PART II - CHAPTER XXXV.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO DON QUIXOTE TOUCHING THEDISENCHANTMENT OF DULCINEA, TOGETHER WITH OTHER MARVELLOUS INCIDENTSThey saw advancing towards them, to the sound of this pleasing music,what they call a triumphal car, drawn by six grey mules with white linenhousings, on each of which was mounted a penitent, robed also in white,with a large lighted wax taper in his hand. The car was twice or,perhaps, three times as large as the former ones, and in front and on thesides stood twelve more penitents, all as white as snow and all withlighted tapers, a spectacle to excite fear as well as wonder; and on araised throne was seated a nymph draped in a multitude of silver-tissueveils with an embroidery of countless gold spangles glittering all overthem, that made her appear, if not richly, at least brilliantly,apparelled. She had her face covered with thin transparent sendal, thetexture of which did not prevent the fair features of a maiden from beingdistinguished, while the numerous lights made it possible to judge of herbeauty and of her years, which seemed to be not less than seventeen butnot to have yet reached twenty. Beside her was a figure in a robe ofstate, as they call it, reaching to the feet, while the head was coveredwith a black veil. But the instant the car was opposite the duke andduchess and Don Quixote the music of the clarions ceased, and then thatof the lutes and harps on the car, and the figure in the robe rose up,and flinging it apart and removing the veil from its face, disclosed totheir eyes the shape of Death itself, fleshless and hideous, at whichsight Don Quixote felt uneasy, Sancho frightened, and the duke andduchess displayed a certain trepidation. Having risen to its feet, thisliving death, in a sleepy voice and with a tongue hardly awake, heldforth as follows: I am that Merlin who the legends say The devil had for father, and the lie Hath gathered credence with the lapse of time. Of magic prince, of Zoroastric lore Monarch and treasurer, with jealous eye I view the efforts of the age to hide The gallant deeds of doughty errant knights, Who are, and ever have been, dear to me. Enchanters and magicians and their kind Are mostly hard of heart; not so am I; For mine is tender, soft, compassionate, And its delight is doing good to all. In the dim caverns of the gloomy Dis, Where, tracing mystic lines and characters, My soul abideth now, there came to me The sorrow-laden plaint of her, the fair, The peerless Dulcinea del Toboso. I knew of her enchantment and her fate, From high-born dame to peasant wench transformed And touched with pity, first I turned the leaves Of countless volumes of my devilish craft, And then, in this grim grisly skeleton Myself encasing, hither have I come To show where lies the fitting remedy To give relief in such a piteous case. O thou, the pride and pink of all that wear The adamantine steel! O shining light, O beacon, polestar, path and guide of all Who, scorning slumber and the lazy down, Adopt the toilsome life of bloodstained arms! To thee, great hero who all praise transcends, La Mancha's lustre and Iberia's star, Don Quixote, wise as brave, to thee I say-- For peerless Dulcinea del Toboso Her pristine form and beauty to regain, 'T is needful that thy esquire Sancho shall, On his own sturdy buttocks bared to heaven, Three thousand and three hundred lashes lay, And that they smart and sting and hurt him well. Thus have the authors of her woe resolved. And this is, gentles, wherefore I have come. "By all that's good," exclaimed Sancho at this, "I'll just as soon givemyself three stabs with a dagger as three, not to say three thousand,lashes. The devil take such a way of disenchanting! I don't see what mybackside has got to do with enchantments. By God, if Senor Merlin has notfound out some other way of disenchanting the lady Dulcinea del Toboso,she may go to her grave enchanted.""But I'll take you, Don Clown stuffed with garlic," said Don Quixote,"and tie you to a tree as naked as when your mother brought you forth,and give you, not to say three thousand three hundred, but six thousandsix hundred lashes, and so well laid on that they won't be got rid of ifyou try three thousand three hundred times; don't answer me a word orI'll tear your soul out."On hearing this Merlin said, "That will not do, for the lashes worthySancho has to receive must be given of his own free will and not byforce, and at whatever time he pleases, for there is no fixed limitassigned to him; but it is permitted him, if he likes to commute by halfthe pain of this whipping, to let them be given by the hand of another,though it may be somewhat weighty.""Not a hand, my own or anybody else's, weighty or weighable, shall touchme," said Sancho. "Was