dinner to the pasture. But stay-
+she's good-looking, and shepherds there are with more mischief than
+simplicity in them; I would not have her 'come for wool and go back
+shorn;' love-making and lawless desires are just as common in the
+fields as in the cities, and in shepherds' shanties as in royal
+palaces; 'do away with the cause, you do away with the sin;' 'if
+eyes don't see hearts don't break' and 'better a clear escape than
+good men's prayers.'"
+
+"A truce to thy proverbs, Sancho," exclaimed Don Quixote; "any one
+of those thou hast uttered would suffice to explain thy meaning;
+many a time have I recommended thee not to be so lavish with
+proverbs and to exercise some moderation in delivering them; but it
+seems to me it is only 'preaching in the desert;' 'my mother beats
+me and I go on with my tricks."
+
+"It seems to me," said Sancho, "that your worship is like the common
+saying, 'Said the frying-pan to the kettle, Get away, blackbreech.'
+You chide me for uttering proverbs, and you string them in couples
+yourself."
+
+"Observe, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "I bring in proverbs to
+the purpose, and when I quote them they fit like a ring to the finger;
+thou bringest them in by the head and shoulders, in such a way that
+thou dost drag them in, rather than introduce them; if I am not
+mistaken, I have told thee already that proverbs are short maxims
+drawn from the experience and observation of our wise men of old;
+but the proverb that is not to the purpose is a piece of nonsense
+and not a maxim. But enough of this; as nightfall is drawing on let us
+retire some little distance from the high road to pass the night; what
+is in store for us to-morrow God knoweth."
+
+They turned aside, and supped late and poorly, very much against
+Sancho's will, who turned over in his mind the hardships attendant
+upon knight-errantry in woods and forests, even though at times plenty
+presented itself in castles and houses, as at Don Diego de
+Miranda's, at the wedding of Camacho the Rich, and at Don Antonio
+Moreno's; he reflected, however, that it could not be always day,
+nor always night; and so that night he passed in sleeping, and his
+master in waking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVIII
+
+OF THE BRISTLY ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE
+
+The night was somewhat dark, for though there was a moon in the
+sky it was not in a quarter where she could be seen; for sometimes the
+lady Diana goes on a stroll to the antipodes, and leaves the mountains
+all black and the valleys in darkness. Don Quixote obeyed nature so
+far as to sleep his first sleep, but did not give way to the second,
+very different from Sancho, who never had any second, because with him
+sleep lasted from night till morning, wherein he showed what a sound
+constitution and few cares he had. Don Quixote's cares kept him
+restless, so much so that he awoke Sancho and said to him, "I am
+amazed, Sancho, at the unconcern of thy temperament. I believe thou
+art made of marble or hard brass, incapable of any emotion or
+feeling whatever. I lie awake while thou sleepest, I weep while thou
+singest, I am faint with fasting while thou art sluggish and torpid
+from pure repletion. It is the duty of good servants to share the
+sufferings and feel the sorrows of their masters, if it be only for
+the sake of appearances. See the calmness of the night, the solitude
+of the spot, inviting us to break our slumbers by a vigil of some
+sort. Rise as thou livest, and retire a little distance, and with a
+good heart and cheerful courage give thyself three or four hundred
+lashes on account of Dulcinea's disenchantment score; and this I
+entreat of thee, making it a request, for I have no desire to come
+to grips with thee a second time, as I know thou hast a heavy hand. As
+soon as thou hast laid them on we will pass the rest of the night, I
+singing my separation, thou thy constancy, making a beginning at
+once with the pastoral life we are to follow at our village."
+
+"Senor," replied Sancho, "I'm no monk to get up out of the middle of
+my sleep and scourge myself, nor does it seem to me that one can
+pass from one extreme of the pain of whipping to the other of music.
+Will your worship let me sleep, and not worry me about whipping
+myself? or you'll make me swear never to touch a hair of my doublet,
+not to say my flesh."
+
+"O hard heart!" said Don Quixote, "O pitiless squire! O bread
+ill-bestowed and favours ill-acknowledged, both those I have done thee
+and those I mean to do thee! Through me hast thou seen thyself a
+governor, and through me thou seest thyself in immediate expectation
+of being a count, or obtaining some other equivalent title, for I-
+post tenebras spero lucem."
+
+"I don't know what that is," said Sancho; "all I know is that so
+long as I am asleep I have neither fear nor hope, trouble nor glory;
+and good luck betide him that invented sleep, the cloak that covers
+over all a man's thoughts, the food that removes hunger, the drink
+that drives away thirst, the fire that warms the cold, the cold that
+tempers the heat, and, to wind up with, the universal coin wherewith
+everything is bought, the weight and balance that makes the shepherd
+equal with the king and the fool with the wise man. Sleep, I have
+heard say, has only one fault, that it is like death; for between a
+sleeping man and a dead man there is very little difference."
+
+"Never have I heard thee speak so elegantly as now, Sancho," said
+Don Quixote; "and here I begin to see the truth of the proverb thou
+dost sometimes quote, 'Not with whom thou art bred, but with whom thou
+art fed.'"
+
+"Ha, by my life, master mine," said Sancho, "it's not I that am
+stringing proverbs now, for they drop in pairs from your worship's
+mouth faster than from mine; only there is this difference between
+mine and yours, that yours are well-timed and mine are untimely; but
+anyhow, they are all proverbs."
+
+At this point they became aware of a harsh indistinct noise that
+seemed to spread through all the valleys around. Don Quixote stood
+up and laid his hand upon his sword, and Sancho ensconced himself
+under Dapple and put the bundle of armour on one side of him and the
+ass's pack-saddle on the other, in fear and trembling as great as
+Don Quixote's perturbation. Each instant the noise increased and
+came nearer to the two terrified men, or at least to one, for as to
+the other, his courage is known to all. The fact of the matter was
+that some men were taking above six hundred pigs to sell at a fair,
+and were on their way with them at that hour, and so great was the
+noise they made and their grunting and blowing, that they deafened the
+ears of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, and they could not make out what
+it was. The wide-spread grunting drove came on in a surging mass,
+and without showing any respect for Don Quixote's dignity or Sancho's,
+passed right over the pair of them, demolishing Sancho's
+entrenchments, and not only upsetting Don Quixote but sweeping
+Rocinante off his feet into the bargain; and what with the trampling
+and the grunting, and the pace at which the unclean beasts went,
+pack-saddle, armour, Dapple and Rocinante were left scattered on the
+ground and Sancho and Don Quixote at their wits' end.
+
+Sancho got up as well as he could and begged his master to give
+him his sword, saying he wanted to kill half a dozen of those dirty
+unmannerly pigs, for he had by this time found out that that was
+what they were.
+
+"Let them be, my friend," said Don Quixote; "this insult is the
+penalty of my sin; and it is the righteous chastisement of heaven that
+jackals should devour a vanquished knight, and wasps sting him and
+pigs trample him under foot."
+
+"I suppose it is the chastisement of heaven, too," said Sancho,
+"that flies should prick the squires of vanquished knights, and lice
+eat them, and hunger assail them. If we squires were the sons of the
+knights we serve, or their very near relations, it would be no
+wonder if the penalty of their misdeeds overtook us, even to the
+fourth generation. But what have the Panzas to do with the Quixotes?
+Well, well, let's lie down again and sleep out what little of the
+night there's left, and God will send us dawn and we shall be all
+right."
+
+"Sleep thou, Sancho," returned Don Quixote, "for thou wast born to
+sleep as I was born to watch; and during the time it now wants of dawn
+I will give a loose rein to my thoughts, and seek a vent for them in a
+little madrigal which, unknown to thee, I composed in my head last
+night."
+
+"I should think," said Sancho, "that the thoughts that allow one
+to make verses cannot be of great consequence; let your worship string
+verses as much as you like and I'll sleep as much as I can;" and
+forthwith, taking the space of ground he required, he muffled
+himself up and fell into a sound sleep, undisturbed by bond, debt,
+or trouble of any sort. Don Quixote, propped up against the trunk of a
+beech or a cork tree- for Cide Hamete does not specify what kind of
+tree it was- sang in this strain to the accompaniment of his own
+sighs:
+
+  When in my mind
+I muse, O Love, upon thy cruelty,
+  To death I flee,
+In hope therein the end of all to find.
+
+  But drawing near
+That welcome haven in my sea of woe,
+  Such joy I know,
+That life revives, and still I linger here.
+
+  Thus life doth slay,
+And death again to life restoreth me;
+  Strange destiny,
+That deals with life and death as with a play!
+
+
+He accompanied each verse with many sighs and not a few tears,
+just like one whose heart was pierced with grief at his defeat and his
+separation from Dulcinea.
+
+And now daylight came, and the sun smote Sancho on the eyes with his
+beams. He awoke, roused himself up, shook himself and stretched his
+lazy limbs, and seeing the havoc the pigs had made with his stores
+he cursed the drove, and more besides. Then the pair resumed their
+journey, and as evening closed in they saw coming towards them some
+ten men on horseback and four or five on foot. Don Quixote's heart
+beat quick and Sancho's quailed with fear, for the persons approaching
+them carried lances and bucklers, and were in very warlike guise.
