"Therefore, I say," said he of the Grove, "let us give up going inquest of adventures, and as we have loaves let us not go looking forcakes, but return to our cribs, for God will find us there if it behis will."
"Until my master reaches Saragossa," said Sancho, "I'll remain inhis service; after that we'll see."
The end of it was that the two squires talked so much and drank somuch that sleep had to tie their tongues and moderate their thirst,for to quench it was impossible; and so the pair of them fell asleepclinging to the now nearly empty bota and with half-chewed morselsin their mouths; and there we will leave them for the present, torelate what passed between the Knight of the Grove and him of theRueful Countenance.CHAPTER XIV
WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE ADVENTURE OF THE KNIGHT OF THE GROVE
AMONG the things that passed between Don Quixote and the Knight ofthe Wood, the history tells us he of the Grove said to Don Quixote,"In fine, sir knight, I would have you know that my destiny, or,more properly speaking, my choice led me to fall in love with thepeerless Casildea de Vandalia. I call her peerless because she hasno peer, whether it be in bodily stature or in the supremacy of rankand beauty. This same Casildea, then, that I speak of, requited myhonourable passion and gentle aspirations by compelling me, as hisstepmother did Hercules, to engage in many perils of various sorts, atthe end of each promising me that, with the end of the next, theobject of my hopes should be attained; but my labours have gone onincreasing link by link until they are past counting, nor do I knowwhat will be the last one that is to be the beginning of theaccomplishment of my chaste desires. On one occasion she bade me goand challenge the famous giantess of Seville, La Giralda by name,who is as mighty and strong as if made of brass, and though neverstirring from one spot, is the most restless and changeable woman inthe world. I came, I saw, I conquered, and I made her stay quiet andbehave herself, for nothing but north winds blew for more than a week.Another time I was ordered to lift those ancient stones, the mightybulls of Guisando, an enterprise that might more fitly be entrusted toporters than to knights. Again, she bade me fling myself into thecavern of Cabra- an unparalleled and awful peril- and bring her aminute account of all that is concealed in those gloomy depths. Istopped the motion of the Giralda, I lifted the bulls of Guisando, Iflung myself into the cavern and brought to light the secrets of itsabyss; and my hopes are as dead as dead can be, and her scorn andher commands as lively as ever. To be brief, last of all she hascommanded me to go through all the provinces of Spain and compel allthe knights-errant wandering therein to confess that she surpasses allwomen alive to-day in beauty, and that I am the most valiant and themost deeply enamoured knight on earth; in support of which claim Ihave already travelled over the greater part of Spain, and havethere vanquished several knights who have dared to contradict me;but what I most plume and pride myself upon is having vanquished insingle combat that so famous knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, and madehim confess that my Casildea is more beautiful than his Dulcinea;and in this one victory I hold myself to have conquered all theknights in the world; for this Don Quixote that I speak of hasvanquished them all, and I having vanquished him, his glory, his fame,and his honour have passed and are transferred to my person; for
The more the vanquished hath of fair renown,
The greater glory gilds the victor's crown.Thus the innumerable achievements of the said Don Quixote are nowset down to my account and have become mine."
Don Quixote was amazed when he heard the Knight of the Grove, andwas a thousand times on the point of telling him he lied, and hadthe lie direct already on the tip of his tongue; but he restrainedhimself as well as he could, in order to force him to confess thelie with his own lips; so he said to him quietly, "As to what you say,sir knight, about having vanquished most of the knights of Spain, oreven of the whole world, I say nothing; but that you have vanquishedDon Quixote of La Mancha I consider doubtful; it may have been someother that resembled him, although there are few like him."
"How! not vanquished?" said he of the Grove; "by the heaven thatis above us I fought Don Quixote and overcame him and made himyield; and he is a man of tall stature, gaunt features, long, lanklimbs, with hair turning grey, an aquiline nose rather hooked, andlarge black drooping moustaches; he does battle under the name of 'TheCountenance,' and he has for squire a peasant called Sancho Panza;he presses the loins and rules the reins of a famous steed calledRocinante; and lastly, he has for the mistress of his will a certainDulcinea del Toboso, once upon a time called Aldonza Lorenzo, justas I call mine Casildea de Vandalia because her name is Casilda andshe is of Andalusia. If all these tokens are not enough to vindicatethe truth of what I say, here is my sword, that will compelincredulity itself to give credence to it."
