Sancho got up as well as he could and begged his master to givehim his sword, saying he wanted to kill half a dozen of those dirtyunmannerly pigs, for he had by this time found out that that waswhat they were.

"Let them be, my friend," said Don Quixote; "this insult is thepenalty of my sin; and it is the righteous chastisement of heaven thatjackals should devour a vanquished knight, and wasps sting him andpigs trample him under foot."

"I suppose it is the chastisement of heaven, too," said Sancho,"that flies should prick the squires of vanquished knights, and liceeat them, and hunger assail them. If we squires were the sons of theknights we serve, or their very near relations, it would be nowonder if the penalty of their misdeeds overtook us, even to thefourth generation. But what have the Panzas to do with the Quixotes?Well, well, let's lie down again and sleep out what little of thenight there's left, and God will send us dawn and we shall be allright."

"Sleep thou, Sancho," returned Don Quixote, "for thou wast born tosleep as I was born to watch; and during the time it now wants of dawnI will give a loose rein to my thoughts, and seek a vent for them in alittle madrigal which, unknown to thee, I composed in my head lastnight."

"I should think," said Sancho, "that the thoughts that allow oneto make verses cannot be of great consequence; let your worship stringverses as much as you like and I'll sleep as much as I can;" andforthwith, taking the space of ground he required, he muffledhimself up and fell into a sound sleep, undisturbed by bond, debt,or trouble of any sort. Don Quixote, propped up against the trunk of abeech or a cork tree- for Cide Hamete does not specify what kind oftree it was- sang in this strain to the accompaniment of his ownsighs:

When in my mindI muse, O Love, upon thy cruelty,To death I flee,In hope therein the end of all to find.

But drawing nearThat welcome haven in my sea of woe,Such joy I know,That life revives, and still I linger here.

Thus life doth slay,And death again to life restoreth me;Strange destiny,That deals with life and death as with a play!

He accompanied each verse with many sighs and not a few tears,just like one whose heart was pierced with grief at his defeat and hisseparation from Dulcinea.

And now daylight came, and the sun smote Sancho on the eyes with hisbeams. He awoke, roused himself up, shook himself and stretched hislazy limbs, and seeing the havoc the pigs had made with his storeshe cursed the drove, and more besides. Then the pair resumed theirjourney, and as evening closed in they saw coming towards them someten men on horseback and four or five on foot. Don Quixote's heartbeat quick and Sancho's quailed with fear, for the persons approachingthem carried lances and bucklers, and were in very warlike guise.Don Quixote turned to Sancho and said, "If I could make use of myweapons, and my promise had not tied my hands, I would count this hostthat comes against us but cakes and fancy bread; but perhaps it mayprove something different from what we apprehend." The men onhorseback now came up, and raising their lances surrounded Don Quixotein silence, and pointed them at his back and breast, menacing him withdeath. One of those on foot, putting his finger to his lips as asign to him to be silent, seized Rocinante's bridle and drew him outof the road, and the others driving Sancho and Dapple before them, andall maintaining a strange silence, followed in the steps of the onewho led Don Quixote. The latter two or three times attempted to askwhere they were taking him to and what they wanted, but the instant hebegan to open his lips they threatened to close them with the pointsof their lances; and Sancho fared the same way, for the moment heseemed about to speak one of those on foot punched him with a goad,and Dapple likewise, as if he too wanted to talk. Night set in, theyquickened their pace, and the fears of the two prisoners grew greater,especially as they heard themselves assailed with- "Get on, yeTroglodytes;" "Silence, ye barbarians;" "March, ye cannibals;" "Nomurmuring, ye Scythians;" "Don't open your eyes, ye murderousPolyphemes, ye blood-thirsty lions," and suchlike names with whichtheir captors harassed the ears of the wretched master and man. Sanchowent along saying to himself, "We, tortolites, barbers, animals! Idon't like those names at all; 'it's in a bad wind our corn is beingwinnowed;' 'misfortune comes upon us all at once like sticks on adog,' and God grant it may be no worse than them that this unluckyadventure has in store for us."