+Don Quixote turned to Sancho and said, "If I could make use of my
+weapons, and my promise had not tied my hands, I would count this host
+that comes against us but cakes and fancy bread; but perhaps it may
+prove something different from what we apprehend." The men on
+horseback now came up, and raising their lances surrounded Don Quixote
+in silence, and pointed them at his back and breast, menacing him with
+death. One of those on foot, putting his finger to his lips as a
+sign to him to be silent, seized Rocinante's bridle and drew him out
+of the road, and the others driving Sancho and Dapple before them, and
+all maintaining a strange silence, followed in the steps of the one
+who led Don Quixote. The latter two or three times attempted to ask
+where they were taking him to and what they wanted, but the instant he
+began to open his lips they threatened to close them with the points
+of their lances; and Sancho fared the same way, for the moment he
+seemed about to speak one of those on foot punched him with a goad,
+and Dapple likewise, as if he too wanted to talk. Night set in, they
+quickened their pace, and the fears of the two prisoners grew greater,
+especially as they heard themselves assailed with- "Get on, ye
+Troglodytes;" "Silence, ye barbarians;" "March, ye cannibals;" "No
+murmuring, ye Scythians;" "Don't open your eyes, ye murderous
+Polyphemes, ye blood-thirsty lions," and suchlike names with which
+their captors harassed the ears of the wretched master and man. Sancho
+went along saying to himself, "We, tortolites, barbers, animals! I
+don't like those names at all; 'it's in a bad wind our corn is being
+winnowed;' 'misfortune comes upon us all at once like sticks on a
+dog,' and God grant it may be no worse than them that this unlucky
+adventure has in store for us."
+
+Don Quixote rode completely dazed, unable with the aid of all his
+wits to make out what could be the meaning of these abusive names they
+called them, and the only conclusion he could arrive at was that there
+was no good to be hoped for and much evil to be feared. And now, about
+an hour after midnight, they reached a castle which Don Quixote saw at
+once was the duke's, where they had been but a short time before. "God
+bless me!" said he, as he recognised the mansion, "what does this
+mean? It is all courtesy and politeness in this house; but with the
+vanquished good turns into evil, and evil into worse."
+
+They entered the chief court of the castle and found it prepared and
+fitted up in a style that added to their amazement and doubled their
+fears, as will be seen in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIX
+
+OF THE STRANGEST AND MOST EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL DON
+QUIXOTE IN THE WHOLE COURSE OF THIS GREAT HISTORY
+
+
+The horsemen dismounted, and, together with the men on foot, without
+a moment's delay taking up Sancho and Don Quixote bodily, they carried
+them into the court, all round which near a hundred torches fixed in
+sockets were burning, besides above five hundred lamps in the
+corridors, so that in spite of the night, which was somewhat dark, the
+want of daylight could not be perceived. In the middle of the court
+was a catafalque, raised about two yards above the ground and
+covered completely by an immense canopy of black velvet, and on the
+steps all round it white wax tapers burned in more than a hundred
+silver candlesticks. Upon the catafalque was seen the dead body of a
+damsel so lovely that by her beauty she made death itself look
+beautiful. She lay with her head resting upon a cushion of brocade and
+crowned with a garland of sweet-smelling flowers of divers sorts,
+her hands crossed upon her bosom, and between them a branch of
+yellow palm of victory. On one side of the court was erected a
+stage, where upon two chairs were seated two persons who from having
+crowns on their heads and sceptres in their hands appeared to be kings
+of some sort, whether real or mock ones. By the side of this stage,
+which was reached by steps, were two other chairs on which the men
+carrying the prisoners seated Don Quixote and Sancho, all in
+silence, and by signs giving them to understand that they too were
+to he silent; which, however, they would have been without any
+signs, for their amazement at all they saw held them tongue-tied.
+And now two persons of distinction, who were at once recognised by Don
+Quixote as his hosts the duke and duchess, ascended the stage attended
+by a numerous suite, and seated themselves on two gorgeous chairs
+close to the two kings, as they seemed to be. Who would not have
+been amazed at this? Nor was this all, for Don Quixote had perceived
+that the dead body on the catafalque was that of the fair
+Altisidora. As the duke and duchess mounted the stage Don Quixote
+and Sancho rose and made them a profound obeisance, which they
+returned by bowing their heads slightly. At this moment an official
+crossed over, and approaching Sancho threw over him a robe of black
+buckram painted all over with flames of fire, and taking off his cap
+put upon his head a mitre such as those undergoing the sentence of the
+Holy Office wear; and whispered in his ear that he must not open his
+lips, or they would put a gag upon him, or take his life. Sancho
+surveyed himself from head to foot and saw himself all ablaze with
+flames; but as they did not burn him, he did not care two farthings
+for them. He took off the mitre and seeing painted with devils he
+put it on again, saying to himself, "Well, so far those don't burn
+me nor do these carry me off." Don Quixote surveyed him too, and
+though fear had got the better of his faculties, he could not help
+smiling to see the figure Sancho presented. And now from underneath
+the catafalque, so it seemed, there rose a low sweet sound of
+flutes, which, coming unbroken by human voice (for there silence
+itself kept silence), had a soft and languishing effect. Then,
+beside the pillow of what seemed to be the dead body, suddenly
+appeared a fair youth in a Roman habit, who, to the accompaniment of a
+harp which he himself played, sang in a sweet and clear voice these
+two stanzas:
+
+While fair Altisidora, who the sport
+  Of cold Don Quixote's cruelty hath been,
+Returns to life, and in this magic court
+  The dames in sables come to grace the scene,
+And while her matrons all in seemly sort
+  My lady robes in baize and bombazine,
+Her beauty and her sorrows will I sing
+With defter quill than touched the Thracian string.
+
+But not in life alone, methinks, to me
+  Belongs the office; Lady, when my tongue
+Is cold in death, believe me, unto thee
+  My voice shall raise its tributary song.
+My soul, from this strait prison-house set free,
+  As o'er the Stygian lake it floats along,
+Thy praises singing still shall hold its way,
+And make the waters of oblivion stay.
+
+At this point one of the two that looked like kings exclaimed,
+"Enough, enough, divine singer! It would be an endless task to put
+before us now the death and the charms of the peerless Altisidora, not
+dead as the ignorant world imagines, but living in the voice of fame
+and in the penance which Sancho Panza, here present, has to undergo to
+restore her to the long-lost light. Do thou, therefore, O
+Rhadamanthus, who sittest in judgment with me in the murky caverns
+of Dis, as thou knowest all that the inscrutable fates have decreed
+touching the resuscitation of this damsel, announce and declare it
+at once, that the happiness we look forward to from her restoration be
+no longer deferred."
+
+No sooner had Minos the fellow judge of Rhadamanthus said this, than
+Rhadamanthus rising up said:
+
+"Ho, officials of this house, high and low, great and small, make
+haste hither one and all, and print on Sancho's face four-and-twenty
+smacks, and give him twelve pinches and six pin thrusts in the back
+and arms; for upon this ceremony depends the restoration of
+Altisidora."
+
+On hearing this Sancho broke silence and cried out, "By all that's
+good, I'll as soon let my face be smacked or handled as turn Moor.
+Body o' me! What has handling my face got to do with the
+resurrection of this damsel? 'The old woman took kindly to the
+blits; they enchant Dulcinea, and whip me in order to disenchant
+her; Altisidora dies of ailments God was pleased to send her, and to
+bring her to life again they must give me four-and-twenty smacks,
+and prick holes in my body with pins, and raise weals on my arms
+with pinches! Try those jokes on a brother-in-law; 'I'm an old dog,
+and "tus, tus" is no use with me.'"
+
+"Thou shalt die," said Rhadamanthus in a loud voice; "relent, thou
+tiger; humble thyself, proud Nimrod; suffer and he silent, for no
+impossibilities are asked of thee; it is not for thee to inquire
+into the difficulties in this matter; smacked thou must be, pricked
+thou shalt see thyself, and with pinches thou must be made to howl.
+Ho, I say, officials, obey my orders; or by the word of an honest man,
+ye shall see what ye were born for."
+
+At this some six duennas, advancing across the court, made their
+appearance in procession, one after the other, four of them with
+spectacles, and all with their right hands uplifted, showing four
+fingers of wrist to make their hands look longer, as is the fashion
+now-a-days. No sooner had Sancho caught sight of them than,
+bellowing like a bull, he exclaimed, "I might let myself be handled by
+all the world; but allow duennas to touch me- not a bit of it! Scratch
+my face, as my master was served in this very castle; run me through
+the body with burnished daggers; pinch my arms with red-hot pincers;
+I'll bear all in patience to serve these gentlefolk; but I won't let
+duennas touch me, though the devil should carry me off!"
+
+Here Don Quixote, too, broke silence, saying to Sancho, "Have
+patience, my son, and gratify these noble persons, and give all thanks
+to heaven that it has infused such virtue into thy person, that by its
+sufferings thou canst disenchant the enchanted and restore to life the
+dead."
+
+The duennas were now close to Sancho, and he, having become more
+tractable and reasonable, settling himself well in his chair presented
+his face and beard to the first, who delivered him a smack very
+stoutly laid on, and then made him a low curtsey.
+
+"Less politeness and less paint, senora duenna," said Sancho; "by
+God your hands smell of vinegar-wash."
+
+In fine, all the duennas smacked him and several others of the
+household pinched him; but what he could not stand was being pricked
+by the pins; and so, apparently out of patience, he started up out
+of his chair, and seizing a lighted torch that stood near him fell
+upon the duennas and the whole set of his tormentors, exclaiming,
+"Begone, ye ministers of hell; I'm not made of brass not to feel
+such out-of-the-way tortures."
+
+At this instant Altisidora, who probably was tired of having been so
+long lying on her back, turned on her side; seeing which the
+bystanders cried out almost with one voice, "Altisidora is alive!
+Altisidora lives!"
+
+Rhadamanthus bade Sancho put away his wrath, as the object they
+had in view was now attained. When Don Quixote saw Altisidora move, he
+went on his knees to Sancho saying to him, "Now is the time, son of my
+bowels, not to call thee my squire, for thee to give thyself some of
+those lashes thou art bound to lay on for the disenchantment of
+Dulcinea. Now, I say, is the time when the virtue that is in thee is
+ripe, and endowed with efficacy to work the good that is looked for
+from thee."
