PART II - CHAPTER LII.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　WHEREIN IS RELATED THE ADVENTURE OF THE SECOND DISTRESSED OR AFFLICTEDDUENNA, OTHERWISE CALLED DONA RODRIGUEZCide Hamete relates that Don Quixote being now cured of his scratchesfelt that the life he was leading in the castle was entirely inconsistentwith the order of chivalry he professed, so he determined to ask the dukeand duchess to permit him to take his departure for Saragossa, as thetime of the festival was now drawing near, and he hoped to win there thesuit of armour which is the prize at festivals of the sort. But one dayat table with the duke and duchess, just as he was about to carry hisresolution into effect and ask for their permission, lo and beholdsuddenly there came in through the door of the great hall two women, asthey afterwards proved to be, draped in mourning from head to foot, oneof 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 sodoleful that she put all who heard and saw her into a state ofperplexity; and though the duke and duchess supposed it must be some joketheir servants were playing off upon Don Quixote, still the earnest waythe woman sighed and moaned and wept puzzled them and made them feeluncertain, until Don Quixote, touched with compassion, raised her up andmade her unveil herself and remove the mantle from her tearful face. Shecomplied and disclosed what no one could have ever anticipated, for shedisclosed the countenance of Dona Rodriguez, the duenna of the house; theother female in mourning being her daughter, who had been made a fool ofby 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 asimpleton and a weak creature, they did not think her capable of crazypranks. Dona Rodriguez, at length, turning to her master and mistresssaid to them, "Will your excellences be pleased to permit me to speak tothis gentleman for a moment, for it is requisite I should do so in orderto get successfully out of the business in which the boldness of anevil-minded clown has involved me?"The duke said that for his part he gave her leave, and that she mightspeak 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 injusticeand treachery of a wicked farmer to my dearly beloved daughter, theunhappy damsel here before you, and you promised me to take her part andright the wrong that has been done her; but now it has come to my hearingthat you are about to depart from this castle in quest of such fairadventures as God may vouchsafe to you; therefore, before you take theroad, I would that you challenge this froward rustic, and compel him tomarry my daughter in fulfillment of the promise he gave her to become herhusband before he seduced her; for to expect that my lord the duke willdo me justice is to ask pears from the elm tree, for the reason I statedprivately to your worship; and so may our Lord grant you good health andforsake us not."To these words Don Quixote replied very gravely and solemnly, "Worthyduenna, check your tears, or rather dry them, and spare your sighs, for Itake it upon myself to obtain redress for your daughter, for whom itwould have been better not to have been so ready to believe lovers'promises, which are for the most part quickly made and very slowlyperformed; and so, with my lord the duke's leave, I will at once go inquest of this inhuman youth, and will find him out and challenge him andslay him, if so be he refuses to keep his promised word; for the chiefobject of my profession is to spare the humble and chastise the proud; Imean, to help the distressed and destroy the oppressors.""There is no necessity," said the duke, "for your worship to take thetrouble 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 informedof the challenge, and accepts it, and comes to answer it in person tothis castle of mine, where I shall afford to both a fair field, observingall the conditions which are usually and properly observed in suchtrials, and observing too justice to both sides, as all princes who offera free field to combatants within the limits of their lordships are boundto do.""Then with that assurance and your highness's good leave," said DonQuixote, "I hereby for this once waive my privilege of gentle blood, andcome down and put myself on a level with the lowly birth of thewrong-doer, making myself equal with him and enabling him to enter intocombat with me; and so, I challenge and defy him, though absent, on theplea of his malfeasance in breaking faith with this poor damsel, who wasa maiden and now by his misdeed is none; and say that he shall fulfillthe promise he gave her to become her lawful husband, or else stake hislife 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 heaccepted the challenge in the name of his vassal, and fixed six daysthence as the time, the courtyard of the castle as the place, and forarms the customary ones of knights, lance and shield and full armour,with all the other accessories, without trickery, guile, or charms of anysort, and examined and passed by the judges of the field. "But first ofall," he said, "it is requisite that this worthy duenna and unworthydamsel should place their claim for justice in the hands of Don Quixote;for otherwise nothing can be done, nor can the said challenge be broughtto a lawful issue.""I do so place it," replied the duenna."And I too," added her daughter, all in tears and covered with shame andconfusion.This declaration having been made, and the duke having settled in his ownmind what he would do in the matter, the ladies in black withdrew, andthe duchess gave orders that for the future they were not to be treatedas servants of hers, but as lady adventurers who came to her house todemand justice; so they gave them a room to themselves and waited on themas they would on strangers, to the consternation of the otherwomen-servants, who did not know where the folly and imprudence of DonaRodriguez and her unlucky daughter would stop.And now, to complete the enjoyment of the feast and bring the dinner to asatisfactory end, lo and behold the page who had carried the letters andpresents to Teresa Panza, the wife of the governor Sancho, entered thehall; and the duke and duchess were very well pleased to see him, beinganxious to know the result of his journey; but when they asked him thepage said in reply that he could not give it before so many people or ina few words, and begged their excellences to be pleased to let it waitfor a private opportunity, and in the meantime amuse themselves withthese letters; and taking out the letters he placed them in the duchess'shand. One bore by way of address, Letter for my lady the DuchessSo-and-so, of I don't know where; and the other To my husband SanchoPanza, governor of the island of Barataria, whom God prosper longer thanme. The duchess's bread would not bake, as the saying is, until she hadread her letter; and having looked over it herself and seen that