Don Quixote rode completely dazed, unable with the aid of all hiswits to make out what could be the meaning of these abusive names theycalled them, and the only conclusion he could arrive at was that therewas no good to be hoped for and much evil to be feared. And now, aboutan hour after midnight, they reached a castle which Don Quixote saw atonce was the duke's, where they had been but a short time before. "Godbless me!" said he, as he recognised the mansion, "what does thismean? It is all courtesy and politeness in this house; but with thevanquished good turns into evil, and evil into worse."

They entered the chief court of the castle and found it prepared andfitted up in a style that added to their amazement and doubled theirfears, as will be seen in the following chapter.

CHAPTER LXIX

OF THE STRANGEST AND MOST EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL DONQUIXOTE IN THE WHOLE COURSE OF THIS GREAT HISTORY

The horsemen dismounted, and, together with the men on foot, withouta moment's delay taking up Sancho and Don Quixote bodily, they carriedthem into the court, all round which near a hundred torches fixed insockets were burning, besides above five hundred lamps in thecorridors, so that in spite of the night, which was somewhat dark, thewant of daylight could not be perceived. In the middle of the courtwas a catafalque, raised about two yards above the ground andcovered completely by an immense canopy of black velvet, and on thesteps all round it white wax tapers burned in more than a hundredsilver candlesticks. Upon the catafalque was seen the dead body of adamsel so lovely that by her beauty she made death itself lookbeautiful. She lay with her head resting upon a cushion of brocade andcrowned with a garland of sweet-smelling flowers of divers sorts,her hands crossed upon her bosom, and between them a branch ofyellow palm of victory. On one side of the court was erected astage, where upon two chairs were seated two persons who from havingcrowns on their heads and sceptres in their hands appeared to be kingsof some sort, whether real or mock ones. By the side of this stage,which was reached by steps, were two other chairs on which the mencarrying the prisoners seated Don Quixote and Sancho, all insilence, and by signs giving them to understand that they too wereto he silent; which, however, they would have been without anysigns, for their amazement at all they saw held them tongue-tied.And now two persons of distinction, who were at once recognised by DonQuixote as his hosts the duke and duchess, ascended the stage attendedby a numerous suite, and seated themselves on two gorgeous chairsclose to the two kings, as they seemed to be. Who would not havebeen amazed at this? Nor was this all, for Don Quixote had perceivedthat the dead body on the catafalque was that of the fairAltisidora. As the duke and duchess mounted the stage Don Quixoteand Sancho rose and made them a profound obeisance, which theyreturned by bowing their heads slightly. At this moment an officialcrossed over, and approaching Sancho threw over him a robe of blackbuckram painted all over with flames of fire, and taking off his capput upon his head a mitre such as those undergoing the sentence of theHoly Office wear; and whispered in his ear that he must not open hislips, or they would put a gag upon him, or take his life. Sanchosurveyed himself from head to foot and saw himself all ablaze withflames; but as they did not burn him, he did not care two farthingsfor them. He took off the mitre and seeing painted with devils heput it on again, saying to himself, "Well, so far those don't burnme nor do these carry me off." Don Quixote surveyed him too, andthough fear had got the better of his faculties, he could not helpsmiling to see the figure Sancho presented. And now from underneaththe catafalque, so it seemed, there rose a low sweet sound offlutes, which, coming unbroken by human voice (for there silenceitself kept silence), had a soft and languishing effect. Then,beside the pillow of what seemed to be the dead body, suddenlyappeared a fair youth in a Roman habit, who, to the accompaniment of aharp which he himself played, sang in a sweet and clear voice thesetwo stanzas:

While fair Altisidora, who the sportOf cold Don Quixote's cruelty hath been,Returns to life, and in this magic courtThe dames in sables come to grace the scene,And while her matrons all in seemly sortMy lady robes in baize and bombazine,Her beauty and her sorrows will I singWith defter quill than touched the Thracian string.

But not in life alone, methinks, to meBelongs the office; Lady, when my tongueIs cold in death, believe me, unto theeMy voice shall raise its tributary song.My soul, from this strait prison-house set free,As o'er the Stygian lake it floats along,Thy praises singing still shall hold its way,And make the waters of oblivion stay.

At this point one of the two that looked like kings exclaimed,"Enough, enough, divine singer! It would be an endless task to putbefore us now the death and the charms of the peerless Altisidora, notdead as the ignorant world imagines, but living in the voice of fameand in the penance which Sancho Panza, here present, has to undergo torestore her to the long-lost light. Do thou, therefore, ORhadamanthus, who sittest in judgment with me in the murky cavernsof Dis, as thou knowest all that the inscrutable fates have decreedtouching the resuscitation of this damsel, announce and declare itat once, that the happiness we look forward to from her restoration beno longer deferred."