it I that gave birth to the lady Dulcinea delToboso, that my backside is to pay for the sins of her eyes? My master,indeed, that's a part of her--for, he's always calling her 'my life' and'my soul,' and his stay and prop--may and ought to whip himself for herand take all the trouble required for her disenchantment. But for me towhip myself! Abernuncio!"As soon as Sancho had done speaking the nymph in silver that was at theside of Merlin's ghost stood up, and removing the thin veil from her facedisclosed one that seemed to all something more than exceedinglybeautiful; and with a masculine freedom from embarrassment and in a voicenot very like a lady's, addressing Sancho directly, said, "Thou wretchedsquire, soul of a pitcher, heart of a cork tree, with bowels of flint andpebbles; if, thou impudent thief, they bade thee throw thyself down fromsome lofty tower; if, enemy of mankind, they asked thee to swallow adozen of toads, two of lizards, and three of adders; if they wanted theeto slay thy wife and children with a sharp murderous scimitar, it wouldbe no wonder for thee to show thyself stubborn and squeamish. But to makea piece of work about three thousand three hundred lashes, what everypoor little charity-boy gets every month--it is enough to amaze,astonish, astound the compassionate bowels of all who hear it, nay, allwho come to hear it in the course of time. Turn, O miserable,hard-hearted animal, turn, I say, those timorous owl's eyes upon these ofmine that are compared to radiant stars, and thou wilt see them weepingtrickling streams and rills, and tracing furrows, tracks, and paths overthe fair fields of my cheeks. Let it move thee, crafty, ill-conditionedmonster, to see my blooming youth--still in its teens, for I am not yettwenty--wasting and withering away beneath the husk of a rude peasantwench; and if I do not appear in that shape now, it is a special favourSenor Merlin here has granted me, to the sole end that my beauty maysoften thee; for the tears of beauty in distress turn rocks into cottonand tigers into ewes. Lay on to that hide of thine, thou great untamedbrute, rouse up thy lusty vigour that only urges thee to eat and eat, andset free the softness of my flesh, the gentleness of my nature, and thefairness of my face. And if thou wilt not relent or come to reason forme, do so for the sake of that poor knight thou hast beside thee; thymaster I mean, whose soul I can this moment see, how he has it stuck inhis throat not ten fingers from his lips, and only waiting for thyinflexible or yielding reply to make its escape by his mouth or go backagain into his stomach."Don Quixote on hearing this felt his throat, and turning to the duke hesaid, "By God, senor, Dulcinea says true, I have my soul stuck here in mythroat like the nut of a crossbow.""What say you to this, Sancho?" said the duchess."I say, senora," returned Sancho, "what I said before; as for the lashes,abernuncio!""Abrenuncio, you should say, Sancho, and not as you do," said the duke."Let me alone, your highness," said Sancho. "I'm not in a humour now tolook into niceties or a letter more or less, for these lashes that are tobe given me, or I'm to give myself, have so upset me, that I don't knowwhat I'm saying or doing. But I'd like to know of this lady, my ladyDulcinea del Toboso, where she learned this way she has of askingfavours. She comes to ask me to score my flesh with lashes, and she callsme soul of a pitcher, and great untamed brute, and a string of foul namesthat the devil is welcome to. Is my flesh brass? or is it anything to mewhether she is enchanted or not? Does she bring with her a basket of fairlinen, shirts, kerchiefs, socks-not that wear any--to coax me? No,nothing but one piece of abuse after another, though she knows theproverb they have here that 'an ass loaded with gold goes lightly up amountain,' and that 'gifts break rocks,' and 'praying to God and plyingthe hammer,' and that 'one "take" is better than two "I'll give thee's."'Then there's my master, who ought to stroke me down and pet me to make meturn wool and carded cotton; he says if he gets hold of me he'll tie menaked to a tree and double the tale of lashes on me. These tender-heartedgentry should consider that it's not merely a squire, but a governor theyare asking to whip himself; just as if it was 'drink with cherries.' Letthem learn, plague take them, the right way to ask, and beg, and behavethemselves; for all times are not alike, nor are people always in goodhumour. I'm now ready to burst with grief at seeing my green coat torn,and they come to ask me to whip myself of my own free will, I having aslittle fancy for it as for turning cacique.""Well then, the fact is, friend Sancho," said the duke, "that unless youbecome softer than a ripe fig, you