"Sancho," said Don Quixote, "thou hast delivered a thousandsentences condensed in the compass of a few words; I thank thee forthe advice thou hast given me, and take it most gladly. Come, myson, let us go look for some place where I may hide, while thou dostreturn, as thou sayest, to seek, and speak with my lady, from whosediscretion and courtesy I look for favours more than miraculous."
Sancho was in a fever to get his master out of the town, lest heshould discover the falsehood of the reply he had brought to him inthe Sierra Morena on behalf of Dulcinea; so he hastened theirdeparture, which they took at once, and two miles out of the villagethey found a forest or thicket wherein Don Quixote ensconcedhimself, while Sancho returned to the city to speak to Dulcinea, inwhich embassy things befell him which demand fresh attention and a newchapter.
CHAPTER X
WHEREIN IS RELATED THE CRAFTY DEVICE SANCHO ADOPTED TO ENCHANT THELADY DULCINEA, AND OTHER INCIDENTS AS LUDICROUS AS THEY ARE TRUE
WHEN the author of this great history comes to relate what is setdown in this chapter he says he would have preferred to pass it overin silence, fearing it would not he believed, because here DonQuixote's madness reaches the confines of the greatest that can beconceived, and even goes a couple of bowshots beyond the greatest. Butafter all, though still under the same fear and apprehension, he hasrecorded it without adding to the story or leaving out a particle ofthe truth, and entirely disregarding the charges of falsehood thatmight be brought against him; and he was right, for the truth mayrun fine but will not break, and always rises above falsehood as oilabove water; and so, going on with his story, he says that as soonas Don Quixote had ensconced himself in the forest, oak grove, or woodnear El Toboso, he bade Sancho return to the city, and not come intohis presence again without having first spoken on his behalf to hislady, and begged of her that it might be her good pleasure to permitherself to be seen by her enslaved knight, and deign to bestow herblessing upon him, so that he might thereby hope for a happy issuein all his encounters and difficult enterprises. Sancho undertook toexecute the task according to the instructions, and to bring back ananswer as good as the one he brought back before.
"Go, my son," said Don Quixote, "and be not dazed when thoufindest thyself exposed to the light of that sun of beauty thou artgoing to seek. Happy thou, above all the squires in the world! Bear inmind, and let it not escape thy memory, how she receives thee; ifshe changes colour while thou art giving her my message; if she isagitated and disturbed at hearing my name; if she cannot rest upon hercushion, shouldst thou haply find her seated in the sumptuous statechamber proper to her rank; and should she be standing, observe if shepoises herself now on one foot, now on the other; if she repeats twoor three times the reply she gives thee; if she passes from gentlenessto austerity, from asperity to tenderness; if she raises her hand tosmooth her hair though it be not disarranged. In short, my son,observe all her actions and motions, for if thou wilt report them tome as they were, I will gather what she hides in the recesses of herheart as regards my love; for I would have thee know, Sancho, ifthou knowest it not, that with lovers the outward actions andmotions they give way to when their loves are in question are thefaithful messengers that carry the news of what is going on in thedepths of their hearts. Go, my friend, may better fortune than mineattend thee, and bring thee a happier issue than that which I await indread in this dreary solitude."
"I will go and return quickly," said Sancho; "cheer up that littleheart of yours, master mine, for at the present moment you seem tohave got one no bigger than a hazel nut; remember what they say,that a stout heart breaks bad luck, and that where there are nofletches there are no pegs; and moreover they say, the hare jumps upwhere it's not looked for. I say this because, if we could not find mylady's palaces or castles to-night, now that it is daylight I countupon finding them when I least expect it, and once found, leave itto me to manage her."
"Verily, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "thou dost always bring in thyproverbs happily, whatever we deal with; may God give me better luckin what I am anxious about."