+
+To which Sancho made answer, "That's trick upon trick, I think,
+and not honey upon pancakes; a nice thing it would be for a whipping
+to come now, on the top of pinches, smacks, and pin-proddings! You had
+better take a big stone and tie it round my neck, and pitch me into
+a well; I should not mind it much, if I'm to be always made the cow of
+the wedding for the cure of other people's ailments. Leave me alone;
+or else by God I'll fling the whole thing to the dogs, let come what
+may."
+
+Altisidora had by this time sat up on the catafalque, and as she did
+so the clarions sounded, accompanied by the flutes, and the voices
+of all present exclaiming, "Long life to Altisidora! long life to
+Altisidora!" The duke and duchess and the kings Minos and Rhadamanthus
+stood up, and all, together with Don Quixote and Sancho, advanced to
+receive her and take her down from the catafalque; and she, making
+as though she were recovering from a swoon, bowed her head to the duke
+and duchess and to the kings, and looking sideways at Don Quixote,
+said to him, "God forgive thee, insensible knight, for through thy
+cruelty I have been, to me it seems, more than a thousand years in the
+other world; and to thee, the most compassionate upon earth, I
+render thanks for the life I am now in possession of. From this day
+forth, friend Sancho, count as thine six smocks of mine which I bestow
+upon thee, to make as many shirts for thyself, and if they are not all
+quite whole, at any rate they are all clean."
+
+Sancho kissed her hands in gratitude, kneeling, and with the mitre
+in his hand. The duke bade them take it from him, and give him back
+his cap and doublet and remove the flaming robe. Sancho begged the
+duke to let them leave him the robe and mitre; as he wanted to take
+them home for a token and memento of that unexampled adventure. The
+duchess said they must leave them with him; for he knew already what a
+great friend of his she was. The duke then gave orders that the
+court should be cleared, and that all should retire to their chambers,
+and that Don Quixote and Sancho should be conducted to their old
+quarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXX
+
+WHICH FOLLOWS SIXTY-NINE AND DEALS WITH MATTERS INDISPENSABLE FOR
+THE CLEAR COMPREHENSION OF THIS HISTORY
+
+
+Sancho slept that night in a cot in the same chamber with Don
+Quixote, a thing he would have gladly excused if he could for he
+knew very well that with questions and answers his master would not
+let him sleep, and he was in no humour for talking much, as he still
+felt the pain of his late martyrdom, which interfered with his freedom
+of speech; and it would have been more to his taste to sleep in a
+hovel alone, than in that luxurious chamber in company. And so well
+founded did his apprehension prove, and so correct was his
+anticipation, that scarcely had his master got into bed when he
+said, "What dost thou think of tonight's adventure, Sancho? Great
+and mighty is the power of cold-hearted scorn, for thou with thine own
+eyes hast seen Altisidora slain, not by arrows, nor by the sword,
+nor by any warlike weapon, nor by deadly poisons, but by the thought
+of the sternness and scorn with which I have always treated her."
+
+"She might have died and welcome," said Sancho, "when she pleased
+and how she pleased; and she might have left me alone, for I never
+made her fall in love or scorned her. I don't know nor can I imagine
+how the recovery of Altisidora, a damsel more fanciful than wise,
+can have, as I have said before, anything to do with the sufferings of
+Sancho Panza. Now I begin to see plainly and clearly that there are
+enchanters and enchanted people in the world; and may God deliver me
+from them, since I can't deliver myself; and so I beg of your
+worship to let me sleep and not ask me any more questions, unless
+you want me to throw myself out of the window."
+
+"Sleep, Sancho my friend," said Don Quixote, "if the pinprodding and
+pinches thou hast received and the smacks administered to thee will
+let thee."
+
+"No pain came up to the insult of the smacks," said Sancho, "for the
+simple reason that it was duennas, confound them, that gave them to
+me; but once more I entreat your worship to let me sleep, for sleep is
+relief from misery to those who are miserable when awake."
+
+"Be it so, and God be with thee," said Don Quixote.
+
+They fell asleep, both of them, and Cide Hamete, the author of
+this great history, took this opportunity to record and relate what it
+was that induced the duke and duchess to get up the elaborate plot
+that has been described. The bachelor Samson Carrasco, he says, not
+forgetting how he as the Knight of the Mirrors had been vanquished and
+overthrown by Don Quixote, which defeat and overthrow upset all his
+plans, resolved to try his hand again, hoping for better luck than
+he had before; and so, having learned where Don Quixote was from the
+page who brought the letter and present to Sancho's wife, Teresa
+Panza, he got himself new armour and another horse, and put a white
+moon upon his shield, and to carry his arms he had a mule led by a
+peasant, not by Tom Cecial his former squire for fear he should be
+recognised by Sancho or Don Quixote. He came to the duke's castle, and
+the duke informed him of the road and route Don Quixote had taken with
+the intention of being present at the jousts at Saragossa. He told
+him, too, of the jokes he had practised upon him, and of the device
+for the disenchantment of Dulcinea at the expense of Sancho's
+backside; and finally he gave him an account of the trick Sancho had
+played upon his master, making him believe that Dulcinea was enchanted
+and turned into a country wench; and of how the duchess, his wife, had
+persuaded Sancho that it was he himself who was deceived, inasmuch
+as Dulcinea was really enchanted; at which the bachelor laughed not
+a little, and marvelled as well at the sharpness and simplicity of
+Sancho as at the length to which Don Quixote's madness went. The
+duke begged of him if he found him (whether he overcame him or not) to
+return that way and let him know the result. This the bachelor did; he
+set out in quest of Don Quixote, and not finding him at Saragossa,
+he went on, and how he fared has been already told. He returned to the
+duke's castle and told him all, what the conditions of the combat
+were, and how Don Quixote was now, like a loyal knight-errant,
+returning to keep his promise of retiring to his village for a year,
+by which time, said the bachelor, he might perhaps be cured of his
+madness; for that was the object that had led him to adopt these
+disguises, as it was a sad thing for a gentleman of such good parts as
+Don Quixote to be a madman. And so he took his leave of the duke,
+and went home to his village to wait there for Don Quixote, who was
+coming after him. Thereupon the duke seized the opportunity of
+practising this mystification upon him; so much did he enjoy
+everything connected with Sancho and Don Quixote. He had the roads
+about the castle far and near, everywhere he thought Don Quixote was
+likely to pass on his return, occupied by large numbers of his
+servants on foot and on horseback, who were to bring him to the
+castle, by fair means or foul, if they met him. They did meet him, and
+sent word to the duke, who, having already settled what was to be
+done, as soon as he heard of his arrival, ordered the torches and
+lamps in the court to be lit and Altisidora to be placed on the
+catafalque with all the pomp and ceremony that has been described, the
+whole affair being so well arranged and acted that it differed but
+little from reality. And Cide Hamete says, moreover, that for his part
+he considers the concocters of the joke as crazy as the victims of it,
+and that the duke and duchess were not two fingers' breadth removed
+from being something like fools themselves when they took such pains
+to make game of a pair of fools.
+
+As for the latter, one was sleeping soundly and the other lying
+awake occupied with his desultory thoughts, when daylight came to them
+bringing with it the desire to rise; for the lazy down was never a
+delight to Don Quixote, victor or vanquished. Altisidora, come back
+from death to life as Don Quixote fancied, following up the freak of
+her lord and lady, entered the chamber, crowned with the garland she
+had worn on the catafalque and in a robe of white taffeta
+embroidered with gold flowers, her hair flowing loose over her
+shoulders, and leaning upon a staff of fine black ebony. Don
+Quixote, disconcerted and in confusion at her appearance, huddled
+himself up and well-nigh covered himself altogether with the sheets
+and counterpane of the bed, tongue-tied, and unable to offer her any
+civility. Altisidora seated herself on a chair at the head of the bed,
+and, after a deep sigh, said to him in a feeble, soft voice, "When
+women of rank and modest maidens trample honour under foot, and give a
+loose to the tongue that breaks through every impediment, publishing
+abroad the inmost secrets of their hearts, they are reduced to sore
+extremities. Such a one am I, Senor Don Quixote of La Mancha, crushed,
+conquered, love-smitten, but yet patient under suffering and virtuous,
+and so much so that my heart broke with grief and I lost my life.
+For the last two days I have been dead, slain by the thought of the
+cruelty with which thou hast treated me, obdurate knight,
+
+O harder thou than marble to my plaint;
+
+or at least believed to be dead by all who saw me; and had it not been
+that Love, taking pity on me, let my recovery rest upon the sufferings
+of this good squire, there I should have remained in the other world."
+
+"Love might very well have let it rest upon the sufferings of my
+ass, and I should have been obliged to him," said Sancho. "But tell
+me, senora- and may heaven send you a tenderer lover than my master-
+what did you see in the other world? What goes on in hell? For of
+course that's where one who dies in despair is bound for."
+
+"To tell you the truth," said Altisidora, "I cannot have died
+outright, for I did not go into hell; had I gone in, it is very
+certain I should never have come out again, do what I might. The truth
+is, I came to the gate, where some dozen or so of devils were
+playing tennis, all in breeches and doublets, with falling collars
+trimmed with Flemish bonelace, and ruffles of the same that served
+them for wristbands, with four fingers' breadth of the arms exposed to
+make their hands look longer; in their hands they held rackets of
+fire; but what amazed me still more was that books, apparently full of
+wind and rubbish, served them for tennis balls, a strange and
+marvellous thing; this, however, did not astonish me so much as to
+observe that, although with players it is usual for the winners to
+be glad and the losers sorry, there in that game all were growling,
+all were snarling, and all were cursing one another." "That's no
+wonder," said Sancho; "for devils, whether playing or not, can never
+be content, win or lose."
