PART II - CHAPTER XXIX.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　OF THE FAMOUS ADVENTURE OF THE ENCHANTED BARKBy stages as already described or left undescribed, two days afterquitting the grove Don Quixote and Sancho reached the river Ebro, and thesight of it was a great delight to Don Quixote as he contemplated andgazed upon the charms of its banks, the clearness of its stream, thegentleness of its current and the abundance of its crystal waters; andthe pleasant view revived a thousand tender thoughts in his mind. Aboveall, he dwelt upon what he had seen in the cave of Montesinos; for thoughMaster Pedro's ape had told him that of those things part was true, partfalse, he clung more to their truth than to their falsehood, the veryreverse of Sancho, who held them all to be downright lies.As they were thus proceeding, then, they discovered a small boat, withoutoars or any other gear, that lay at the water's edge tied to the stem ofa tree growing on the bank. Don Quixote looked all round, and seeingnobody, at once, without more ado, dismounted from Rocinante and badeSancho get down from Dapple and tie both beasts securely to the trunk ofa poplar or willow that stood there. Sancho asked him the reason of thissudden dismounting and tying. Don Quixote made answer, "Thou must know,Sancho, that this bark is plainly, and without the possibility of anyalternative, calling and inviting me to enter it, and in it go to giveaid to some knight or other person of distinction in need of it, who isno doubt in some sore strait; for this is the way of the books ofchivalry and of the enchanters who figure and speak in them. When aknight is involved in some difficulty from which he cannot be deliveredsave by the hand of another knight, though they may be at a distance oftwo or three thousand leagues or more one from the other, they eithertake him up on a cloud, or they provide a bark for him to get into, andin less than the twinkling of an eye they carry him where they will andwhere his help is required; and so, Sancho, this bark is placed here forthe same purpose; this is as true as that it is now day, and ere this onepasses tie Dapple and Rocinante together, and then in God's hand be it toguide us; for I would not hold back from embarking, though barefootedfriars were to beg me.""As that's the case," said Sancho, "and your worship chooses to give into these--I don't know if I may call them absurdities--at every turn,there's nothing for it but to obey and bow the head, bearing in mind theproverb, 'Do as thy master bids thee, and sit down to table with him;'but for all that, for the sake of easing my conscience, I warn yourworship that it is my opinion this bark is no enchanted one, but belongsto some of the fishermen of the river, for they catch the best shad inthe world here."As Sancho said this, he tied the beasts, leaving them to the care andprotection of the enchanters with sorrow enough in his heart. Don Quixotebade him not be uneasy about deserting the animals, "for he who wouldcarry themselves over such longinquous roads and regions would take careto feed them.""I don't understand that logiquous," said Sancho, "nor have I ever heardthe word all the days of my life.""Longinquous," replied Don Quixote, "means far off; but it is no wonderthou dost not understand it, for thou art not bound to know Latin, likesome who pretend to know it and don't.""Now they are tied," said Sancho; "what are we to do next?""What?" said Don Quixote, "cross ourselves and weigh anchor; I mean,embark and cut the moorings by which the bark is held;" and the barkbegan to drift away slowly from the bank. But when Sancho saw himselfsomewhere about two yards out in the river, he began to tremble and givehimself up for lost; but nothing distressed him more than hearing Dapplebray and seeing Rocinante struggling to get loose, and said he to hismaster, "Dapple is braying in grief at our leaving him, and Rocinante istrying to escape and plunge in after us. O dear friends, peace be withyou, and may this madness that is taking us away from you, turned intosober sense, bring us back to you." And with this he fell weeping sobitterly, that Don Quixote said to him, sharply and angrily, "What artthou afraid of, cowardly creature? What art thou weeping at, heart ofbutter-paste? Who pursues or molests thee, thou soul of a tame mouse?What dost thou want, unsatisfied in the very heart of abundance? Artthou, perchance, tramping barefoot over the Riphaean mountains, insteadof being seated on a bench like an archduke on the tranquil stream ofthis pleasant river, from which in a short space we shall come out uponthe broad sea? But we must have already emerged and gone seven hundred oreight hundred leagues; and if I had here an astrolabe to take thealtitude of the pole, I could tell thee how many we have travelled,though either I know little, or we have already crossed or shall shortlycross the equinoctial line which parts the two opposite poles midway.""And when we come to that line your worship speaks of," said Sancho, "howfar shall we have gone?""Very far," said Don Quixote, "for of the three hundred and sixty degreesthat this terraqueous globe contains, as computed by Ptolemy, thegreatest cosmographer known, we shall have travelled one-half when wecome to the line I spoke of.""By God," said Sancho, "your worship gives me a nice authority for whatyou say, putrid Dolly something transmogrified, or whatever it is."Don Quixote laughed at the interpretation Sancho put upon "computed," andthe name of the cosmographer Ptolemy, and said he, "Thou must know,Sancho, that with the Spaniards and those who embark at Cadiz for theEast Indies, one of the signs they have to show them when they havepassed the equinoctial line I told thee of, is, that the lice die uponeverybody on board the ship, and not a single one is left, or to be foundin the whole vessel if they gave its weight in gold for it; so, Sancho,thou mayest as well pass thy hand down thy thigh, and if thou comest uponanything alive we shall be no longer in doubt; if not, then we havecrossed.""I don't believe a bit of it," said Sancho; "still, I'll do as yourworship bids me; though I don't know what need there is for trying theseexperiments, for I can see with my own eyes that we have not moved fiveyards away from the bank, or shifted two yards from where the animalsstand, for there are Rocinante and Dapple in the very same place where weleft them; and watching a point, as I do now, I swear by all that's good,we are not stirring or