PART II - CHAPTER LXXII.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　OF HOW DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO REACHED THEIR VILLAGEAll that day Don Quixote and Sancho remained in the village and innwaiting for night, the one to finish off his task of scourging in theopen country, the other to see it accomplished, for therein lay theaccomplishment of his wishes. Meanwhile there arrived at the hostelry atraveller on horseback with three or four servants, one of whom said tohim who appeared to be the master, "Here, Senor Don Alvaro Tarfe, yourworship may take your siesta to-day; the quarters seem clean and cool."When he heard this Don Quixote said to Sancho, "Look here, Sancho; onturning over the leaves of that book of the Second Part of my history Ithink I came casually upon this name of Don Alvaro Tarfe.""Very likely," said Sancho; "we had better let him dismount, andby-and-by we can ask about it."The gentleman dismounted, and the landlady gave him a room on the groundfloor opposite Don Quixote's and adorned with painted serge hangings ofthe same sort. The newly arrived gentleman put on a summer coat, andcoming out to the gateway of the hostelry, which was wide and cool,addressing Don Quixote, who was pacing up and down there, he asked, "Inwhat 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 methe favour of telling me your name, for it strikes me it is of moreimportance 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 yourworship is that Don Alvaro Tarfe who appears in print in the Second Partof the history of Don Quixote of La Mancha, lately printed and publishedby a new author.""I am the same," replied the gentleman; "and that same Don Quixote, theprincipal 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 cometo some jousts that were to be held at Saragossa, whither I was goingmyself; indeed, I showed him many kindnesses, and saved him from havinghis shoulders touched up by the executioner because of his extremerashness.""Tell me, Senor Don Alvaro," said Don Quixote, "am I at all like that DonQuixote you talk of?""No indeed," replied the traveller, "not a bit.""And that Don Quixote-" said our one, "had he with him a squire calledSancho Panza?""He had," said Don Alvaro; "but though he had the name of being verydroll, 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 withdrolleries is not in everybody's line; and that Sancho your worshipspeaks of, gentle sir, must be some great scoundrel, dunderhead, andthief, all in one; for I am the real Sancho Panza, and I have moredrolleries than if it rained them; let your worship only try; come alongwith me for a year or so, and you will find they fall from me at everyturn, and so rich and so plentiful that though mostly I don't know what Iam saying I make everybody that hears me laugh. And the real Don Quixoteof La Mancha, the famous, the valiant, the wise, the lover, the righterof wrongs, the guardian of minors and orphans, the protector of widows,the killer of damsels, he who has for his sole mistress the peerlessDulcinea del Toboso, is this gentleman before you, my master; all otherDon Quixotes and all other Sancho Panzas are dreams and mockeries.""By God I believe it," said Don Alvaro; "for you have uttered moredrolleries, my friend, in the few words you have spoken than the otherSancho Panza in all I ever heard from him, and they were not a few. Hewas more greedy than well-spoken, and more dull than droll; and I amconvinced that the enchanters who persecute Don Quixote the Good havebeen trying to persecute me with Don Quixote the Bad. But I don't knowwhat to say, for I am ready to swear I left him shut up in the Casa delNuncio at Toledo, and here another Don Quixote turns up, though a verydifferent one from mine.""I don't know whether I am good," said Don Quixote, "but I can safely sayI am not 'the Bad;' and to prove it, let me tell you, Senor Don AlvaroTarfe, I have never in my life been in Saragossa; so far from that, whenit was told me that this imaginary Don Quixote had been present at thejousts in that city, I declined to enter it, in order to drag hisfalsehood before the face of the world; and so I went on straight toBarcelona, the treasure-house of courtesy, haven of strangers, asylum ofthe poor, home of the valiant, champion of the wronged, pleasant exchangeof firm friendships, and city unrivalled in site and beauty. And thoughthe adventures that befell me there are not by any means matters ofenjoyment, but rather of regret, I do not regret them, simply because Ihave seen it. In a word, Senor Don Alvaro Tarfe, I am Don Quixote of LaMancha, the