There were no more images, so Don Quixote bade them cover them upagain, and said to those who had brought them, "I take it as a happyomen, brothers, to have seen what I have; for these saints and knightswere of the same profession as myself, which is the calling of arms;only there is this difference between them and me, that they weresaints, and fought with divine weapons, and I am a sinner and fightwith human ones. They won heaven by force of arms, for heavensuffereth violence; and I, so far, know not what I have won by dint ofmy sufferings; but if my Dulcinea del Toboso were to be releasedfrom hers, perhaps with mended fortunes and a mind restored toitself I might direct my steps in a better path than I am following atpresent."

"May God hear and sin be deaf," said Sancho to this.

The men were filled with wonder, as well at the figure as at thewords of Don Quixote, though they did not understand one half ofwhat he meant by them. They finished their dinner, took their imageson their backs, and bidding farewell to Don Quixote resumed theirjourney.

Sancho was amazed afresh at the extent of his master's knowledge, asmuch as if he had never known him, for it seemed to him that there wasno story or event in the world that he had not at his fingers' endsand fixed in his memory, and he said to him, "In truth, master mine,if this that has happened to us to-day is to be called an adventure,it has been one of the sweetest and pleasantest that have befallenus in the whole course of our travels; we have come out of itunbelaboured and undismayed, neither have we drawn sword nor have wesmitten the earth with our bodies, nor have we been left famishing;blessed be God that he has let me see such a thing with my own eyes!"

"Thou sayest well, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "but remember alltimes are not alike nor do they always run the same way; and thesethings the vulgar commonly call omens, which are not based upon anynatural reason, will by him who is wise be esteemed and reckoned happyaccidents merely. One of these believers in omens will get up of amorning, leave his house, and meet a friar of the order of the blessedSaint Francis, and, as if he had met a griffin, he will turn about andgo home. With another Mendoza the salt is spilt on his table, andgloom is spilt over his heart, as if nature was obliged to givewarning of coming misfortunes by means of such trivial things asthese. The wise man and the Christian should not trifle with what itmay please heaven to do. Scipio on coming to Africa stumbled as heleaped on shore; his soldiers took it as a bad omen; but he,clasping the soil with his arms, exclaimed, 'Thou canst not escape me,Africa, for I hold thee tight between my arms.' Thus, Sancho,meeting those images has been to me a most happy occurrence."

"I can well believe it," said Sancho; "but I wish your worship wouldtell me what is the reason that the Spaniards, when they are aboutto give battle, in calling on that Saint James the Moorslayer, say'Santiago and close Spain!' Is Spain, then, open, so that it isneedful to close it; or what is the meaning of this form?"

"Thou art very simple, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "God, look you,gave that great knight of the Red Cross to Spain as her patron saintand protector, especially in those hard struggles the Spaniards hadwith the Moors; and therefore they invoke and call upon him as theirdefender in all their battles; and in these he has been many a timeseen beating down, trampling under foot, destroying and slaughteringthe Hagarene squadrons in the sight of all; of which fact I could givethee many examples recorded in truthful Spanish histories."

Sancho changed the subject, and said to his master, "I marvel,senor, at the boldness of Altisidora, the duchess's handmaid; hewhom they call Love must have cruelly pierced and wounded her; theysay he is a little blind urchin who, though blear-eyed, or moreproperly speaking sightless, if he aims at a heart, be it ever sosmall, hits it and pierces it through and through with his arrows. Ihave heard it said too that the arrows of Love are blunted androbbed of their points by maidenly modesty and reserve; but withthis Altisidora it seems they are sharpened rather than blunted."

"Bear in mind, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that love is influencedby no consideration, recognises no restraints of reason, and is of thesame nature as death, that assails alike the lofty palaces of kingsand the humble cabins of shepherds; and when it takes entirepossession of a heart, the first thing it does is to banish fear andshame from it; and so without shame Altisidora declared her passion,which excited in my mind embarrassment rather than commiseration."