"Calm yourself, sir knight," said Don Quixote, "and give ear to whatI am about to say to you. you.I would have you know that this DonQuixote you speak of is the greatest friend I have in the world; somuch so that I may say I regard him in the same light as my ownperson; and from the precise and clear indications you have given Icannot but think that he must be the very one you have vanquished.On the other hand, I see with my eyes and feel with my hands that itis impossible it can have been the same; unless indeed it be that,as he has many enemies who are enchanters, and one in particular whois always persecuting him, some one of these may have taken hisshape in order to allow himself to be vanquished, so as to defraud himof the fame that his exalted achievements as a knight have earnedand acquired for him throughout the known world. And in confirmationof this, I must tell you, too, that it is but ten hours since thesesaid enchanters his enemies transformed the shape and person of thefair Dulcinea del Toboso into a foul and mean village lass, and in thesame way they must have transformed Don Quixote; and if all thisdoes not suffice to convince you of the truth of what I say, here isDon Quixote himself, who will maintain it by arms, on foot or onhorseback or in any way you please."
And so saying he stood up and laid his hand on his sword, waiting tosee what the Knight of the Grove would do, who in an equally calmvoice said in reply, "Pledges don't distress a good payer; he whohas succeeded in vanquishing you once when transformed, Sir DonQuixote, may fairly hope to subdue you in your own proper shape; butas it is not becoming for knights to perform their feats of arms inthe dark, like highwaymen and bullies, let us wait till daylight, thatthe sun may behold our deeds; and the conditions of our combat shallbe that the vanquished shall be at the victor's disposal, to do allthat he may enjoin, provided the injunction be such as shall bebecoming a knight."
"I am more than satisfied with these conditions and terms,"replied Don Quixote; and so saying, they betook themselves to wheretheir squires lay, and found them snoring, and in the same posturethey were in when sleep fell upon them. They roused them up, andbade them get the horses ready, as at sunrise they were to engage in abloody and arduous single combat; at which intelligence Sancho wasaghast and thunderstruck, trembling for the safety of his masterbecause of the mighty deeds he had heard the squire of the Groveascribe to his; but without a word the two squires went in quest oftheir cattle; for by this time the three horses and the ass hadsmelt one another out, and were all together.
On the way, he of the Grove said to Sancho, "You must know, brother,that it is the custom with the fighting men of Andalusia, when theyare godfathers in any quarrel, not to stand idle with folded armswhile their godsons fight; I say so to remind you that while ourmasters are fighting, we, too, have to fight, and knock one another toshivers."
"That custom, sir squire," replied Sancho, "may hold good amongthose bullies and fighting men you talk of, but certainly not amongthe squires of knights-errant; at least, I have never heard mymaster speak of any custom of the sort, and he knows all the laws ofknight-errantry by heart; but granting it true that there is anexpress law that squires are to fight while their masters arefighting, I don't mean to obey it, but to pay the penalty that maybe laid on peacefully minded squires like myself; for I am sure itcannot be more than two pounds of wax, and I would rather pay that,for I know it will cost me less than the lint I shall be at theexpense of to mend my head, which I look upon as broken and splitalready; there's another thing that makes it impossible for me tofight, that I have no sword, for I never carried one in my life."
"I know a good remedy for that," said he of the Grove; "I havehere two linen bags of the same size; you shall take one, and I theother, and we will fight at bag blows with equal arms."
"If that's the way, so be it with all my heart," said Sancho, "forthat sort of battle will serve to knock the dust out of us insteadof hurting us."
"That will not do," said the other, "for we must put into thebags, to keep the wind from blowing them away, half a dozen nicesmooth pebbles, all of the same weight; and in this way we shall beable to baste one another without doing ourselves any harm ormischief."