PART I - CHAPTER XXXI.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　OF THE DELECTABLE DISCUSSION BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO PANZA, HISSQUIRE, TOGETHER WITH OTHER INCIDENTS"All that is not unsatisfactory to me," said Don Quixote. "Go on; thoudidst reach her; and what was that queen of beauty doing? Surely thoudidst find her stringing pearls, or embroidering some device in goldthread for this her enslaved knight.""I did not," said Sancho, "but I found her winnowing two bushels of wheatin the yard of her house.""Then depend upon it," said Don Quixote, "the grains of that wheat werepearls when touched by her hands; and didst thou look, friend? was itwhite 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 thougavest her my letter, did she kiss it? Did she place it on her head? Didshe perform any ceremony befitting it, or what did she do?""When I went to give it to her," replied Sancho, "she was hard at itswaying from side to side with a lot of wheat she had in the sieve, andshe said to me, 'Lay the letter, friend, on the top of that sack, for Icannot read it until I have done sifting all this.""Discreet lady!" said Don Quixote; "that was in order to read it at herleisure and enjoy it; proceed, Sancho; while she was engaged in heroccupation what converse did she hold with thee? What did she ask aboutme, and what answer didst thou give? Make haste; tell me all, and let notan atom be left behind in the ink-bottle.""She asked me nothing," said Sancho; "but I told her how your worship wasleft doing penance in her service, naked from the waist up, in amongthese mountains like a savage, sleeping on the ground, not eating breadoff a tablecloth nor combing your beard, weeping and cursing yourfortune.""In saying I cursed my fortune thou saidst wrong," said Don Quixote; "forrather do I bless it and shall bless it all the days of my life forhaving made me worthy of aspiring to love so lofty a lady as Dulcinea delToboso.""And so lofty she is," said Sancho, "that she overtops me by more than ahand'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 sackof wheat on the back of an ass, we came so close together that I couldsee she stood more than a good palm over me.""Well!" said Don Quixote, "and doth she not of a truth accompany andadorn this greatness with a thousand million charms of mind! But onething thou wilt not deny, Sancho; when thou camest close to her didstthou not perceive a Sabaean odour, an aromatic fragrance, a, I know notwhat, delicious, that I cannot find a name for; I mean a redolence, anexhalation, 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 hardwork.""It could not be that," said Don Quixote, "but thou must have beensuffering from cold in the head, or must have smelt thyself; for I knowwell what would be the scent of that rose among thorns, that lily of thefield, that dissolved amber.""Maybe so," replied Sancho; "there often comes from myself that sameodour 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 cornand 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 shecould neither read nor write; instead of that she tore it up into smallpieces, saying that she did not want to let anyone read it lest hersecrets should become known in the village, and that what I had told herby word of mouth about the love your worship bore her, and theextraordinary penance you were doing for her sake, was enough; and, tomake an end of it, she told me to tell your worship that she kissed yourhands, 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 thispresent, to come out of these thickets, and to have done with carrying onabsurdities, and to set out at once for El Toboso, unless something elseof greater importance should happen, for she had a great desire to seeyour worship. She laughed greatly when I told her how your worship wascalled The Knight of the Rueful Countenance; I asked her if that Biscayanthe other day had been there; and she told me he had, and that he was anhonest fellow; I asked her too about the galley slaves, but she said shehad not seen any as yet.""So far all goes well," said Don Quixote; "but tell me what jewel was itthat 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 togive the squires, damsels, or dwarfs who bring tidings of their ladies tothe knights, or of their knights to the ladies, some rich jewel as aguerdon for good news,' and acknowledgment of the message.""That is very likely," said Sancho, "and a good custom it was, to mymind; but that must have been in days gone by, for now it would seem tobe the custom only to give a piece of bread and cheese; because that waswhat my lady Dulcinea gave me over the top of the yard-wall when I tookleave 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 notgive thee a jewel of gold, no doubt it must have been because she had notone to hand there to give thee; but sleeves are good after Easter; Ishall see her and all shall be made right. But knowest thou what amazesme, 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 Tobosoand 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 myfriend, and watches over my interests (for of necessity there is and mustbe one, or else I should not be a right knight-errant), that this same, Isay, must have helped thee to travel without thy knowledge; for some ofthese sages will catch up a knight-errant sleeping in his bed, andwithout his knowing how or in what way it happened, he wakes up the nextday more than a thousand leagues away from the place where he went tosleep. And if it were not for this, knights-errant would