+
+"Very likely," said Altisidora; "but there is another thing that
+surprises me too, I mean surprised me then, and that was that no
+ball outlasted the first throw or was of any use a second time; and it
+was wonderful the constant succession there was of books, new and old.
+To one of them, a brand-new, well-bound one, they gave such a stroke
+that they knocked the guts out of it and scattered the leaves about.
+'Look what book that is,' said one devil to another, and the other
+replied, 'It is the "Second Part of the History of Don Quixote of La
+Mancha," not by Cide Hamete, the original author, but by an
+Aragonese who by his own account is of Tordesillas.' 'Out of this with
+it,' said the first, 'and into the depths of hell with it out of my
+sight.' 'Is it so bad?' said the other. 'So bad is it,' said the
+first, 'that if I had set myself deliberately to make a worse, I could
+not have done it.' They then went on with their game, knocking other
+books about; and I, having heard them mention the name of Don
+Quixote whom I love and adore so, took care to retain this vision in
+my memory."
+
+"A vision it must have been, no doubt," said Don Quixote, "for there
+is no other I in the world; this history has been going about here for
+some time from hand to hand, but it does not stay long in any, for
+everybody gives it a taste of his foot. I am not disturbed by
+hearing that I am wandering in a fantastic shape in the darkness of
+the pit or in the daylight above, for I am not the one that history
+treats of. If it should be good, faithful, and true, it will have ages
+of life; but if it should be bad, from its birth to its burial will
+not be a very long journey."
+
+Altisidora was about to proceed with her complaint against Don
+Quixote, when he said to her, "I have several times told you, senora
+that it grieves me you should have set your affections upon me, as
+from mine they can only receive gratitude, but no return. I was born
+to belong to Dulcinea del Toboso, and the fates, if there are any,
+dedicated me to her; and to suppose that any other beauty can take the
+place she occupies in my heart is to suppose an impossibility. This
+frank declaration should suffice to make you retire within the
+bounds of your modesty, for no one can bind himself to do
+impossibilities."
+
+Hearing this, Altisidora, with a show of anger and agitation,
+exclaimed, "God's life! Don Stockfish, soul of a mortar, stone of a
+date, more obstinate and obdurate than a clown asked a favour when
+he has his mind made up, if I fall upon you I'll tear your eyes out!
+Do you fancy, Don Vanquished, Don Cudgelled, that I died for your
+sake? All that you have seen to-night has been make-believe; I'm not
+the woman to let the black of my nail suffer for such a camel, much
+less die!"
+
+"That I can well believe," said Sancho; "for all that about lovers
+pining to death is absurd; they may talk of it, but as for doing it-
+Judas may believe that!"
+
+While they were talking, the musician, singer, and poet, who had
+sung the two stanzas given above came in, and making a profound
+obeisance to Don Quixote said, "Will your worship, sir knight,
+reckon and retain me in the number of your most faithful servants, for
+I have long been a great admirer of yours, as well because of your
+fame as because of your achievements?" "Will your worship tell me
+who you are," replied Don Quixote, "so that my courtesy may be
+answerable to your deserts?" The young man replied that he was the
+musician and songster of the night before. "Of a truth," said Don
+Quixote, "your worship has a most excellent voice; but what you sang
+did not seem to me very much to the purpose; for what have
+Garcilasso's stanzas to do with the death of this lady?"
+
+"Don't be surprised at that," returned the musician; "for with the
+callow poets of our day the way is for every one to write as he
+pleases and pilfer where he chooses, whether it be germane to the
+matter or not, and now-a-days there is no piece of silliness they
+can sing or write that is not set down to poetic licence."
+
+Don Quixote was about to reply, but was prevented by the duke and
+duchess, who came in to see him, and with them there followed a long
+and delightful conversation, in the course of which Sancho said so
+many droll and saucy things that he left the duke and duchess
+wondering not only at his simplicity but at his sharpness. Don Quixote
+begged their permission to take his departure that same day,
+inasmuch as for a vanquished knight like himself it was fitter he
+should live in a pig-sty than in a royal palace. They gave it very
+readily, and the duchess asked him if Altisidora was in his good
+graces.
+
+He replied, "Senora, let me tell your ladyship that this damsel's
+ailment comes entirely of idleness, and the cure for it is honest
+and constant employment. She herself has told me that lace is worn
+in hell; and as she must know how to make it, let it never be out of
+her hands; for when she is occupied in shifting the bobbins to and
+fro, the image or images of what she loves will not shift to and fro
+in her thoughts; this is the truth, this is my opinion, and this is my
+advice."
+
+"And mine," added Sancho; "for I never in all my life saw a
+lace-maker that died for love; when damsels are at work their minds
+are more set on finishing their tasks than on thinking of their loves.
+I speak from my own experience; for when I'm digging I never think
+of my old woman; I mean my Teresa Panza, whom I love better than my
+own eyelids." "You say well, Sancho," said the duchess, "and I will
+take care that my Altisidora employs herself henceforward in
+needlework of some sort; for she is extremely expert at it." "There is
+no occasion to have recourse to that remedy, senora," said Altisidora;
+"for the mere thought of the cruelty with which this vagabond
+villain has treated me will suffice to blot him out of my memory
+without any other device; with your highness's leave I will retire,
+not to have before my eyes, I won't say his rueful countenance, but
+his abominable, ugly looks." "That reminds me of the common saying,
+that 'he that rails is ready to forgive,'" said the duke.
+
+Altisidora then, pretending to wipe away her tears with a
+handkerchief, made an obeisance to her master and mistress and quitted
+the room.
+
+"Ill luck betide thee, poor damsel," said Sancho, "ill luck betide
+thee! Thou hast fallen in with a soul as dry as a rush and a heart
+as hard as oak; had it been me, i'faith 'another cock would have
+crowed to thee.'"
+
+So the conversation came to an end, and Don Quixote dressed
+himself and dined with the duke and duchess, and set out the same
+evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXI
+
+OF WHAT PASSED BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE AND HIS SQUIRE SANCHO ON THE
+WAY TO THEIR VILLAGE
+
+The vanquished and afflicted Don Quixote went along very downcast in
+one respect and very happy in another. His sadness arose from his
+defeat, and his satisfaction from the thought of the virtue that lay
+in Sancho, as had been proved by the resurrection of Altisidora;
+though it was with difficulty he could persuade himself that the
+love-smitten damsel had been really dead. Sancho went along anything
+but cheerful, for it grieved him that Altisidora had not kept her
+promise of giving him the smocks; and turning this over in his mind he
+said to his master, "Surely, senor, I'm the most unlucky doctor in the
+world; there's many a physician that, after killing the sick man he
+had to cure, requires to be paid for his work, though it is only
+signing a bit of a list of medicines, that the apothecary and not he
+makes up, and, there, his labour is over; but with me though to cure
+somebody else costs me drops of blood, smacks, pinches,
+pinproddings, and whippings, nobody gives me a farthing. Well, I swear
+by all that's good if they put another patient into my hands,
+they'll have to grease them for me before I cure him; for, as they
+say, 'it's by his singing the abbot gets his dinner,' and I'm not
+going to believe that heaven has bestowed upon me the virtue I have,
+that I should be dealing it out to others all for nothing."
+
+"Thou art right, Sancho my friend," said Don Quixote, "and
+Altisidora has behaved very badly in not giving thee the smocks she
+promised; and although that virtue of thine is gratis data- as it
+has cost thee no study whatever, any more than such study as thy
+personal sufferings may be- I can say for myself that if thou
+wouldst have payment for the lashes on account of the disenchant of
+Dulcinea, I would have given it to thee freely ere this. I am not
+sure, however, whether payment will comport with the cure, and I would
+not have the reward interfere with the medicine. I think there will be
+nothing lost by trying it; consider how much thou wouldst have,
+Sancho, and whip thyself at once, and pay thyself down with thine
+own hand, as thou hast money of mine."
+
+At this proposal Sancho opened his eyes and his ears a palm's
+breadth wide, and in his heart very readily acquiesced in whipping
+himself, and said he to his master, "Very well then, senor, I'll
+hold myself in readiness to gratify your worship's wishes if I'm to
+profit by it; for the love of my wife and children forces me to seem
+grasping. Let your worship say how much you will pay me for each
+lash I give myself."
+
+"If Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "I were to requite thee as the
+importance and nature of the cure deserves, the treasures of Venice,
+the mines of Potosi, would be insufficient to pay thee. See what
+thou hast of mine, and put a price on each lash."
+
+"Of them," said Sancho, "there are three thousand three hundred
+and odd; of these I have given myself five, the rest remain; let the
+five go for the odd ones, and let us take the three thousand three
+hundred, which at a quarter real apiece (for I will not take less
+though the whole world should bid me) make three thousand three
+hundred quarter reals; the three thousand are one thousand five
+hundred half reals, which make seven hundred and fifty reals; and
+the three hundred make a hundred and fifty half reals, which come to
+seventy-five reals, which added to the seven hundred and fifty make
+eight hundred and twenty-five reals in all. These I will stop out of
+what I have belonging to your worship, and I'll return home rich and
+content, though well whipped, for 'there's no taking trout'- but I say
+no more."
+
+"O blessed Sancho! O dear Sancho!" said Don Quixote; "how we shall
+be bound to serve thee, Dulcinea and I, all the days of our lives that
+heaven may grant us! If she returns to her lost shape (and it cannot
+be but that she will) her misfortune will have been good fortune,
+and my defeat a most happy triumph. But look here, Sancho; when wilt
+thou begin the scourging? For if thou wilt make short work of it, I
+will give thee a hundred reals over and above."
