PART II - CHAPTER XI.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　OF THE STRANGE ADVENTURE WHICH THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE HAD WITH THE CAROR CART OF "THE CORTES OF DEATH"Dejected beyond measure did Don Quixote pursue his journey, turning overin his mind the cruel trick the enchanters had played him in changing hislady Dulcinea into the vile shape of the village lass, nor could he thinkof any way of restoring her to her original form; and these reflectionsso absorbed him, that without being aware of it he let go Rocinante'sbridle, and he, perceiving the liberty that was granted him, stopped atevery step to crop the fresh grass with which the plain abounded.Sancho recalled him from his reverie. "Melancholy, senor," said he, "wasmade, not for beasts, but for men; but if men give way to it overmuchthey turn to beasts; control yourself, your worship; be yourself again;gather up Rocinante's reins; cheer up, rouse yourself and show thatgallant 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 withall the Dulcineas in the world; for the well-being of a singleknight-errant is of more consequence than all the enchantments andtransformations on earth.""Hush, Sancho," said Don Quixote in a weak and faint voice, "hush andutter no blasphemies against that enchanted lady; for I alone am to blamefor her misfortune and hard fate; her calamity has come of the hatred thewicked bear me.""So say I," returned Sancho; "his heart rend in twain, I trow, who sawher once, to see her now.""Thou mayest well say that, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "as thou sawesther in the full perfection of her beauty; for the enchantment does not goso far as to pervert thy vision or hide her loveliness from thee; againstme alone and against my eyes is the strength of its venom directed.Nevertheless, there is one thing which has occurred to me, and that isthat thou didst ill describe her beauty to me, for, as well as Irecollect, thou saidst that her eyes were pearls; but eyes that are likepearls are rather the eyes of a sea-bream than of a lady, and I ampersuaded that Dulcinea's must be green emeralds, full and soft, with tworainbows for eyebrows; take away those pearls from her eyes and transferthem to her teeth; for beyond a doubt, Sancho, thou hast taken the onefor the other, the eyes for the teeth.""Very likely," said Sancho; "for her beauty bewildered me as much as herugliness did your worship; but let us leave it all to God, who aloneknows what is to happen in this vale of tears, in this evil world ofours, where there is hardly a thing to be found without some mixture ofwickedness, roguery, and rascality. But one thing, senor, troubles memore than all the rest, and that is thinking what is to be done when yourworship conquers some giant, or some other knight, and orders him to goand present himself before the beauty of the lady Dulcinea. Where is thispoor giant, or this poor wretch of a vanquished knight, to find her? Ithink 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 middleof the street they won't know her any more than they would my father.""Perhaps, Sancho," returned Don Quixote, "the enchantment does not go sofar as to deprive conquered and presented giants and knights of the powerof recognising Dulcinea; we will try by experiment with one or two of thefirst I vanquish and send to her, whether they see her or not, bycommanding them to return and give me an account of what happened to themin this respect.""I declare, I think what your worship has proposed is excellent," saidSancho; "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, themisfortune will be more yours than hers; but so long as the lady Dulcineais well and happy, we on our part will make the best of it, and get on aswell as we can, seeking our adventures, and leaving Time to take his owncourse; 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 acart crossing the road full of the most diverse and strange personagesand figures that could be imagined. He who led the mules and acted ascarter was a hideous demon; the cart was open to the sky, without a tiltor cane roof, and the first figure that presented itself to Don Quixote'seyes was that of Death itself with a human face; next to it was an angelwith large painted wings, and at one side an emperor, with a crown, toall appearance of gold, on his head. At the feet of Death was the godcalled 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 orhelmet, but only a hat decked with plumes of divers colours; and alongwith these there were others with a variety of costumes and faces. Allthis, unexpectedly encountered, took Don Quixote somewhat aback, andstruck terror into the heart of Sancho; but the next instant Don Quixotewas glad of it, believing that some new perilous adventure was presentingitself to him, and under this impression, and with a spirit prepared toface any danger, he planted himself in front of the cart, and in a loudand menacing tone, exclaimed, "Carter, or coachman, or devil, or whateverthou art, tell me at once who thou art, whither thou art going, and whothese folk are thou carriest in thy wagon, which looks more like Charon'sboat than an ordinary cart."To which the devil, stopping the cart, answered quietly, "Senor, we areplayers of Angulo el Malo's company; we have been acting the play of 'TheCortes of Death' this morning, which is the octave of Corpus Christi, ina village behind that hill, and we have to act it this afternoon in thatvillage which you can see from this; and as it is so near, and to savethe trouble of undressing and dressing again, we go in the costumes inwhich we perform. That lad there appears as Death, that other as anangel, that woman, the manager's wife, plays the queen, this one thesoldier, that the emperor, and I the devil; and I am one of the principalcharacters of the play, for in this company I take the leading parts. Ifyou