moving at the pace of an ant.""Try the test I told thee of, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and don't mindany other, for thou knowest nothing about colures, lines, parallels,zodiacs, ecliptics, poles, solstices, equinoxes, planets, signs,bearings, the measures of which the celestial and terrestrial spheres arecomposed; if thou wert acquainted with all these things, or any portionof them, thou wouldst see clearly how many parallels we have cut, whatsigns we have seen, and what constellations we have left behind and arenow leaving behind. But again I tell thee, feel and hunt, for I amcertain thou art cleaner than a sheet of smooth white paper."Sancho felt, and passing his hand gently and carefully down to the hollowof his left knee, he looked up at his master and said, "Either the testis a false one, or we have not come to where your worship says, norwithin many leagues of it.""Why, how so?" asked Don Quixote; "hast thou come upon aught?""Ay, and aughts," replied Sancho; and shaking his fingers he washed hiswhole hand in the river along which the boat was quietly gliding inmidstream, not moved by any occult intelligence or invisible enchanter,but simply by the current, just there smooth and gentle.They now came in sight of some large water mills that stood in the middleof the river, and the instant Don Quixote saw them he cried out, "Seestthou there, my friend? there stands the castle or fortress, where thereis, no doubt, some knight in durance, or ill-used queen, or infanta, orprincess, in whose aid I am brought hither.""What the devil city, fortress, or castle is your worship talking about,senor?" said Sancho; "don't you see that those are mills that stand inthe river to grind corn?""Hold thy peace, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "though they look like millsthey are not so; I have already told thee that enchantments transformthings and change their proper shapes; I do not mean to say they reallychange them from one form into another, but that it seems as though theydid, as experience proved in the transformation of Dulcinea, sole refugeof my hopes."By this time, the boat, having reached the middle of the stream, began tomove less slowly than hitherto. The millers belonging to the mills, whenthey saw the boat coming down the river, and on the point of being suckedin by the draught of the wheels, ran out in haste, several of them, withlong poles to stop it, and being all mealy, with faces and garmentscovered with flour, they presented a sinister appearance. They raisedloud shouts, crying, "Devils of men, where are you going to? Are you mad?Do you want to drown yourselves, or dash yourselves to pieces among thesewheels?""Did I not tell thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote at this, "that we hadreached the place where I am to show what the might of my arm can do? Seewhat ruffians and villains come out against me; see what monsters opposeme; see what hideous countenances come to frighten us! You shall soonsee, scoundrels!" And then standing up in the boat he began in a loudvoice to hurl threats at the millers, exclaiming, "Ill-conditioned andworse-counselled rabble, restore to liberty and freedom the person yehold in durance in this your fortress or prison, high or low or ofwhatever rank or quality he be, for I am Don Quixote of La Mancha,otherwise called the Knight of the Lions, for whom, by the disposition ofheaven above, it is reserved to give a happy issue to this adventure;"and so saying he drew his sword and began making passes in the air at themillers, who, hearing but not understanding all this nonsense, strove tostop the boat, which was now getting into the rushing channel of thewheels. Sancho fell upon his knees devoutly appealing to heaven todeliver him from such imminent peril; which it did by the activity andquickness of the millers, who, pushing against the boat with their poles,stopped it, not, however, without upsetting and throwing Don Quixote andSancho into the water; and lucky it was for Don Quixote that he couldswim like a goose, though the weight of his armour carried him twice tothe bottom; and had it not been for the millers, who plunged in andhoisted them both out, it would have been Troy town with the pair ofthem. As soon as, more drenched than thirsty, they were landed, Sanchowent down on his knees and with clasped hands and eyes raised to heaven,prayed a long and fervent prayer to God to deliver him evermore from therash projects and attempts of his master. The fishermen, the owners ofthe boat, which the mill-wheels had knocked to pieces, now came up, andseeing it smashed they proceeded to strip Sancho and to demand paymentfor it from Don Quixote; but he with great calmness, just as if nothinghad happened him, told the millers and fishermen that he would pay forthe bark most cheerfully, on condition that they delivered up to him,free and unhurt, the person or persons that were in durance in thatcastle of theirs."What persons or what castle art thou talking of, madman? Art thou forcarrying off the people who come to grind corn in these mills?""That's enough," said Don Quixote to himself, "it would be preaching inthe desert to attempt by entreaties to induce this rabble to do anyvirtuous action. In this adventure two mighty enchanters must haveencountered one another, and one frustrates what the other attempts; oneprovided the bark for me, and the other upset me; God help us, this worldis all machinations and schemes at cross purposes one with the other. Ican do no more." And then turning towards the mills he said aloud,"Friends, whoe'er ye be that are immured in that prison, forgive me that,to my misfortune and yours, I cannot deliver you from your misery; thisadventure is doubtless reserved and destined for some other knight."So saying he settled with the fishermen, and paid fifty reals for theboat, which Sancho handed to them very much against the grain, saying,"With a couple more bark businesses like this we shall have sunk ourwhole capital."The fishermen and the millers stood staring in amazement at the twofigures, so very different to all appearance from ordinary men, and werewholly unable to make out the drift of the observations and questions DonQuixote addressed to them; and coming to the conclusion that they weremadmen, they left them and betook themselves, the millers to their mills,and the fishermen to their huts. Don Quixote and Sancho returned to theirbeasts, and to their life of beasts, and so ended the adventure of theenchanted bark.