With this, Sancho wheeled about and gave Dapple the stick, and DonQuixote remained behind, seated on his horse, resting in hisstirrups and leaning on the end of his lance, filled with sad andtroubled forebodings; and there we will leave him, and accompanySancho, who went off no less serious and troubled than he left hismaster; so much so, that as soon as he had got out of the thicket, andlooking round saw that Don Quixote was not within sight, he dismountedfrom his ass, and seating himself at the foot of a tree began tocommune with himself, saying, "Now, brother Sancho, let us knowwhere your worship is going. Are you going to look for some ass thathas been lost? Not at all. Then what are you going to look for? I amgoing to look for a princess, that's all; and in her for the sun ofbeauty and the whole heaven at once. And where do you expect to findall this, Sancho? Where? Why, in the great city of El Toboso. Well,and for whom are you going to look for her? For the famous knightDon Quixote of La Mancha, who rights wrongs, gives food to those whothirst and drink to the hungry. That's all very well, but do youknow her house, Sancho? My master says it will be some royal palace orgrand castle. And have you ever seen her by any chance? Neither Inor my master ever saw her. And does it strike you that it would bejust and right if the El Toboso people, finding out that you were herewith the intention of going to tamper with their princesses andtrouble their ladies, were to come and cudgel your ribs, and not leavea whole bone in you? They would, indeed, have very good reason, ifthey did not see that I am under orders, and that 'you are amessenger, my friend, no blame belongs to you.' Don't you trust tothat, Sancho, for the Manchegan folk are as hot-tempered as they arehonest, and won't put up with liberties from anybody. By the Lord,if they get scent of you, it will be worse for you, I promise you.Be off, you scoundrel! Let the bolt fall. Why should I go lookingfor three feet on a cat, to please another man; and what is more, whenlooking for Dulcinea will be looking for Marica in Ravena, or thebachelor in Salamanca? The devil, the devil and nobody else, has mixedme up in this business!"
Such was the soliloquy Sancho held with himself, and all theconclusion he could come to was to say to himself again, "Well,there's remedy for everything except death, under whose yoke we haveall to pass, whether we like it or not, when life's finished. I haveseen by a thousand signs that this master of mine is a madman fit tobe tied, and for that matter, I too, am not behind him; for I'm agreater fool than he is when I follow him and serve him, if there'sany truth in the proverb that says, 'Tell me what company thoukeepest, and I'll tell thee what thou art,' or in that other, 'Notwith whom thou art bred, but with whom thou art fed.' Well then, if hebe mad, as he is, and with a madness that mostly takes one thing foranother, and white for black, and black for white, as was seen when hesaid the windmills were giants, and the monks' mules dromedaries,flocks of sheep armies of enemies, and much more to the same tune,it will not be very hard to make him believe that some country girl,the first I come across here, is the lady Dulcinea; and if he does notbelieve it, I'll swear it; and if he should swear, I'll swear again;and if he persists I'll persist still more, so as, come what may, tohave my quoit always over the peg. Maybe, by holding out in thisway, I may put a stop to his sending me on messages of this kindanother time; or maybe he will think, as I suspect he will, that oneof those wicked enchanters, who he says have a spite against him,has changed her form for the sake of doing him an ill turn andinjuring him."
With this reflection Sancho made his mind easy, counting thebusiness as good as settled, and stayed there till the afternoon so asto make Don Quixote think he had time enough to go to El Toboso andreturn; and things turned out so luckily for him that as he got upto mount Dapple, he spied, coming from El Toboso towards the spotwhere he stood, three peasant girls on three colts, or fillies- forthe author does not make the point clear, though it is more likelythey were she-asses, the usual mount with village girls; but as itis of no great consequence, we need not stop to prove it.
To be brief, the instant Sancho saw the peasant girls, he returnedfull speed to seek his master, and found him sighing and uttering athousand passionate lamentations. When Don Quixote saw him heexclaimed, "What news, Sancho, my friend? Am I to mark this day with awhite stone or a black?"
"Your worship," replied Sancho, "had better mark it with ruddle,like the inscriptions on the walls of class rooms, that those whosee it may see it plain."
"Then thou bringest good news," said Don Quixote.
"So good," replied Sancho, "that your worship bas only to spurRocinante and get out into the open field to see the lady Dulcinea delToboso, who, with two others, damsels of hers, is coming to see yourworship."
"Holy God! what art thou saying, Sancho, my friend?" exclaimed DonQuixote. "Take care thou art not deceiving me, or seeking by false joyto cheer my real sadness."