+
+"When?" said Sancho; "this night without fail. Let your worship
+order it so that we pass it out of doors and in the open air, and I'll
+scarify myself."
+
+Night, longed for by Don Quixote with the greatest anxiety in the
+world, came at last, though it seemed to him that the wheels of
+Apollo's car had broken down, and that the day was drawing itself
+out longer than usual, just as is the case with lovers, who never make
+the reckoning of their desires agree with time. They made their way at
+length in among some pleasant trees that stood a little distance
+from the road, and there vacating Rocinante's saddle and Dapple's
+pack-saddle, they stretched themselves on the green grass and made
+their supper off Sancho's stores, and he making a powerful and
+flexible whip out of Dapple's halter and headstall retreated about
+twenty paces from his master among some beech trees. Don Quixote
+seeing him march off with such resolution and spirit, said to him,
+"Take care, my friend, not to cut thyself to pieces; allow the
+lashes to wait for one another, and do not be in so great a hurry as
+to run thyself out of breath midway; I mean, do not lay on so
+strenuously as to make thy life fail thee before thou hast reached the
+desired number; and that thou mayest not lose by a card too much or
+too little, I will station myself apart and count on my rosary here
+the lashes thou givest thyself. May heaven help thee as thy good
+intention deserves."
+
+"'Pledges don't distress a good payer,'" said Sancho; "I mean to lay
+on in such a way as without killing myself to hurt myself, for in
+that, no doubt, lies the essence of this miracle."
+
+He then stripped himself from the waist upwards, and snatching up
+the rope he began to lay on and Don Quixote to count the lashes. He
+might have given himself six or eight when he began to think the
+joke no trifle, and its price very low; and holding his hand for a
+moment, he told his master that he cried off on the score of a blind
+bargain, for each of those lashes ought to be paid for at the rate
+of half a real instead of a quarter.
+
+"Go on, Sancho my friend, and be not disheartened," said Don
+Quixote; "for I double the stakes as to price."
+
+"In that case," said Sancho, "in God's hand be it, and let it rain
+lashes." But the rogue no longer laid them on his shoulders, but
+laid on to the trees, with such groans every now and then, that one
+would have thought at each of them his soul was being plucked up by
+the roots. Don Quixote, touched to the heart, and fearing he might
+make an end of himself, and that through Sancho's imprudence he
+might miss his own object, said to him, "As thou livest, my friend,
+let the matter rest where it is, for the remedy seems to me a very
+rough one, and it will he well to have patience; 'Zamora was not won
+in an hour.' If I have not reckoned wrong thou hast given thyself over
+a thousand lashes; that is enough for the present; 'for the ass,' to
+put it in homely phrase, 'bears the load, but not the overload.'"
+
+"No, no, senor," replied Sancho; "it shall never be said of me, 'The
+money paid, the arms broken;' go back a little further, your
+worship, and let me give myself at any rate a thousand lashes more;
+for in a couple of bouts like this we shall have finished off the lot,
+and there will be even cloth to spare."
+
+"As thou art in such a willing mood," said Don Quixote, "may
+heaven aid thee; lay on and I'll retire."
+
+Sancho returned to his task with so much resolution that he soon had
+the bark stripped off several trees, such was the severity with
+which he whipped himself; and one time, raising his voice, and
+giving a beech a tremendous lash, he cried out, "Here dies Samson, and
+all with him!"
+
+At the sound of his piteous cry and of the stroke of the cruel lash,
+Don Quixote ran to him at once, and seizing the twisted halter that
+served him for a courbash, said to him, "Heaven forbid, Sancho my
+friend, that to please me thou shouldst lose thy life, which is needed
+for the support of thy wife and children; let Dulcinea wait for a
+better opportunity, and I will content myself with a hope soon to be
+realised, and have patience until thou hast gained fresh strength so
+as to finish off this business to the satisfaction of everybody."
+
+"As your worship will have it so, senor," said Sancho, "so be it;
+but throw your cloak over my shoulders, for I'm sweating and I don't
+want to take cold; it's a risk that novice disciplinants run."
+
+Don Quixote obeyed, and stripping himself covered Sancho, who
+slept until the sun woke him; they then resumed their journey, which
+for the time being they brought to an end at a village that lay
+three leagues farther on. They dismounted at a hostelry which Don
+Quixote recognised as such and did not take to be a castle with
+moat, turrets, portcullis, and drawbridge; for ever since he had
+been vanquished he talked more rationally about everything, as will be
+shown presently. They quartered him in a room on the ground floor,
+where in place of leather hangings there were pieces of painted
+serge such as they commonly use in villages. On one of them was
+painted by some very poor hand the Rape of Helen, when the bold
+guest carried her off from Menelaus, and on the other was the story of
+Dido and AEneas, she on a high tower, as though she were making
+signals with a half sheet to her fugitive guest who was out at sea
+flying in a frigate or brigantine. He noticed in the two stories
+that Helen did not go very reluctantly, for she was laughing slyly and
+roguishly; but the fair Dido was shown dropping tears the size of
+walnuts from her eyes. Don Quixote as he looked at them observed,
+"Those two ladies were very unfortunate not to have been born in
+this age, and I unfortunate above all men not to have been born in
+theirs. Had I fallen in with those gentlemen, Troy would not have been
+burned or Carthage destroyed, for it would have been only for me to
+slay Paris, and all these misfortunes would have been avoided."
+
+"I'll lay a bet," said Sancho, "that before long there won't be a
+tavern, roadside inn, hostelry, or barber's shop where the story of
+our doings won't be painted up; but I'd like it painted by the hand of
+a better painter than painted these."
+
+"Thou art right, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "for this painter is
+like Orbaneja, a painter there was at Ubeda, who when they asked him
+what he was painting, used to say, 'Whatever it may turn out; and if
+he chanced to paint a cock he would write under it, 'This is a
+cock,' for fear they might think it was a fox. The painter or
+writer, for it's all the same, who published the history of this new
+Don Quixote that has come out, must have been one of this sort I
+think, Sancho, for he painted or wrote 'whatever it might turn out;'
+or perhaps he is like a poet called Mauleon that was about the Court
+some years ago, who used to answer at haphazard whatever he was asked,
+and on one asking him what Deum de Deo meant, he replied De donde
+diere. But, putting this aside, tell me, Sancho, hast thou a mind to
+have another turn at thyself to-night, and wouldst thou rather have it
+indoors or in the open air?"
+
+"Egad, senor," said Sancho, "for what I'm going to give myself, it
+comes all the same to me whether it is in a house or in the fields;
+still I'd like it to be among trees; for I think they are company
+for me and help me to bear my pain wonderfully."
+
+"And yet it must not be, Sancho my friend," said Don Quixote;
+"but, to enable thee to recover strength, we must keep it for our
+own village; for at the latest we shall get there the day after
+tomorrow."
+
+Sancho said he might do as he pleased; but that for his own part
+he would like to finish off the business quickly before his blood
+cooled and while he had an appetite, because "in delay there is apt to
+be danger" very often, and "praying to God and plying the hammer," and
+"one take was better than two I'll give thee's," and "a sparrow in the
+hand than a vulture on the wing."
+
+"For God's sake, Sancho, no more proverbs!" exclaimed Don Quixote;
+"it seems to me thou art becoming sicut erat again; speak in a
+plain, simple, straight-forward way, as I have often told thee, and
+thou wilt find the good of it."
+
+"I don't know what bad luck it is of mine," argument to my mind;
+however, I mean to mend said Sancho, "but I can't utter a word without
+a proverb that is not as good as an argument to my mind; however, I
+mean to mend if I can;" and so for the present the conversation ended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXII
+
+OF HOW DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO REACHED THEIR VILLAGE
+
+
+All that day Don Quixote and Sancho remained in the village and
+inn waiting for night, the one to finish off his task of scourging
+in the open country, the other to see it accomplished, for therein lay
+the accomplishment of his wishes. Meanwhile there arrived at the
+hostelry a traveller on horseback with three or four servants, one
+of whom said to him who appeared to be the master, "Here, Senor Don
+Alvaro Tarfe, your worship may take your siesta to-day; the quarters
+seem clean and cool."
+
+When he heard this Don Quixote said to Sancho, "Look here, Sancho;
+on turning over the leaves of that book of the Second Part of my
+history I think I came casually upon this name of Don Alvaro Tarfe."
+
+"Very likely," said Sancho; "we had better let him dismount, and
+by-and-by we can ask about it."
+
+The gentleman dismounted, and the landlady gave him a room on the
+ground floor opposite Don Quixote's and adorned with painted serge
+hangings of the same sort. The newly arrived gentleman put on a summer
+coat, and coming out to the gateway of the hostelry, which was wide
+and cool, addressing Don Quixote, who was pacing up and down there, he
+asked, "In what direction your worship bound, gentle sir?"
+
+"To a village near this which is my own village," replied Don
+Quixote; "and your worship, where are you bound for?"
+
+"I am going to Granada, senor," said the gentleman, "to my own
+country."
+
+"And a goodly country," said Don Quixote; "but will your worship
+do me the favour of telling me your name, for it strikes me it is of
+more importance to me to know it than I can tell you."
+
+"My name is Don Alvaro Tarfe," replied the traveller.
+
+To which Don Quixote returned, "I have no doubt whatever that your
+worship is that Don Alvaro Tarfe who appears in print in the Second
+Part of the history of Don Quixote of La Mancha, lately printed and
+published by a new author."
+
+"I am the same," replied the gentleman; "and that same Don
+Quixote, the principal personage in the said history, was a very great
+friend of mine, and it was I who took him away from home, or at
+least induced him to come to some jousts that were to be held at
+Saragossa, whither I was going myself; indeed, I showed him many
+kindnesses, and saved him from having his shoulders touched up by
+the executioner because of his extreme rashness."