not be able togive 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, orfierce serpent, or another knight, and gets the worst of the battle, andis at the point of death; but when he least looks for it, there appearsover against him on a cloud, or chariot of fire, another knight, a friendof his, who just before had been in England, and who takes his part, anddelivers him from death; and at night he finds himself in his ownquarters supping very much to his satisfaction; and yet from one place tothe other will have been two or three thousand leagues. And all this isdone by the craft and skill of the sage enchanters who take care of thosevaliant knights; so that, friend Sancho, I find no difficulty inbelieving that thou mayest have gone from this place to El Toboso andreturned in such a short time, since, as I have said, some friendly sagemust have carried thee through the air without thee perceiving it.""That must have been it," said Sancho, "for indeed Rocinante went like agipsy's ass with quicksilver in his ears.""Quicksilver!" said Don Quixote, "aye and what is more, a legion ofdevils, folk that can travel and make others travel without being weary,exactly as the whim seizes them. But putting this aside, what thinkestthou I ought to do about my lady's command to go and see her? For thoughI feel that I am bound to obey her mandate, I feel too that I am debarredby the boon I have accorded to the princess that accompanies us, and thelaw of chivalry compels me to have regard for my word in preference to myinclination; on the one hand the desire to see my lady pursues andharasses me, on the other my solemn promise and the glory I shall win inthis enterprise urge and call me; but what I think I shall do is totravel 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 princesspeacefully in her realm, and forthwith I shall return to behold the lightthat lightens my senses, to whom I shall make such excuses that she willbe led to approve of my delay, for she will see that it entirely tends toincrease her glory and fame; for all that I have won, am winning, orshall win by arms in this life, comes to me of the favour she extends tome, and because I am hers.""Ah! what a sad state your worship's brains are in!" said Sancho. "Tellme, senor, do you mean to travel all that way for nothing, and to letslip and lose so rich and great a match as this where they give as aportion a kingdom that in sober truth I have heard say is more thantwenty thousand leagues round about, and abounds with all thingsnecessary to support human life, and is bigger than Portugal and Castileput 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 firstvillage where there is a curate; if not, here is our licentiate who willdo 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 handis better than a vulture on the wing, and he who has the good to his handand 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 beable to confer favours on thee, and give thee what I have promised, letme tell thee I shall be able very easily to satisfy thy desires withoutmarrying; 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 aportion portion of the kingdom, that I may bestow it upon whomsoever Ichoose, and when they give it to me upon whom wouldst thou have me bestowit but upon thee?""That is plain speaking," said Sancho; "but let your worship take care tochoose it on the seacoast, so that if I don't like the life, I may beable 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 giantand let us finish off this business; for by God it strikes me it will beone of great honour and great profit.""I hold thou art in the right of it, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and Iwill take thy advice as to accompanying the princess before going to seeDulcinea; but I counsel thee not to say anything to any one, or to thosewho are with us, about what we have considered and discussed, for asDulcinea is so decorous that she does not wish her thoughts to be knownit 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 worshipmakes all those you overcome by your arm go to present themselves beforemy lady Dulcinea, this being the same thing as signing your name to itthat you love her and are her lover? And as those who go must perforcekneel before her and say they come from your worship to submit themselvesto 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 knowthat according to our way of thinking in chivalry, it is a high honour toa lady to have many knights-errant in her service, whose thoughts nevergo beyond serving her for her own sake, and who look for no other rewardfor their great and true devotion than that she should be willing toaccept them as her knights.""It is with that kind of love," said Sancho, "I have heard preachers saywe ought to love our Lord, for himself alone, without being moved by thehope of glory or the fear of punishment; though for my part, I wouldrather love and serve him for what he could do.""The devil take thee for a clown!" said Don Quixote, "and what shrewdthings 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 wantedto halt and drink at a little spring there was there. Don Quixote drewup, not a little to the satisfaction of Sancho, for he was by this timeweary of telling so many lies, and in dread of his master catching himtripping, for though he knew that Dulcinea was a peasant girl of ElToboso, he had never seen her in all his life. Cardenio had now put onthe clothes which Dorothea was wearing when they found her, and thoughthey were not very good, they were far better than those