"Notable cruelty!" exclaimed Sancho; "unheard-of ingratitude! Ican only say for myself that the very smallest loving word of herswould have subdued me and made a slave of me. The devil! What aheart of marble, what bowels of brass, what a soul of mortar! But Ican't imagine what it is that this damsel saw in your worship thatcould have conquered and captivated her so. What gallant figure wasit, what bold bearing, what sprightly grace, what comeliness offeature, which of these things by itself, or what all together,could have made her fall in love with you? For indeed and in truthmany a time I stop to look at your worship from the sole of yourfoot to the topmost hair of your head, and I see more to frightenone than to make one fall in love; moreover I have heard say thatbeauty is the first and main thing that excites love, and as yourworship has none at all, I don't know what the poor creature fell inlove with."

"Recollect, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "there are two sorts ofbeauty, one of the mind, the other of the body; that of the minddisplays and exhibits itself in intelligence, in modesty, inhonourable conduct, in generosity, in good breeding; and all thesequalities are possible and may exist in an ugly man; and when it isthis sort of beauty and not that of the body that is the attraction,love is apt to spring up suddenly and violently. I, Sancho, perceiveclearly enough that I am not beautiful, but at the same time I knowI am not hideous; and it is enough for an honest man not to be amonster to he an object of love, if only he possesses the endowmentsof mind I have mentioned."

While engaged in this discourse they were making their way through awood that lay beyond the road, when suddenly, without expectinganything of the kind, Don Quixote found himself caught in some nets ofgreen cord stretched from one tree to another; and unable toconceive what it could be, he said to Sancho, "Sancho, it strikes methis affair of these nets will prove one of the strangest adventuresimaginable. May I die if the enchanters that persecute me are nottrying to entangle me in them and delay my journey, by way ofrevenge for my obduracy towards Altisidora. Well then let me tell themthat if these nets, instead of being green cord, were made of thehardest diamonds, or stronger than that wherewith the jealous god ofblacksmiths enmeshed Venus and Mars, I would break them as easily asif they were made of rushes or cotton threads." But just as he wasabout to press forward and break through all, suddenly from among sometrees two shepherdesses of surpassing beauty presented themselves tohis sight- or at least damsels dressed like shepherdesses, save thattheir jerkins and sayas were of fine brocade; that is to say, thesayas were rich farthingales of gold embroidered tabby. Their hair,that in its golden brightness vied with the beams of the sun itself,fell loose upon their shoulders and was crowned with garlands twinedwith green laurel and red everlasting; and their years to allappearance were not under fifteen nor above eighteen. Such was thespectacle that filled Sancho with amazement, fascinated Don Quixote,made the sun halt in his course to behold them, and held all four in astrange silence. One of the shepherdesses, at length, was the first tospeak and said to Don Quixote, "Hold, sir knight, and do not breakthese nets; for they are not spread here to do you any harm, butonly for our amusement; and as I know you will ask why they havebeen put up, and who we are, I will tell you in a few words. In avillage some two leagues from this, where there are many people ofquality and rich gentlefolk, it was agreed upon by a number of friendsand relations to come with their wives, sons and daughters,neighbours, friends and kinsmen, and make holiday in this spot,which is one of the pleasantest in the whole neighbourhood, setting upa new pastoral Arcadia among ourselves, we maidens dressingourselves as shepherdesses and the youths as shepherds. We haveprepared two eclogues, one by the famous poet Garcilasso, the other bythe most excellent Camoens, in its own Portuguese tongue, but wehave not as yet acted them. Yesterday was the first day of ourcoming here; we have a few of what they say are called field-tentspitched among the trees on the bank of an ample brook thatfertilises all these meadows; last night we spread these nets in thetrees here to snare the silly little birds that startled by thenoise we make may fly into them. If you please to he our guest, senor,you will be welcomed heartily and courteously, for here just nowneither care nor sorrow shall enter."