+
+Tell me, Senor Don Alvaro," said Don Quixote, "am I at all like that
+Don Quixote you talk of?"
+
+"No indeed," replied the traveller, "not a bit."
+
+"And that Don Quixote-" said our one, "had he with him a squire
+called Sancho Panza?"
+
+"He had," said Don Alvaro; "but though he had the name of being very
+droll, I never heard him say anything that had any drollery in it."
+
+"That I can well believe," said Sancho at this, "for to come out
+with drolleries is not in everybody's line; and that Sancho your
+worship speaks of, gentle sir, must be some great scoundrel,
+dunderhead, and thief, all in one; for I am the real Sancho Panza, and
+I have more drolleries than if it rained them; let your worship only
+try; come along with me for a year or so, and you will find they
+fall from me at every turn, and so rich and so plentiful that though
+mostly I don't know what I am saying I make everybody that hears me
+laugh. And the real Don Quixote of La Mancha, the famous, the valiant,
+the wise, the lover, the righter of wrongs, the guardian of minors and
+orphans, the protector of widows, the killer of damsels, he who has
+for his sole mistress the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, is this
+gentleman before you, my master; all other Don Quixotes and all
+other Sancho Panzas are dreams and mockeries."
+
+"By God I believe it," said Don Alvaro; "for you have uttered more
+drolleries, my friend, in the few words you have spoken than the other
+Sancho Panza in all I ever heard from him, and they were not a few. He
+was more greedy than well-spoken, and more dull than droll; and I am
+convinced that the enchanters who persecute Don Quixote the Good
+have been trying to persecute me with Don Quixote the Bad. But I don't
+know what to say, for I am ready to swear I left him shut up in the
+Casa del Nuncio at Toledo, and here another Don Quixote turns up,
+though a very different one from mine."
+
+"I don't know whether I am good," said Don Quixote, "but I can
+safely say I am not 'the Bad;' and to prove it, let me tell you, Senor
+Don Alvaro Tarfe, I have never in my life been in Saragossa; so far
+from that, when it was told me that this imaginary Don Quixote had
+been present at the jousts in that city, I declined to enter it, in
+order to drag his falsehood before the face of the world; and so I
+went on straight to Barcelona, the treasure-house of courtesy, haven
+of strangers, asylum of the poor, home of the valiant, champion of the
+wronged, pleasant exchange of firm friendships, and city unrivalled in
+site and beauty. And though the adventures that befell me there are
+not by any means matters of enjoyment, but rather of regret, I do
+not regret them, simply because I have seen it. In a word, Senor Don
+Alvaro Tarfe, I am Don Quixote of La Mancha, the one that fame
+speaks of, and not the unlucky one that has attempted to usurp my name
+and deck himself out in my ideas. I entreat your worship by your
+devoir as a gentleman to be so good as to make a declaration before
+the alcalde of this village that you never in all your life saw me
+until now, and that neither am I the Don Quixote in print in the
+Second Part, nor this Sancho Panza, my squire, the one your worship
+knew."
+
+"That I will do most willingly," replied Don Alvaro; "though it
+amazes me to find two Don Quixotes and two Sancho Panzas at once, as
+much alike in name as they differ in demeanour; and again I say and
+declare that what I saw I cannot have seen, and that what happened
+me cannot have happened."
+
+"No doubt your worship is enchanted, like my lady Dulcinea del
+Toboso," said Sancho; "and would to heaven your disenchantment
+rested on my giving myself another three thousand and odd lashes
+like what I'm giving myself for her, for I'd lay them on without
+looking for anything."
+
+"I don't understand that about the lashes," said Don Alvaro.
+Sancho replied that it was a long story to tell, but he would tell him
+if they happened to he going the same road.
+
+By this dinner-time arrived, and Don Quixote and Don Alvaro dined
+together. The alcalde of the village came by chance into the inn
+together with a notary, and Don Quixote laid a petition before him,
+showing that it was requisite for his rights that Don Alvaro Tarfe,
+the gentleman there present, should make a declaration before him that
+he did not know Don Quixote of La Mancha, also there present, and that
+he was not the one that was in print in a history entitled "Second
+Part of Don Quixote of La Mancha, by one Avellaneda of Tordesillas."
+The alcalde finally put it in legal form, and the declaration was made
+with all the formalities required in such cases, at which Don
+Quixote and Sancho were in high delight, as if a declaration of the
+sort was of any great importance to them, and as if their words and
+deeds did not plainly show the difference between the two Don Quixotes
+and the two Sanchos. Many civilities and offers of service were
+exchanged by Don Alvaro and Don Quixote, in the course of which the
+great Manchegan displayed such good taste that he disabused Don Alvaro
+of the error he was under; and he, on his part, felt convinced he must
+have been enchanted, now that he had been brought in contact with
+two such opposite Don Quixotes.
+
+Evening came, they set out from the village, and after about half
+a league two roads branched off, one leading to Don Quixote's village,
+the other the road Don Alvaro was to follow. In this short interval
+Don Quixote told him of his unfortunate defeat, and of Dulcinea's
+enchantment and the remedy, all which threw Don Alvaro into fresh
+amazement, and embracing Don Quixote and Sancho he went his way, and
+Don Quixote went his. That night he passed among trees again in
+order to give Sancho an opportunity of working out his penance,
+which he did in the same fashion as the night before, at the expense
+of the bark of the beech trees much more than of his back, of which he
+took such good care that the lashes would not have knocked off a fly
+had there been one there. The duped Don Quixote did not miss a
+single stroke of the count, and he found that together with those of
+the night before they made up three thousand and twenty-nine. The
+sun apparently had got up early to witness the sacrifice, and with his
+light they resumed their journey, discussing the deception practised
+on Don Alvaro, and saying how well done it was to have taken his
+declaration before a magistrate in such an unimpeachable form. That
+day and night they travelled on, nor did anything worth mention happen
+them, unless it was that in the course of the night Sancho finished
+off his task, whereat Don Quixote was beyond measure joyful. He
+watched for daylight, to see if along the road he should fall in
+with his already disenchanted lady Dulcinea; and as he pursued his
+journey there was no woman he met that he did not go up to, to see
+if she was Dulcinea del Toboso, as he held it absolutely certain
+that Merlin's promises could not lie. Full of these thoughts and
+anxieties, they ascended a rising ground wherefrom they descried their
+own village, at the sight of which Sancho fell on his knees
+exclaiming, "Open thine eyes, longed-for home, and see how thy son
+Sancho Panza comes back to thee, if not very rich, very well
+whipped! Open thine arms and receive, too, thy son Don Quixote, who,
+if he comes vanquishe by the arm of another, comes victor over
+himself, which, as he himself has told me, is the greatest victory
+anyone can desire. I'm bringing back money, for if I was well whipped,
+I went mounted like a gentleman."
+
+"Have done with these fooleries," said Don Quixote; "let us push
+on straight and get to our own place, where we will give free range to
+our fancies, and settle our plans for our future pastoral life."
+
+With this they descended the slope and directed their steps to their
+village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIII
+
+OF THE OMENS DON QUIXOTE HAD AS HE ENTERED HIS OWN VILLAGE, AND
+OTHER INCIDENTS THAT EMBELLISH AND GIVE A COLOUR TO THIS GREAT HISTORY
+
+At the entrance of the village, so says Cide Hamete, Don Quixote saw
+two boys quarrelling on the village threshing-floor one of whom said
+to the other, "Take it easy, Periquillo; thou shalt never see it again
+as long as thou livest."
+
+Don Quixote heard this, and said he to Sancho, "Dost thou not
+mark, friend, what that boy said, 'Thou shalt never see it again as
+long as thou livest'?"
+
+"Well," said Sancho, "what does it matter if the boy said so?"
+
+"What!" said Don Quixote, "dost thou not see that, applied to the
+object of my desires, the words mean that I am never to see Dulcinea
+more?"
+
+Sancho was about to answer, when his attention was diverted by
+seeing a hare come flying across the plain pursued by several
+greyhounds and sportsmen. In its terror it ran to take shelter and
+hide itself under Dapple. Sancho caught it alive and presented it to
+Don Quixote, who was saying, "Malum signum, malum signum! a hare
+flies, greyhounds chase it, Dulcinea appears not."
+
+"Your worship's a strange man," said Sancho; "let's take it for
+granted that this hare is Dulcinea, and these greyhounds chasing it
+the malignant enchanters who turned her into a country wench; she
+flies, and I catch her and put her into your worship's hands, and
+you hold her in your arms and cherish her; what bad sign is that, or
+what ill omen is there to be found here?"
+
+The two boys who had been quarrelling came over to look at the hare,
+and Sancho asked one of them what their quarrel was about. He was
+answered by the one who had said, "Thou shalt never see it again as
+long as thou livest," that he had taken a cage full of crickets from
+the other boy, and did not mean to give it back to him as long as he
+lived. Sancho took out four cuartos from his pocket and gave them to
+the boy for the cage, which he placed in Don Quixote's hands,
+saying, "There, senor! there are the omens broken and destroyed, and
+they have no more to do with our affairs, to my thinking, fool as I
+am, than with last year's clouds; and if I remember rightly I have
+heard the curate of our village say that it does not become Christians
+or sensible people to give any heed to these silly things; and even
+you yourself said the same to me some time ago, telling me that all
+Christians who minded omens were fools; but there's no need of
+making words about it; let us push on and go into our village."