he put off. Theydismounted together by the side of the spring, and with what the curatehad 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 onhis way, who stopping to examine the party at the spring, the next momentran 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 ladAndres that your worship released from the oak-tree where I was tied."Don Quixote recognised him, and taking his hand he turned to thosepresent and said: "That your worships may see how important it is to haveknights-errant to redress the wrongs and injuries done by tyrannical andwicked men in this world, I may tell you that some days ago passingthrough a wood, I heard cries and piteous complaints as of a person inpain and distress; I immediately hastened, impelled by my bounden duty,to the quarter whence the plaintive accents seemed to me to proceed, andI found tied to an oak this lad who now stands before you, which in myheart I rejoice at, for his testimony will not permit me to depart fromthe truth in any particular. He was, I say, tied to an oak, naked fromthe waist up, and a clown, whom I afterwards found to be his master, wasscarifying him by lashes with the reins of his mare. As soon as I saw himI asked the reason of so cruel a flagellation. The boor replied that hewas flogging him because he was his servant and because of carelessnessthat proceeded rather from dishonesty than stupidity; on which this boysaid, 'Senor, he flogs me only because I ask for my wages.' The mastermade I know not what speeches and explanations, which, though I listenedto 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, andperfumed into the bargain. Is not all this true, Andres my son? Didstthou not mark with what authority I commanded him, and with what humilityhe promised to do all I enjoined, specified, and required of him? Answerwithout hesitation; tell these gentlemen what took place, that they maysee that it is as great an advantage as I say to have knights-errantabroad.""All that your worship has said is quite true," answered the lad; "butthe end of the business turned out just the opposite of what your worshipsupposes.""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 yourworship had passed out of the wood and we were alone, he tied me up againto the same oak and gave me a fresh flogging, that left me like a flayedSaint Bartholomew; and every stroke he gave me he followed up with somejest or gibe about having made a fool of your worship, and but for thepain I was suffering I should have laughed at the things he said. Inshort he left me in such a condition that I have been until now in ahospital getting cured of the injuries which that rascally clowninflicted on me then; for all which your worship is to blame; for if youhad gone your own way and not come where there was no call for you, normeddled in other people's affairs, my master would have been content withgiving me one or two dozen lashes, and would have then loosed me and paidme 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 couldnot revenge himself on you, as soon as he saw you had left him the stormburst upon me in such a way, that I feel as if I should never be a managain.""The mischief," said Don Quixote, "lay in my going away; for I should nothave gone until I had seen thee paid; because I ought to have known wellby long experience that there is no clown who will keep his word if hefinds it will not suit him to keep it; but thou rememberest, Andres, thatI swore if he did not pay thee I would go and seek him, and find himthough 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; andso saying, he got up hastily and bade Sancho bridle Rocinante, who wasbrowsing 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 himfor 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 shereplied that he must remember that in accordance with his promise hecould not engage in any enterprise until he had concluded hers; and thatas he knew this better than anyone, he should restrain his ardour untilhis return from her kingdom."That is true," said Don Quixote, "and Andres must have patience until myreturn as you say, senora; but I once more swear and promise not to stopuntil I have seen him avenged and paid.""I have no faith in those oaths," said Andres; "I would rather have nowsomething to help me to get to Seville than all the revenges in theworld; if you have here anything to eat that I can take with me, give itme, and God be with your worship and all knights-errant; and may theirerrands 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, forwe 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; "andGod knows whether I shall feel the want of it myself or not; for I wouldhave you know, friend, that we squires to knights-errant have to bear agreat deal of hunger and hard fortune, and even other things more easilyfelt than told."Andres seized his bread and cheese, and seeing that nobody gave himanything more, bent his head, and took hold of the road, as the sayingis. However, before leaving he said, "For the love of God, sirknight-errant, if you ever meet me again, though you may see them cuttingme 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 beinghelped by your worship, on whom and all the knights-errant that have everbeen born God send his curse."Don Quixote was getting up to chastise him, but he took to his heels atsuch a pace that no one attempted to follow him; and mightily chapfallenwas Don Quixote at Andres' story, and the others had to take great careto restrain their laughter so as not to put him entirely out ofcountenance.