No sooner had Minos the fellow judge of Rhadamanthus said this, thanRhadamanthus rising up said:

"Ho, officials of this house, high and low, great and small, makehaste hither one and all, and print on Sancho's face four-and-twentysmacks, and give him twelve pinches and six pin thrusts in the backand arms; for upon this ceremony depends the restoration ofAltisidora."

On hearing this Sancho broke silence and cried out, "By all that'sgood, I'll as soon let my face be smacked or handled as turn Moor.Body o' me! What has handling my face got to do with theresurrection of this damsel? 'The old woman took kindly to theblits; they enchant Dulcinea, and whip me in order to disenchanther; Altisidora dies of ailments God was pleased to send her, and tobring her to life again they must give me four-and-twenty smacks,and prick holes in my body with pins, and raise weals on my armswith pinches! Try those jokes on a brother-in-law; 'I'm an old dog,and "tus, tus" is no use with me.'"

"Thou shalt die," said Rhadamanthus in a loud voice; "relent, thoutiger; humble thyself, proud Nimrod; suffer and he silent, for noimpossibilities are asked of thee; it is not for thee to inquireinto the difficulties in this matter; smacked thou must be, prickedthou shalt see thyself, and with pinches thou must be made to howl.Ho, I say, officials, obey my orders; or by the word of an honest man,ye shall see what ye were born for."

At this some six duennas, advancing across the court, made theirappearance in procession, one after the other, four of them withspectacles, and all with their right hands uplifted, showing fourfingers of wrist to make their hands look longer, as is the fashionnow-a-days. No sooner had Sancho caught sight of them than,bellowing like a bull, he exclaimed, "I might let myself be handled byall the world; but allow duennas to touch me- not a bit of it! Scratchmy face, as my master was served in this very castle; run me throughthe body with burnished daggers; pinch my arms with red-hot pincers;I'll bear all in patience to serve these gentlefolk; but I won't letduennas touch me, though the devil should carry me off!"

Here Don Quixote, too, broke silence, saying to Sancho, "Havepatience, my son, and gratify these noble persons, and give all thanksto heaven that it has infused such virtue into thy person, that by itssufferings thou canst disenchant the enchanted and restore to life thedead."

The duennas were now close to Sancho, and he, having become moretractable and reasonable, settling himself well in his chair presentedhis face and beard to the first, who delivered him a smack verystoutly laid on, and then made him a low curtsey.

"Less politeness and less paint, senora duenna," said Sancho; "byGod your hands smell of vinegar-wash."

In fine, all the duennas smacked him and several others of thehousehold pinched him; but what he could not stand was being prickedby the pins; and so, apparently out of patience, he started up outof his chair, and seizing a lighted torch that stood near him fellupon the duennas and the whole set of his tormentors, exclaiming,"Begone, ye ministers of hell; I'm not made of brass not to feelsuch out-of-the-way tortures."

At this instant Altisidora, who probably was tired of having been solong lying on her back, turned on her side; seeing which thebystanders cried out almost with one voice, "Altisidora is alive!Altisidora lives!"

Rhadamanthus bade Sancho put away his wrath, as the object theyhad in view was now attained. When Don Quixote saw Altisidora move, hewent on his knees to Sancho saying to him, "Now is the time, son of mybowels, not to call thee my squire, for thee to give thyself some ofthose lashes thou art bound to lay on for the disenchantment ofDulcinea. Now, I say, is the time when the virtue that is in thee isripe, and endowed with efficacy to work the good that is looked forfrom thee."

To which Sancho made answer, "That's trick upon trick, I think,and not honey upon pancakes; a nice thing it would be for a whippingto come now, on the top of pinches, smacks, and pin-proddings! You hadbetter take a big stone and tie it round my neck, and pitch me intoa well; I should not mind it much, if I'm to be always made the cow ofthe wedding for the cure of other people's ailments. Leave me alone;or else by God I'll fling the whole thing to the dogs, let come whatmay."

Title: Don Quixote
Author: Miqeul de Cervantes
Viewed 407007 times

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