+
+The sportsmen came up and asked for their hare, which Don Quixote
+gave them. They then went on, and upon the green at the entrance of
+the town they came upon the curate and the bachelor Samson Carrasco
+busy with their breviaries. It should be mentioned that Sancho had
+thrown, by way of a sumpter-cloth, over Dapple and over the bundle
+of armour, the buckram robe painted with flames which they had put
+upon him at the duke's castle the night Altisidora came back to
+life. He had also fixed the mitre on Dapple's head, the oddest
+transformation and decoration that ever ass in the world underwent.
+They were at once recognised by both the curate and the bachelor,
+who came towards them with open arms. Don Quixote dismounted and
+received them with a close embrace; and the boys, who are lynxes
+that nothing escapes, spied out the ass's mitre and came running to
+see it, calling out to one another, "Come here, boys, and see Sancho
+Panza's ass figged out finer than Mingo, and Don Quixote's beast
+leaner than ever."
+
+So at length, with the boys capering round them, and accompanied
+by the curate and the bachelor, they made their entrance into the
+town, and proceeded to Don Quixote's house, at the door of which
+they found his housekeeper and niece, whom the news of his arrival had
+already reached. It had been brought to Teresa Panza, Sancho's wife,
+as well, and she with her hair all loose and half naked, dragging
+Sanchica her daughter by the hand, ran out to meet her husband; but
+seeing him coming in by no means as good case as she thought a
+governor ought to be, she said to him, "How is it you come this way,
+husband? It seems to me you come tramping and footsore, and looking
+more like a disorderly vagabond than a governor."
+
+"Hold your tongue, Teresa," said Sancho; "often 'where there are
+pegs there are no flitches;' let's go into the house and there
+you'll hear strange things. I bring money, and that's the main
+thing, got by my own industry without wronging anybody."
+
+"You bring the money, my good husband," said Teresa, "and no
+matter whether it was got this way or that; for, however you may
+have got it, you'll not have brought any new practice into the world."
+
+Sanchica embraced her father and asked him if he brought her
+anything, for she had been looking out for him as for the showers of
+May; and she taking hold of him by the girdle on one side, and his
+wife by the hand, while the daughter led Dapple, they made for their
+house, leaving Don Quixote in his, in the hands of his niece and
+housekeeper, and in the company of the curate and the bachelor.
+
+Don Quixote at once, without any regard to time or season,
+withdrew in private with the bachelor and the curate, and in a few
+words told them of his defeat, and of the engagement he was under
+not to quit his village for a year, which he meant to keep to the
+letter without departing a hair's breadth from it, as became a
+knight-errant bound by scrupulous good faith and the laws of
+knight-errantry; and of how he thought of turning shepherd for that
+year, and taking his diversion in the solitude of the fields, where he
+could with perfect freedom give range to his thoughts of love while he
+followed the virtuous pastoral calling; and he besought them, if
+they had not a great deal to do and were not prevented by more
+important business, to consent to be his companions, for he would
+buy sheep enough to qualify them for shepherds; and the most important
+point of the whole affair, he could tell them, was settled, for he had
+given them names that would fit them to a T. The curate asked what
+they were. Don Quixote replied that he himself was to be called the
+shepherd Quixotize and the bachelor the shepherd Carrascon, and the
+curate the shepherd Curambro, and Sancho Panza the shepherd Pancino.
+
+Both were astounded at Don Quixote's new craze; however, lest he
+should once more make off out of the village from them in pursuit of
+his chivalry, they trusting that in the course of the year he might be
+cured, fell in with his new project, applauded his crazy idea as a
+bright one, and offered to share the life with him. "And what's more,"
+said Samson Carrasco, "I am, as all the world knows, a very famous
+poet, and I'll be always making verses, pastoral, or courtly, or as it
+may come into my head, to pass away our time in those secluded regions
+where we shall be roaming. But what is most needful, sirs, is that
+each of us should choose the name of the shepherdess he means to
+glorify in his verses, and that we should not leave a tree, be it ever
+so hard, without writing up and carving her name on it, as is the
+habit and custom of love-smitten shepherds."
+
+"That's the very thing," said Don Quixote; "though I am relieved
+from looking for the name of an imaginary shepherdess, for there's the
+peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, the glory of these brooksides, the
+ornament of these meadows, the mainstay of beauty, the cream of all
+the graces, and, in a word, the being to whom all praise is
+appropriate, be it ever so hyperbolical."
+
+"Very true," said the curate; "but we the others must look about for
+accommodating shepherdesses that will answer our purpose one way or
+another."
+
+"And," added Samson Carrasco, "if they fail us, we can call them
+by the names of the ones in print that the world is filled with,
+Filidas, Amarilises, Dianas, Fleridas, Galateas, Belisardas; for as
+they sell them in the market-places we may fairly buy them and make
+them our own. If my lady, or I should say my shepherdess, happens to
+be called Ana, I'll sing her praises under the name of Anarda, and
+if Francisca, I'll call her Francenia, and if Lucia, Lucinda, for it
+all comes to the same thing; and Sancho Panza, if he joins this
+fraternity, may glorify his wife Teresa Panza as Teresaina."
+
+Don Quixote laughed at the adaptation of the name, and the curate
+bestowed vast praise upon the worthy and honourable resolution he
+had made, and again offered to bear him company all the time that he
+could spare from his imperative duties. And so they took their leave
+of him, recommending and beseeching him to take care of his health and
+treat himself to a suitable diet.
+
+It so happened his niece and the housekeeper overheard all the three
+of them said; and as soon as they were gone they both of them came
+in to Don Quixote, and said the niece, "What's this, uncle? Now that
+we were thinking you had come back to stay at home and lead a quiet
+respectable life there, are you going to get into fresh entanglements,
+and turn 'young shepherd, thou that comest here, young shepherd
+going there?' Nay! indeed 'the straw is too hard now to make pipes
+of.'"
+
+"And," added the housekeeper, "will your worship be able to bear,
+out in the fields, the heats of summer, and the chills of winter,
+and the howling of the wolves? Not you; for that's a life and a
+business for hardy men, bred and seasoned to such work almost from the
+time they were in swaddling-clothes. Why, to make choice of evils,
+it's better to be a knight-errant than a shepherd! Look here, senor;
+take my advice- and I'm not giving it to you full of bread and wine,
+but fasting, and with fifty years upon my head- stay at home, look
+after your affairs, go often to confession, be good to the poor, and
+upon my soul be it if any evil comes to you."
+
+"Hold your peace, my daughters," said Don Quixote; "I know very well
+what my duty is; help me to bed, for I don't feel very well; and
+rest assured that, knight-errant now or wandering shepherd to be, I
+shall never fail to have a care for your interests, as you will see in
+the end." And the good wenches (for that they undoubtedly were), the
+housekeeper and niece, helped him to bed, where they gave him
+something to eat and made him as comfortable as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIV
+
+OF HOW DON QUIXOTE FELL SICK, AND OF THE WILL HE MADE, AND HOW HE DIED
+
+As nothing that is man's can last for ever, but all tends ever
+downwards from its beginning to its end, and above all man's life, and
+as Don Quixote's enjoyed no special dispensation from heaven to stay
+its course, its end and close came when he least looked for it. For-
+whether it was of the dejection the thought of his defeat produced, or
+of heaven's will that so ordered it- a fever settled upon him and kept
+him in his bed for six days, during which he was often visited by
+his friends the curate, the bachelor, and the barber, while his good
+squire Sancho Panza never quitted his bedside. They, persuaded that it
+was grief at finding himself vanquished, and the object of his
+heart, the liberation and disenchantment of Dulcinea, unattained, that
+kept him in this state, strove by all the means in their power to
+cheer him up; the bachelor bidding him take heart and get up to
+begin his pastoral life, for which he himself, he said, had already
+composed an eclogue that would take the shine out of all Sannazaro had
+ever written, and had bought with his own money two famous dogs to
+guard the flock, one called Barcino and the other Butron, which a
+herdsman of Quintanar had sold him.
+
+But for all this Don Quixote could not shake off his sadness. His
+friends called in the doctor, who felt his pulse and was not very well
+satisfied with it, and said that in any case it would be well for
+him to attend to the health of his soul, as that of his body was in
+a bad way. Don Quixote heard this calmly; but not so his
+housekeeper, his niece, and his squire, who fell weeping bitterly,
+as if they had him lying dead before them. The doctor's opinion was
+that melancholy and depression were bringing him to his end. Don
+Quixote begged them to leave him to himself, as he had a wish to sleep
+a little. They obeyed, and he slept at one stretch, as the saying
+is, more than six hours, so that the housekeeper and niece thought
+he was going to sleep for ever. But at the end of that time he woke
+up, and in a loud voice exclaimed, "Blessed be Almighty God, who has
+shown me such goodness. In truth his mercies are boundless, and the
+sins of men can neither limit them nor keep them back!"
+
+The niece listened with attention to her uncle's words, and they
+struck her as more coherent than what usually fell from him, at
+least during his illness, so she asked, "What are you saying, senor?
+Has anything strange occurred? What mercies or what sins of men are
+you talking of?"
+
+"The mercies, niece," said Don Quixote, "are those that God has this
+moment shown me, and with him, as I said, my sins are no impediment to
+them. My reason is now free and clear, rid of the dark shadows of
+ignorance that my unhappy constant study of those detestable books
+of chivalry cast over it. Now I see through their absurdities and
+deceptions, and it only grieves me that this destruction of my
+illusions has come so late that it leaves me no time to make some
+amends by reading other books that might be a light to my soul. Niece,
+I feel myself at the point of death, and I would fain meet it in
+such a way as to show that my life has not been so ill that I should
+leave behind me the name of a madman; for though I have been one, I
+would not that the fact should be made plainer at my death. Call in to
+me, my dear, my good friends the curate, the bachelor Samson Carrasco,
+and Master Nicholas the barber, for I wish to confess and make my
+will." But his niece was saved the trouble by the entrance of the
+three. The instant Don Quixote saw them he exclaimed, "Good news for
+you, good sirs, that I am no longer Don Quixote of La Mancha, but
+Alonso Quixano, whose way of life won for him the name of Good. Now am
+I the enemy of Amadis of Gaul and of the whole countless troop of
+his descendants; odious to me now are all the profane stories of
+knight-errantry; now I perceive my folly, and the peril into which
+reading them brought me; now, by God's mercy schooled into my right
+senses, I loathe them."