want to know anything more about us, ask me and I will answer withthe 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 thiscart I fancied some great adventure was presenting itself to me; but Ideclare one must touch with the hand what appears to the eye, ifillusions are to be avoided. God speed you, good people; keep yourfestival, and remember, if you demand of me ought wherein I can renderyou a service, I will do it gladly and willingly, for from a child I wasfond 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 amummers' dress with a great number of bells, and armed with three blownox-bladders at the end of a stick, joined them, and this merry-andrewapproaching Don Quixote, began flourishing his stick and banging theground with the bladders and cutting capers with great jingling of thebells, which untoward apparition so startled Rocinante that, in spite ofDon Quixote's efforts to hold him in, taking the bit between his teeth heset off across the plain with greater speed than the bones of his anatomyever gave any promise of.Sancho, who thought his master was in danger of being thrown, jumped offDapple, and ran in all haste to help him; but by the time he reached himhe was already on the ground, and beside him was Rocinante, who had comedown with his master, the usual end and upshot of Rocinante's vivacityand high spirits. But the moment Sancho quitted his beast to go and helpDon Quixote, the dancing devil with the bladders jumped up on Dapple, andbeating him with them, more by the fright and the noise than by the painof the blows, made him fly across the fields towards the village wherethey were going to hold their festival. Sancho witnessed Dapple's careerand his master's fall, and did not know which of the two cases of need heshould attend to first; but in the end, like a good squire and goodservant, he let his love for his master prevail over his affection forhis ass; though every time he saw the bladders rise in the air and comedown on the hind quarters of his Dapple he felt the pains and terrors ofdeath, and he would have rather had the blows fall on the apples of hisown eyes than on the least hair of his ass's tail. In this trouble andperplexity he came to where Don Quixote lay in a far sorrier plight thanhe 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 withhim in the deepest and darkest dungeons of hell. Follow me, Sancho, forthe cart goes slowly, and with the mules of it I will make good the lossof Dapple.""You need not take the trouble, senor," said Sancho; "keep cool, for as Inow see, the devil has let Dapple go and he is coming back to his oldquarters;" and so it turned out, for, having come down with Dapple, inimitation of Don Quixote and Rocinante, the devil made off on foot to thetown, and the ass came back to his master."For all that," said Don Quixote, "it will be well to visit thediscourtesy of that devil upon some of those in the cart, even if it werethe emperor himself.""Don't think of it, your worship," returned Sancho; "take my advice andnever meddle with actors, for they are a favoured class; I myself haveknown an actor taken up for two murders, and yet come off scot-free;remember that, as they are merry folk who give pleasure, everyone favoursand protects them, and helps and makes much of them, above all when theyare those of the royal companies and under patent, all or most of whom indress and appearance look like princes.""Still, for all that," said Don Quixote, "the player devil must not gooff 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 toteach you how to treat asses and animals that serve the squires ofknights-errant for steeds."So loud were the shouts of Don Quixote, that those in the cart heard andunderstood them, and, guessing by the words what the speaker's intentionwas, Death in an instant jumped out of the cart, and the emperor, thedevil carter and the angel after him, nor did the queen or the god Cupidstay behind; and all armed themselves with stones and formed in line,prepared to receive Don Quixote on the points of their pebbles. DonQuixote, when he saw them drawn up in such a gallant array with upliftedarms ready for a mighty discharge of stones, checked Rocinante and beganto consider in what way he could attack them with the least danger tohimself. As he halted Sancho came up, and seeing him disposed to attackthis well-ordered squadron, said to him, "It would be the height ofmadness to attempt such an enterprise; remember, senor, that against sopsfrom the brook, and plenty of them, there is no defensive armour in theworld, except to stow oneself away under a brass bell; and besides, oneshould remember that it is rashness, and not valour, for a single man toattack 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 notmake you keep quiet, perhaps it will to know for certain that among allthese, though they look like kings, princes, and emperors, there is not asingle knight-errant.""Now indeed thou hast hit the point, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "whichmay and should turn me from the resolution I had already formed. I cannotand must not draw sword, as I have many a time before told thee, againstanyone 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 theefrom here by shouts and salutary counsels.""There is no occasion to take vengeance on anyone, senor," repliedSancho; "for it is not the part of good Christians to revenge wrongs; andbesides, I will arrange it with my ass to leave his grievance to mygood-will and pleasure, and that is to live in peace as long as heavengrants me life.""Well," said Don Quixote, "if that be thy determination, good Sancho,sensible Sancho, Christian Sancho, honest Sancho, let us leave thesephantoms 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 ofmarvellous 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 theirjourney, 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 anenamoured knight-errant.