it mightbe read aloud for the duke and all present to hear, she read out asfollows.TERESA PANZA'S LETTER TO THE DUCHESS.The letter your highness wrote me, my lady, gave me great pleasure, forindeed 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 villageis very much pleased that your ladyship has made a governor of my goodman Sancho; though nobody will believe it, particularly the curate, andMaster Nicholas the barber, and the bachelor Samson Carrasco; but I don'tcare for that, for so long as it is true, as it is, they may all say whatthey like; though, to tell the truth, if the coral beads and the suit hadnot come I would not have believed it either; for in this villageeverybody thinks my husband a numskull, and except for governing a flockof 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 inneed of it. I am resolved with your worship's leave, lady of my soul, tomake the most of this fair day, and go to Court to stretch myself at easein a coach, and make all those I have envying me already burst their eyesout; so I beg your excellence to order my husband to send me a smalltrifle of money, and to let it be something to speak of, because one'sexpenses are heavy at the Court; for a loaf costs a real, and meat thirtymaravedis a pound, which is beyond everything; and if he does not want meto go let him tell me in time, for my feet are on the fidgets to be off;and my friends and neighbours tell me that if my daughter and I make afigure and a brave show at Court, my husband will come to be known farmore by me than I by him, for of course plenty of people will ask, "Whoare those ladies in that coach?" and some servant of mine will answer,"The wife and daughter of Sancho Panza, governor of the island ofBarataria;" and in this way Sancho will become known, and I'll be thoughtwell of, and "to Rome for everything." I am as vexed as vexed can be thatthey have gathered no acorns this year in our village; for all that Isend your highness about half a peck that I went to the wood to gatherand pick out one by one myself, and I could find no bigger ones; I wishthey were as big as ostrich eggs.Let not your high mightiness forget to write to me; and I will take careto answer, and let you know how I am, and whatever news there may be inthis place, where I remain, praying our Lord to have your highness in hiskeeping 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 theduke and duchess; and the duchess asked Don Quixote's opinion whetherthey might open the letter that had come for the governor, which shesuspected must be very good. Don Quixote said that to gratify them hewould 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 aCatholic Christian that I was within two fingers' breadth of going mad Iwas so happy. I can tell thee, brother, when I came to hear that thouwert a governor I thought I should have dropped dead with pure joy; andthou knowest they say sudden joy kills as well as great sorrow; and asfor Sanchica thy daughter, she leaked from sheer happiness. I had beforeme the suit thou didst send me, and the coral beads my lady the duchesssent me round my neck, and the letters in my hands, and there was thebearer of them standing by, and in spite of all this I verily believedand thought that what I saw and handled was all a dream; for who couldhave thought that a goatherd would come to be a governor of islands? Thouknowest, my friend, what my mother used to say, that one must live longto see much; I say it because I expect to see more if I live longer; forI don't expect to stop until I see thee a farmer of taxes or a collectorof revenue, which are offices where, though the devil carries off thosewho make a bad use of them, still they make and handle money. My lady theduchess will tell thee the desire I have to go to the Court; consider thematter and let me know thy pleasure; I will try to do honour to thee bygoing in a coach.Neither the curate, nor the barber, nor the bachelor, nor even thesacristan, can believe that thou art a governor, and they say the wholething is a delusion or an enchantment affair, like everything belongingto thy master Don Quixote; and Samson says he must go in search of theeand drive the government out of thy head and the madness out of DonQuixote's skull; I only laugh, and look at my string of beads, and planout the dress I am going to make for our daughter out of thy suit. I sentsome acorns to my lady the duchess; I wish they had been gold. Send mesome strings of pearls if they are in fashion in that island. Here is thenews of the village; La Berrueca has married her daughter to agood-for-nothing painter, who came here to paint anything that might turnup. The council gave him an order to paint his Majesty's arms over thedoor of the town-hall; he asked two ducats, which they paid him inadvance; he worked for eight days, and at the end of them had nothingpainted, 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 ofbeing a good workman; to be sure he has now laid aside his paint-brushand taken a spade in hand, and goes to the field like a gentleman. PedroLobo's son has received the first orders and tonsure, with the intentionof becoming a priest. Minguilla, Mingo Silvato's granddaughter, found itout, and has gone to law with him on the score of having given herpromise of marriage. Evil tongues say she is with child by him, but hedenies it stoutly. There are no olives this year, and there is not a dropof vinegar to be had in the whole village. A company of soldiers passedthrough here; when they left they took away with them three of the girlsof the village; I will not tell thee who they are; perhaps they will comeback, and they will be sure to find those who will take them for wiveswith all their blemishes, good or bad. Sanchica is making bonelace; sheearns eight maravedis a day clear, which she puts into a moneybox as ahelp towards house furnishing; but now that she is a governor's daughterthou wilt give her a portion without her working for it. The fountain inthe plaza has run dry. A flash of lightning struck the gibbet, and I wishthey all lit there. I look for an answer to this, and to know thy mindabout my going to the Court; and so, God keep thee longer than me, or aslong, for I would not leave thee in this world without me.Thy wife,TERESA PANZA.The letters were applauded, laughed over, relished, and admired; andthen, 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 duchesswithdrew to hear from the page about his adventures in Sancho's village,which he narrated at full length without leaving a single circumstanceunmentioned. He gave her the acorns, and also a cheese which Teresa hadgiven him as being particularly good and superior to those of Tronchon.The duchess received it with greatest delight, in which we will leaveher, to describe the end of the government of the great Sancho Panza,flower and mirror of all governors of islands.