+
+When the three heard him speak in this way, they had no doubt
+whatever that some new craze had taken possession of him; and said
+Samson, "What? Senor Don Quixote! Now that we have intelligence of the
+lady Dulcinea being disenchanted, are you taking this line; now,
+just as we are on the point of becoming shepherds, to pass our lives
+singing, like princes, are you thinking of turning hermit? Hush, for
+heaven's sake, be rational and let's have no more nonsense."
+
+"All that nonsense," said Don Quixote, "that until now has been a
+reality to my hurt, my death will, with heaven's help, turn to my
+good. I feel, sirs, that I am rapidly drawing near death; a truce to
+jesting; let me have a confessor to confess me, and a notary to make
+my will; for in extremities like this, man must not trifle with his
+soul; and while the curate is confessing me let some one, I beg, go
+for the notary."
+
+They looked at one another, wondering at Don Quixote's words; but,
+though uncertain, they were inclined to believe him, and one of the
+signs by which they came to the conclusion he was dying was this so
+sudden and complete return to his senses after having been mad; for to
+the words already quoted he added much more, so well expressed, so
+devout, and so rational, as to banish all doubt and convince them that
+he was sound of mind. The curate turned them all out, and left alone
+with him confessed him. The bachelor went for the notary and
+returned shortly afterwards with him and with Sancho, who, having
+already learned from the bachelor the condition his master was in, and
+finding the housekeeper and niece weeping, began to blubber and shed
+tears.
+
+The confession over, the curate came out saying, "Alonso Quixano the
+Good is indeed dying, and is indeed in his right mind; we may now go
+in to him while he makes his will."
+
+This news gave a tremendous impulse to the brimming eyes of the
+housekeeper, niece, and Sancho Panza his good squire, making the tears
+burst from their eyes and a host of sighs from their hearts; for of
+a truth, as has been said more than once, whether as plain Alonso
+Quixano the Good, or as Don Quixote of La Mancha, Don Quixote was
+always of a gentle disposition and kindly in all his ways, and hence
+he was beloved, not only by those of his own house, but by all who
+knew him.
+
+The notary came in with the rest, and as soon as the preamble of the
+had been set out and Don Quixote had commended his soul to God with
+all the devout formalities that are usual, coming to the bequests,
+he said, "Item, it is my will that, touching certain moneys in the
+hands of Sancho Panza (whom in my madness I made my squire),
+inasmuch as between him and me there have been certain accounts and
+debits and credits, no claim be made against him, nor any account
+demanded of him in respect of them; but that if anything remain over
+and above, after he has paid himself what I owe him, the balance,
+which will be but little, shall be his, and much good may it do him;
+and if, as when I was mad I had a share in giving him the government
+of an island, so, now that I am in my senses, I could give him that of
+a kingdom, it should be his, for the simplicity of his character and
+the fidelity of his conduct deserve it." And then, turning to
+Sancho, he said, "Forgive me, my friend, that I led thee to seem as
+mad as myself, making thee fall into the same error I myself fell
+into, that there were and still are knights-errant in the world."
+
+"Ah!" said Sancho weeping, "don't die, master, but take my advice
+and live many years; for the foolishest thing a man can do in this
+life is to let himself die without rhyme or reason, without anybody
+killing him, or any hands but melancholy's making an end of him. Come,
+don't be lazy, but get up from your bed and let us take to the
+fields in shepherd's trim as we agreed. Perhaps behind some bush we
+shall find the lady Dulcinea disenchanted, as fine as fine can be.
+If it be that you are dying of vexation at having been vanquished, lay
+the blame on me, and say you were overthrown because I had girthed
+Rocinante badly; besides you must have seen in your books of
+chivalry that it is a common thing for knights to upset one another,
+and for him who is conquered to-day to be conqueror tomorrow."
+
+"Very true," said Samson, "and good Sancho Panza's view of these
+cases is quite right."
+
+"Sirs, not so fast," said Don Quixote, "'in last year's nests
+there are no birds this year.' I was mad, now I am in my senses; I was
+Don Quixote of La Mancha, I am now, as I said, Alonso Quixano the
+Good; and may my repentance and sincerity restore me to the esteem you
+used to have for me; and now let Master Notary proceed.
+
+"Item, I leave all my property absolutely to Antonia Quixana my
+niece, here present, after all has been deducted from the most
+available portion of it that may be required to satisfy the bequests I
+have made. And the first disbursement I desire to be made is the
+payment of the wages I owe for the time my housekeeper has served
+me, with twenty ducats, over and above, for a gown. The curate and the
+bachelor Samson Carrasco, now present, I appoint my executors.
+
+"Item, it is my wish that if Antonia Quixana, my niece, desires to
+marry, she shall marry a man of whom it shall be first of all
+ascertained by information taken that he does not know what books of
+chivalry are; and if it should be proved that he does, and if, in
+spite of this, my niece insists upon marrying him, and does marry him,
+then that she shall forfeit the whole of what I have left her, which
+my executors shall devote to works of charity as they please.
+
+"Item, I entreat the aforesaid gentlemen my executors, that, if
+any happy chance should lead them to discover the author who is said
+to have written a history now going about under the title of 'Second
+Part of the Achievements of Don Quixote of La Mancha,' they beg of him
+on my behalf as earnestly as they can to forgive me for having been,
+without intending it, the cause of his writing so many and such
+monstrous absurdities as he has written in it; for I am leaving the
+world with a feeling of compunction at having provoked him to write
+them."
+
+With this he closed his will, and a faintness coming over him he
+stretched himself out at full length on the bed. All were in a flutter
+and made haste to relieve him, and during the three days he lived
+after that on which he made his will he fainted away very often. The
+house was all in confusion; but still the niece ate and the
+housekeeper drank and Sancho Panza enjoyed himself; for inheriting
+property wipes out or softens down in the heir the feeling of grief
+the dead man might be expected to leave behind him.
+
+At last Don Quixote's end came, after he had received all the
+sacraments, and had in full and forcible terms expressed his
+detestation of books of chivalry. The notary was there at the time,
+and he said that in no book of chivalry had he ever read of any
+knight-errant dying in his bed so calmly and so like a Christian as
+Don Quixote, who amid the tears and lamentations of all present
+yielded up his spirit, that is to say died. On perceiving it the
+curate begged the notary to bear witness that Alonso Quixano the Good,
+commonly called Don Quixote of La Mancha, had passed away from this
+present life, and died naturally; and said he desired this testimony
+in order to remove the possibility of any other author save Cide
+Hamete Benengeli bringing him to life again falsely and making
+interminable stories out of his achievements.
+
+Such was the end of the Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha, whose
+village Cide Hamete would not indicate precisely, in order to leave
+all the towns and villages of La Mancha to contend among themselves
+for the right to adopt him and claim him as a son, as the seven cities
+of Greece contended for Homer. The lamentations of Sancho and the
+niece and housekeeper are omitted here, as well as the new epitaphs
+upon his tomb; Samson Carrasco, however, put the following lines:
+
+
+A doughty gentleman lies here;
+A stranger all his life to fear;
+Nor in his death could Death prevail,
+In that last hour, to make him quail.
+He for the world but little cared;
+And at his feats the world was scared;
+A crazy man his life he passed,
+But in his senses died at last.
+
+
+And said most sage Cide Hamete to his pen, "Rest here, hung up by
+this brass wire, upon this shelf, O my pen, whether of skilful make or
+clumsy cut I know not; here shalt thou remain long ages hence,
+unless presumptuous or malignant story-tellers take thee down to
+profane thee. But ere they touch thee warn them, and, as best thou
+canst, say to them:
+
+Hold off! ye weaklings; hold your hands!
+  Adventure it let none,
+For this emprise, my lord the king,
+  Was meant for me alone.
+
+For me alone was Don Quixote born, and I for him; it was his to act,
+mine to write; we two together make but one, notwithstanding and in
+spite of that pretended Tordesillesque writer who has ventured or
+would venture with his great, coarse, ill-trimmed ostrich quill to
+write the achievements of my valiant knight;- no burden for his
+shoulders, nor subject for his frozen wit: whom, if perchance thou
+shouldst come to know him, thou shalt warn to leave at rest where they
+lie the weary mouldering bones of Don Quixote, and not to attempt to
+carry him off, in opposition to all the privileges of death, to Old
+Castile, making him rise from the grave where in reality and truth
+he lies stretched at full length, powerless to make any third
+expedition or new sally; for the two that he has already made, so much
+to the enjoyment and approval of everybody to whom they have become
+known, in this as well as in foreign countries, are quite sufficient
+for the purpose of turning into ridicule the whole of those made by
+the whole set of the knights-errant; and so doing shalt thou discharge
+thy Christian calling, giving good counsel to one that bears
+ill-will to thee. And I shall remain satisfied, and proud to have been
+the first who has ever enjoyed the fruit of his writings as fully as
+he could desire; for my desire has been no other than to deliver
+over to the detestation of mankind the false and foolish tales of
+the books of chivalry, which, thanks to that of my true Don Quixote,
+are even now tottering, and doubtless doomed to fall for ever.
+Farewell."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes
+