one that fame speaks of, and not the unlucky one that hasattempted to usurp my name and deck himself out in my ideas. I entreatyour worship by your devoir as a gentleman to be so good as to make adeclaration before the alcalde of this village that you never in all yourlife saw me until now, and that neither am I the Don Quixote in print inthe Second Part, nor this Sancho Panza, my squire, the one your worshipknew.""That I will do most willingly," replied Don Alvaro; "though it amazes meto find two Don Quixotes and two Sancho Panzas at once, as much alike inname as they differ in demeanour; and again I say and declare that what Isaw 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 givingmyself another three thousand and odd lashes like what I'm giving myselffor her, for I'd lay them on without looking for anything.""I don't understand that about the lashes," said Don Alvaro. Sanchoreplied that it was a long story to tell, but he would tell him if theyhappened to be going the same road.By this dinner-time arrived, and Don Quixote and Don Alvaro dinedtogether. The alcalde of the village came by chance into the inn togetherwith a notary, and Don Quixote laid a petition before him, showing thatit was requisite for his rights that Don Alvaro Tarfe, the gentlemanthere present, should make a declaration before him that he did not knowDon Quixote of La Mancha, also there present, and that he was not the onethat was in print in a history entitled "Second Part of Don Quixote of LaMancha, by one Avellaneda of Tordesillas." The alcalde finally put it inlegal form, and the declaration was made with all the formalitiesrequired in such cases, at which Don Quixote and Sancho were in highdelight, as if a declaration of the sort was of any great importance tothem, and as if their words and deeds did not plainly show the differencebetween the two Don Quixotes and the two Sanchos. Many civilities andoffers of service were exchanged by Don Alvaro and Don Quixote, in thecourse of which the great Manchegan displayed such good taste that hedisabused Don Alvaro of the error he was under; and he, on his part, feltconvinced he must have been enchanted, now that he had been brought incontact with two such opposite Don Quixotes.Evening came, they set out from the village, and after about half aleague two roads branched off, one leading to Don Quixote's village, theother the road Don Alvaro was to follow. In this short interval DonQuixote told him of his unfortunate defeat, and of Dulcinea's enchantmentand the remedy, all which threw Don Alvaro into fresh amazement, andembracing Don Quixote and Sancho he went his way, and Don Quixote wenthis. That night he passed among trees again in order to give Sancho anopportunity of working out his penance, which he did in the same fashionas the night before, at the expense of the bark of the beech trees muchmore than of his back, of which he took such good care that the lasheswould not have knocked off a fly had there been one there. The duped DonQuixote did not miss a single stroke of the count, and he found thattogether with those of the night before they made up three thousand andtwenty-nine. The sun apparently had got up early to witness thesacrifice, and with his light they resumed their journey, discussing thedeception practised on Don Alvaro, and saying how well done it was tohave taken his declaration before a magistrate in such an unimpeachableform. That day and night they travelled on, nor did anything worthmention happen them, unless it was that in the course of the night Sanchofinished off his task, whereat Don Quixote was beyond measure joyful. Hewatched for daylight, to see if along the road he should fall in with hisalready disenchanted lady Dulcinea; and as he pursued his journey therewas no woman he met that he did not go up to, to see if she was Dulcineadel Toboso, as he held it absolutely certain that Merlin's promises couldnot lie. Full of these thoughts and anxieties, they ascended a risingground wherefrom they descried their own village, at the sight of whichSancho 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 vanquished by the arm of another, comes victor overhimself, which, as he himself has told me, is the greatest victory anyonecan desire. I'm bringing back money, for if I was well whipped, I wentmounted like a gentleman.""Have done with these fooleries," said Don Quixote; "let us push onstraight and get to our own place, where we will give free range to ourfancies, and settle our plans for our future pastoral life."With this they descended the slope and directed their steps to theirvillage.