shall not get hold of the government.It would be a nice thing for me to send my islanders a cruel governorwith flinty bowels, who won't yield to the tears of afflicted damsels orto the prayers of wise, magisterial, ancient enchanters and sages. Inshort, Sancho, either you must be whipped by yourself, or they must whipyou, or you shan't be governor.""Senor," said Sancho, "won't two days' grace be given me in which toconsider what is best for me?""No, certainly not," said Merlin; "here, this minute, and on the spot,the matter must be settled; either Dulcinea will return to the cave ofMontesinos and to her former condition of peasant wench, or else in herpresent form shall be carried to the Elysian fields, where she willremain waiting until the number of stripes is completed.""Now then, Sancho!" said the duchess, "show courage, and gratitude foryour master Don Quixote's bread that you have eaten; we are all bound tooblige and please him for his benevolent disposition and lofty chivalry.Consent to this whipping, my son; to the devil with the devil, and leavefear to milksops, for 'a stout heart breaks bad luck,' as you very wellknow."To this Sancho replied with an irrelevant remark, which, addressingMerlin, he made to him, "Will your worship tell me, Senor Merlin--whenthat courier devil came up he gave my master a message from SenorMontesinos, charging him to wait for him here, as he was coming toarrange how the lady Dona Dulcinea del Toboso was to be disenchanted; butup to the present we have not seen Montesinos, nor anything like him."To which Merlin made answer, "The devil, Sancho, is a blockhead and agreat scoundrel; I sent him to look for your master, but not with amessage from Montesinos but from myself; for Montesinos is in his caveexpecting, or more properly speaking, waiting for his disenchantment; forthere's the tail to be skinned yet for him; if he owes you anything, oryou have any business to transact with him, I'll bring him to you and puthim where you choose; but for the present make up your mind to consent tothis penance, and believe me it will be very good for you, for soul aswell for body--for your soul because of the charity with which youperform it, for your body because I know that you are of a sanguine habitand it will do you no harm to draw a little blood.""There are a great many doctors in the world; even the enchanters aredoctors," said Sancho; "however, as everybody tells me the samething--though I can't see it myself--I say I am willing to give myselfthe three thousand three hundred lashes, provided I am to lay them onwhenever I like, without any fixing of days or times; and I'll try andget out of debt as quickly as I can, that the world may enjoy the beautyof the lady Dulcinea del Toboso; as it seems, contrary to what I thought,that she is beautiful after all. It must be a condition, too, that I amnot to be bound to draw blood with the scourge, and that if any of thelashes happen to be fly-flappers they are to count. Item, that, in case Ishould make any mistake in the reckoning, Senor Merlin, as he knowseverything, is to keep count, and let me know how many are still wantingor over the number.""There will be no need to let you know of any over," said Merlin,"because, when you reach the full number, the lady Dulcinea will at once,and that very instant, be disenchanted, and will come in her gratitude toseek out the worthy Sancho, and thank him, and even reward him for thegood work. So you have no cause to be uneasy about stripes too many ortoo few; heaven forbid I should cheat anyone of even a hair of his head.""Well then, in God's hands be it," said Sancho; "in the hard case I'm inI give in; I say I accept the penance on the conditions laid down."The instant Sancho uttered these last words the music of the clarionsstruck up once more, and again a host of muskets were discharged, and DonQuixote hung on Sancho's neck kissing him again and again on the foreheadand cheeks. The duchess and the duke expressed the greatest satisfaction,the car began to move on, and as it passed the fair Dulcinea bowed to theduke and duchess and made a low curtsey to Sancho.And now bright smiling dawn came on apace; the flowers of the field,revived, raised up their heads, and the crystal waters of the brooks,murmuring over the grey and white pebbles, hastened to pay their tributeto the expectant rivers; the glad earth, the unclouded sky, the freshbreeze, the clear light, each and all showed that the day that cametreading on the skirts of morning would be calm and bright. The duke andduchess, pleased with their hunt and at having carried out their plans socleverly and successfully, returned to their castle resolved to follow uptheir joke; for to them there was no reality that could afford them moreamusement.