"As to the question of the cave," was the reply, "there is much tobe said; there is something of both in it. Sancho's whipping willproceed leisurely. The disenchantment of Dulcinea will attain itsdue consummation."
"I seek to know no more," said Don Quixote; "let me but see Dulcineadisenchanted, and I will consider that all the good fortune I couldwish for has come upon me all at once."
The last questioner was Sancho, and his questions were, "Head, shallI by any chance have another government? Shall I ever escape fromthe hard life of a squire? Shall I get back to see my wife andchildren?" To which the answer came, "Thou shalt govern in thyhouse; and if thou returnest to it thou shalt see thy wife andchildren; and on ceasing to serve thou shalt cease to be a squire."
"Good, by God!" said Sancho Panza; "I could have told myself that;the prophet Perogrullo could have said no more."
"What answer wouldst thou have, beast?" said Don Quixote; "is it notenough that the replies this head has given suit the questions putto it?"
"Yes, it is enough," said Sancho; "but I should have liked it tohave made itself plainer and told me more."
The questions and answers came to an end here, but not the wonderwith which all were filled, except Don Antonio's two friends whowere in the secret. This Cide Hamete Benengeli thought fit to revealat once, not to keep the world in suspense, fancying that the head hadsome strange magical mystery in it. He says, therefore, that on themodel of another head, the work of an image maker, which he had seenat Madrid, Don Antonio made this one at home for his own amusement andto astonish ignorant people; and its mechanism was as follows. Thetable was of wood painted and varnished to imitate jasper, and thepedestal on which it stood was of the same material, with four eagles'claws projecting from it to support the weight more steadily. Thehead, which resembled a bust or figure of a Roman emperor, and wascoloured like bronze, was hollow throughout, as was the table, intowhich it was fitted so exactly that no trace of the joining wasvisible. The pedestal of the table was also hollow and communicatedwith the throat and neck of the head, and the whole was incommunication with another room underneath the chamber in which thehead stood. Through the entire cavity in the pedestal, table, throatand neck of the bust or figure, there passed a tube of tin carefullyadjusted and concealed from sight. In the room below correspondingto the one above was placed the person who was to answer, with hismouth to the tube, and the voice, as in an ear-trumpet, passed fromabove downwards, and from below upwards, the words coming clearlyand distinctly; it was impossible, thus, to detect the trick. A nephewof Don Antonio's, a smart sharp-witted student, was the answerer,and as he had been told beforehand by his uncle who the persons werethat would come with him that day into the chamber where the head was,it was an easy matter for him to answer the first question at once andcorrectly; the others he answered by guess-work, and, being clever,cleverly. Cide Hamete adds that this marvellous contrivance stoodfor some ten or twelve days; but that, as it became noised abroadthrough the city that he had in his house an enchanted head thatanswered all who asked questions of it, Don Antonio, fearing itmight come to the ears of the watchful sentinels of our faith,explained the matter to the inquisitors, who commanded him to break itup and have done with it, lest the ignorant vulgar should bescandalised. By Don Quixote, however, and by Sancho the head was stillheld to be an enchanted one, and capable of answering questions,though more to Don Quixote's satisfaction than Sancho's.
The gentlemen of the city, to gratify Don Antonio and also to do thehonours to Don Quixote, and give him an opportunity of displayinghis folly, made arrangements for a tilting at the ring in six daysfrom that time, which, however, for reason that will be mentionedhereafter, did not take place.
Don Quixote took a fancy to stroll about the city quietly and onfoot, for he feared that if he went on horseback the boys would followhim; so he and Sancho and two servants that Don Antonio gave him setout for a walk. Thus it came to pass that going along one of thestreets Don Quixote lifted up his eyes and saw written in very largeletters over a door, "Books printed here," at which he was vastlypleased, for until then he had never seen a printing office, and hewas curious to know what it was like. He entered with all hisfollowing, and saw them drawing sheets in one place, correcting inanother, setting up type here, revising there; in short all the workthat is to be seen in great printing offices. He went up to one caseand asked what they were about there; the workmen told him, he watchedthem with wonder, and passed on. He approached one man, amongothers, and asked him what he was doing. The workman replied,"Senor, this gentleman here" （pointing to a man of prepossessingappearance and a certain gravity of look） "has translated an Italianbook into our Spanish tongue, and I am setting it up in type for thepress."