She held her peace and said no more, and Don Quixote made answer,"Of a truth, fairest lady, Actaeon when he unexpectedly beheld Dianabathing in the stream could not have been more fascinated andwonderstruck than I at the sight of your beauty. I commend your modeof entertainment, and thank you for the kindness of your invitation;and if I can serve you, you may command me with full confidence ofbeing obeyed, for my profession is none other than to show myselfgrateful, and ready to serve persons of all conditions, but especiallypersons of quality such as your appearance indicates; and if,instead of taking up, as they probably do, but a small space, thesenets took up the whole surface of the globe, I would seek out newworlds through which to pass, so as not to break them; and that ye maygive some degree of credence to this exaggerated language of mine,know that it is no less than Don Quixote of La Mancha that makesthis declaration to you, if indeed it be that such a name hasreached your ears."

"Ah! friend of my soul," instantly exclaimed the othershepherdess, "what great good fortune has befallen us! Seest thou thisgentleman we have before us? Well then let me tell thee he is the mostvaliant and the most devoted and the most courteous gentleman in allthe world, unless a history of his achievements that has beenprinted and I have read is telling lies and deceiving us. I will lay awager that this good fellow who is with him is one Sancho Panza hissquire, whose drolleries none can equal."

"That's true," said Sancho; "I am that same droll and squire youspeak of, and this gentleman is my master Don Quixote of La Mancha,the same that's in the history and that they talk about."

"Oh, my friend," said the other, "let us entreat him to stay; for itwill give our fathers and brothers infinite pleasure; I too have heardjust what thou hast told me of the valour of the one and thedrolleries of the other; and what is more, of him they say that heis the most constant and loyal lover that was ever heard of, andthat his lady is one Dulcinea del Toboso, to whom all over Spain thepalm of beauty is awarded."

"And justly awarded," said Don Quixote, "unless, indeed, yourunequalled beauty makes it a matter of doubt. But spare yourselves thetrouble, ladies, of pressing me to stay, for the urgent calls of myprofession do not allow me to take rest under any circumstances."

At this instant there came up to the spot where the four stood abrother of one of the two shepherdesses, like them in shepherdcostume, and as richly and gaily dressed as they were. They told himthat their companion was the valiant Don Quixote of La Mancha, and theother Sancho his squire, of whom he knew already from having readtheir history. The gay shepherd offered him his services and beggedthat he would accompany him to their tents, and Don Quixote had togive way and comply. And now the gave was started, and the nets werefilled with a variety of birds that deceived by the colour fell intothe danger they were flying from. Upwards of thirty persons, all gailyattired as shepherds and shepherdesses, assembled on the spot, andwere at once informed who Don Quixote and his squire were, whereatthey were not a little delighted, as they knew of him alreadythrough his history. They repaired to the tents, where they foundtables laid out, and choicely, plentifully, and neatly furnished. Theytreated Don Quixote as a person of distinction, giving him the placeof honour, and all observed him, and were full of astonishment atthe spectacle. At last the cloth being removed, Don Quixote with greatcomposure lifted up his voice and said:

"One of the greatest sins that men are guilty of is- some will saypride- but I say ingratitude, going by the common saying that hellis full of ingrates. This sin, so far as it has lain in my power, Ihave endeavoured to avoid ever since I have enjoyed the faculty ofreason; and if I am unable to requite good deeds that have been doneme by other deeds, I substitute the desire to do so; and if that benot enough I make them known publicly; for he who declares and makesknown the good deeds done to him would repay them by others if it werein his power, and for the most part those who receive are theinferiors of those who give. Thus, God is superior to all because heis the supreme giver, and the offerings of man fall short by aninfinite distance of being a full return for the gifts of God; butgratitude in some degree makes up for this deficiency and shortcoming.I therefore, grateful for the favour that has been extended to mehere, and unable to make a return in the same measure, restricted as Iam by the narrow limits of my power, offer what I can and what Ihave to offer in my own way; and so I declare that for two full days Iwill maintain in the middle of this highway leading to Saragossa, thatthese ladies disguised as shepherdesses, who are here present, are thefairest and most courteous maidens in the world, excepting only thepeerless Dulcinea del Toboso, sole mistress of my thoughts, be it saidwithout offence to those who hear me, ladies and gentlemen."

Title: Don Quixote
Author: Miqeul de Cervantes
Viewed 406973 times

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