"What devil?" asked Don Quixote.
"The one with the bladders," said Sancho.
"Then I will recover him," said Don Quixote, "even if he be shutup with him in the deepest and darkest dungeons of hell. Follow me,Sancho, for the cart goes slowly, and with the mules of it I will makegood the loss of Dapple."
"You need not take the trouble, senor," said Sancho; "keep cool, foras I now see, the devil has let Dapple go and he is coming back to hisold quarters;" and so it turned out, for, having come down withDapple, in imitation of Don Quixote and Rocinante, the devil madeoff on foot to the town, and the ass came back to his master.
"For all that," said Don Quixote, "it will be well to visit thediscourtesy of that devil upon some of those in the cart, even if itwere the emperor himself."
"Don't think of it, your worship," returned Sancho; "take myadvice and never meddle with actors, for they are a favoured class;I myself have known an actor taken up for two murders, and yet comeoff scot-free; remember that, as they are merry folk who givepleasure, everyone favours and protects them, and helps and makes muchof them, above all when they are those of the royal companies andunder patent, all or most of whom in dress and appearance look likeprinces."
"Still, for all that," said Don Quixote, "the player devil mustnot go off boasting, even if the whole human race favours him."
So saying, he made for the cart, which was now very near the town,shouting out as he went, "Stay! halt! ye merry, jovial crew! I want toteach you how to treat asses and animals that serve the squires ofknights-errant for steeds."
So loud were the shouts of Don Quixote, that those in the cart heardand understood them, and, guessing by the words what the speaker'sintention was, Death in an instant jumped out of the cart, and theemperor, the devil carter and the angel after him, nor did the queenor the god Cupid stay behind; and all armed themselves with stones andformed in line, prepared to receive Don Quixote on the points of theirpebbles. Don Quixote, when he saw them drawn up in such a gallantarray with uplifted arms ready for a mighty discharge of stones,checked Rocinante and began to consider in what way he could attackthem with the least danger to himself. As he halted Sancho came up,and seeing him disposed to attack this well-ordered squadron, saidto him, "It would be the height of madness to attempt such anenterprise; remember, senor, that against sops from the brook, andplenty of them, there is no defensive armour in the world, except tostow oneself away under a brass bell; and besides, one should rememberthat it is rashness, and not valour, for a single man to attack anarmy that has Death in it, and where emperors fight in person, withangels, good and bad, to help them; and if this reflection will notmake you keep quiet, perhaps it will to know for certain that amongall these, though they look like kings, princes, and emperors, thereis not a single knight-errant."
"Now indeed thou hast hit the point, Sancho," said Don Quixote,"which may and should turn me from the resolution I had alreadyformed. I cannot and must not draw sword, as I have many a time beforetold thee, against anyone who is not a dubbed knight; it is forthee, Sancho, if thou wilt, to take vengeance for the wrong done tothy Dapple; and I will help thee from here by shouts and salutarycounsels."
"There is no occasion to take vengeance on anyone, senor," repliedSancho; "for it is not the part of good Christians to revengewrongs; and besides, I will arrange it with my ass to leave hisgrievance to my good-will and pleasure, and that is to live in peaceas long as heaven grants me life."
"Well," said Don Quixote, "if that be thy determination, goodSancho, sensible Sancho, Christian Sancho, honest Sancho, let us leavethese phantoms alone and turn to the pursuit of better and worthieradventures; for, from what I see of this country, we cannot fail tofind plenty of marvellous ones in it."
He at once wheeled about, Sancho ran to take possession of hisDapple, Death and his flying squadron returned to their cart andpursued their journey, and thus the dread adventure of the cart ofDeath ended happily, thanks to the advice Sancho gave his master;who had, the following day, a fresh adventure, of no less thrillinginterest than the last, with an enamoured knight-errant.CHAPTER XII
OF THE STRANGE ADVENTURE WHICH BEFELL THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE WITHTHE BOLD KNIGHT OF THE MIRRORS
THE night succeeding the day of the encounter with Death, DonQuixote and his squire passed under some tall shady trees, and DonQuixote at Sancho's persuasion ate a little from the store carriedby Dapple, and over their supper Sancho said to his master, "Senor,what a fool I should have looked if I had chosen for my reward thespoils of the first adventure your worship achieved, instead of thefoals of the three mares. After all, 'a sparrow in the hand isbetter than a vulture on the wing.'"