"What is the title of the book?" asked Don Quixote; to which theauthor replied, "Senor, in Italian the book is called Le Bagatelle."
"And what does Le Bagatelle import in our Spanish?" asked DonQuixote.
"Le Bagatelle," said the author, "is as though we should say inSpanish Los Juguetes; but though the book is humble in name it hasgood solid matter in it."
"I," said Don Quixote, "have some little smattering of Italian,and I plume myself on singing some of Ariosto's stanzas; but tellme, senor- I do not say this to test your ability, but merely out ofcuriosity- have you ever met with the word pignatta in your book?"
"Yes, often," said the author.
"And how do you render that in Spanish?"
"How should I render it," returned the author, "but by olla?"
"Body o' me," exclaimed Don Quixote, "what a proficient you are inthe Italian language! I would lay a good wager that where they sayin Italian piace you say in Spanish place, and where they say piuyou say mas, and you translate su by arriba and giu by abajo."
"I translate them so of course," said the author, "for those aretheir proper equivalents."
"I would venture to swear," said Don Quixote, "that your worshipis not known in the world, which always begrudges their reward to rarewits and praiseworthy labours. What talents lie wasted there! Whatgenius thrust away into corners! What worth left neglected! Still itseems to me that translation from one language into another, if itbe not from the queens of languages, the Greek and the Latin, islike looking at Flemish tapestries on the wrong side; for though thefigures are visible, they are full of threads that make themindistinct, and they do not show with the smoothness and brightness ofthe right side; and translation from easy languages argues neitheringenuity nor command of words, any more than transcribing orcopying out one document from another. But I do not mean by this todraw the inference that no credit is to be allowed for the work oftranslating, for a man may employ himself in ways worse and lessprofitable to himself. This estimate does not include two famoustranslators, Doctor Cristobal de Figueroa, in his Pastor Fido, and DonJuan de Jauregui, in his Aminta, wherein by their felicity theyleave it in doubt which is the translation and which the original. Buttell me, are you printing this book at your own risk, or have you soldthe copyright to some bookseller?"
"I print at my own risk," said the author, "and I expect to make athousand ducats at least by this first edition, which is to be oftwo thousand copies that will go off in a twinkling at six realsapiece."
"A fine calculation you are making!" said Don Quixote; "it isplain you don't know the ins and outs of the printers, and how theyplay into one another's hands. I promise you when you find yourselfsaddled with two thousand copies you will feel so sore that it willastonish you, particularly if the book is a little out of the commonand not in any way highly spiced."
"What!" said the author, "would your worship, then, have me giveit to a bookseller who will give three maravedis for the copyright andthink he is doing me a favour? I do not print my books to win famein the world, for I am known in it already by my works; I want to makemoney, without which reputation is not worth a rap."
"God send your worship good luck," said Don Quixote; and he moved onto another case, where he saw them correcting a sheet of a book withthe title of "Light of the Soul;" noticing it he observed, "Books likethis, though there are many of the kind, are the ones that deserveto be printed, for many are the sinners in these days, and lightsunnumbered are needed for all that are in darkness."
He passed on, and saw they were also correcting another book, andwhen he asked its title they told him it was called, "The SecondPart of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha," by one ofTordesillas.
"I have heard of this book already," said Don Quixote, "and verilyand on my conscience I thought it had been by this time burned toashes as a meddlesome intruder; but its Martinmas will come to it asit does to every pig; for fictions have the more merit and charm aboutthem the more nearly they approach the truth or what looks like it;and true stories, the truer they are the better they are;" and sosaying he walked out of the printing office with a certain amount ofdispleasure in his looks. That same day Don Antonio arranged to takehim to see the galleys that lay at the beach, whereat Sancho was inhigh delight, as he had never seen any all his life. Don Antoniosent word to the commandant of the galleys that he intended to bringhis guest, the famous Don Quixote of La Mancha, of whom the commandantand all the citizens had already heard, that afternoon to see them;and what happened on board of them will be told in the next chapter.CHAPTER LXIII