WHEREIN IT IS TOLD AND KNOWN WHO THE KNIGHT OF THE MIRRORS AND HIS SQUIREWEREDon Quixote went off satisfied, elated, and vain-glorious in the highestdegree at having won a victory over such a valiant knight as he fanciedhim of the Mirrors to be, and one from whose knightly word he expected tolearn whether the enchantment of his lady still continued; inasmuch asthe said vanquished knight was bound, under the penalty of ceasing to beone, to return and render him an account of what took place between himand 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 villagewhere he could plaster himself, as has been said already. The historygoes on to say, then, that when the bachelor Samson Carrasco recommendedDon Quixote to resume his knight-errantry which he had laid aside, it wasin consequence of having been previously in conclave with the curate andthe barber on the means to be adopted to induce Don Quixote to stay athome in peace and quiet without worrying himself with his ill-starredadventures; at which consultation it was decided by the unanimous vote ofall, and on the special advice of Carrasco, that Don Quixote should beallowed to go, as it seemed impossible to restrain him, and that Samsonshould sally forth to meet him as a knight-errant, and do battle withhim, 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 agreedand settled that the vanquished was to be at the mercy of the victor.Then, Don Quixote being vanquished, the bachelor knight was to commandhim to return to his village and his house, and not quit it for twoyears, or until he received further orders from him; all which it wasclear Don Quixote would unhesitatingly obey, rather than contravene orfail to observe the laws of chivalry; and during the period of hisseclusion he might perhaps forget his folly, or there might be anopportunity of discovering some ready remedy for his madness. Carrascoundertook the task, and Tom Cecial, a gossip and neighbour of SanchoPanza's, a lively, feather-headed fellow, offered himself as his squire.Carrasco armed himself in the fashion described, and Tom Cecial, that hemight not be known by his gossip when they met, fitted on over his ownnatural nose the false masquerade one that has been mentioned; and sothey followed the same route Don Quixote took, and almost came up withhim in time to be present at the adventure of the cart of Death andfinally encountered them in the grove, where all that the sagaciousreader has been reading about took place; and had it not been for theextraordinary fancies of Don Quixote, and his conviction that thebachelor was not the bachelor, senor bachelor would have beenincapacitated for ever from taking his degree of licentiate, all throughnot finding nests where he thought to find birds.Tom Cecial, seeing how ill they had succeeded, and what a sorry end theirexpedition had come to, said to the bachelor, "Sure enough, Senor SamsonCarrasco, we are served right; it is easy enough to plan and set about anenterprise, 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 themadder, he who is so because he cannot help it, or he who is so of hisown choice?"To which Samson replied, "The difference between the two sorts of madmenis, that he who is so will he nil he, will be one always, while he who isso 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 Ivolunteered to become your squire, and, of my own accord, I'll leave offbeing one and go home.""That's your affair," returned Samson, "but to suppose that I am goinghome until I have given Don Quixote a thrashing is absurd; and it is notany wish that he may recover his senses that will make me hunt him outnow, but a wish for the sore pain I am in with my ribs won't let meentertain more charitable thoughts."Thus discoursing, the pair proceeded until they reached a town where itwas their good luck to find a bone-setter, with whose help theunfortunate Samson was cured. Tom Cecial left him and went home, while hestayed behind meditating vengeance; and the history will return to himagain at the proper time, so as not to omit making merry with Don Quixotenow.