"At the same time, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "if thou hadstlet me attack them as I wanted, at the very least the emperor's goldcrown and Cupid's painted wings would have fallen to thee as spoils,for I should have taken them by force and given them into thy hands."
"The sceptres and crowns of those play-actor emperors," said Sancho,"were never yet pure gold, but only brass foil or tin."
"That is true," said Don Quixote, "for it would not be right thatthe accessories of the drama should be real, instead of being merefictions and semblances, like the drama itself; towards which, Sancho-and, as a necessary consequence, towards those who represent andproduce it- I would that thou wert favourably disposed, for they areall instruments of great good to the State, placing before us at everystep a mirror in which we may see vividly displayed what goes on inhuman life; nor is there any similitude that shows us morefaithfully what we are and ought to be than the play and theplayers. Come, tell me, hast thou not seen a play acted in whichkings, emperors, pontiffs, knights, ladies, and divers otherpersonages were introduced? One plays the villain, another theknave, this one the merchant, that the soldier, one the sharp-wittedfool, another the foolish lover; and when the play is over, and theyhave put off the dresses they wore in it, all the actors becomeequal."
"Yes, I have seen that," said Sancho.
"Well then," said Don Quixote, "the same thing happens in the comedyand life of this world, where some play emperors, others popes, and,in short, all the characters that can be brought into a play; but whenit is over, that is to say when life ends, death strips them all ofthe garments that distinguish one from the other, and all are equal inthe grave."
"A fine comparison!" said Sancho; "though not so new but that I haveheard it many and many a time, as well as that other one of the gameof chess; how, so long as the game lasts, each piece has its ownparticular office, and when the game is finished they are all mixed,jumbled up and shaken together, and stowed away in the bag, which ismuch like ending life in the grave."
"Thou art growing less doltish and more shrewd every day, Sancho,"said Don Quixote.
"Ay," said Sancho; "it must be that some of your worship'sshrewdness sticks to me; land that, of itself, is barren and dry, willcome to yield good fruit if you dung it and till it; what I mean isthat your worship's conversation has been the dung that has fallenon the barren soil of my dry wit, and the time I have been in yourservice and society has been the tillage; and with the help of thisI hope to yield fruit in abundance that will not fall away or slidefrom those paths of good breeding that your worship has made in myparched understanding."
Don Quixote laughed at Sancho's affected phraseology, andperceived that what he said about his improvement was true, for nowand then he spoke in a way that surprised him; though always, ormostly, when Sancho tried to talk fine and attempted politelanguage, he wound up by toppling over from the summit of hissimplicity into the abyss of his ignorance; and where he showed hisculture and his memory to the greatest advantage was in dragging inproverbs, no matter whether they had any bearing or not upon thesubject in hand, as may have been seen already and will be noticedin the course of this history.
In conversation of this kind they passed a good part of the night,but Sancho felt a desire to let down the curtains of his eyes, as heused to say when he wanted to go to sleep; and stripping Dapple heleft him at liberty to graze his fill. He did not remove Rocinante'ssaddle, as his master's express orders were, that so long as they werein the field or not sleeping under a roof Rocinante was not to bestripped- the ancient usage established and observed by knights-errantbeing to take off the bridle and hang it on the saddle-bow, but toremove the saddle from the horse- never! Sancho acted accordingly, andgave him the same liberty he had given Dapple, between whom andRocinante there was a friendship so unequalled and so strong, thatit is handed down by tradition from father to son, that the authorof this veracious history devoted some special chapters to it,which, in order to preserve the propriety and decorum due to a historyso heroic, he did not insert therein; although at times he forgetsthis resolution of his and describes how eagerly the two beastswould scratch one another when they were together and how, when theywere tired or full, Rocinante would lay his neck across Dapple's,stretching half a yard or more on the other side, and the pair wouldstand thus, gazing thoughtfully on the ground, for three days, or atleast so long as they were left alone, or hunger did not drive them togo and look for food. I may add that they say the author left it onrecord that he likened their friendship to that of Nisus and Euryalus,and Pylades and Orestes; and if that be so, it may be perceived, tothe admiration of mankind, how firm the friendship must have beenbetween these two peaceful animals, shaming men, who preservefriendships with one another so badly. This was why it was said-