All this was Greek or gibberish to the peasants, but not so to thestudents, who very soon perceived the crack in Don Quixote's pate; forall that, however, they regarded him with admiration and respect,and one of them said to him, "If you, sir knight, have no fixedroad, as it is the way with those who seek adventures not to have any,let your worship come with us; you will see one of the finest andrichest weddings that up to this day have ever been celebrated in LaMancha, or for many a league round."
Don Quixote asked him if it was some prince's, that he spoke of itin this way. "Not at all," said the student; "it is the wedding of afarmer and a farmer's daughter, he the richest in all this country,and she the fairest mortal ever set eyes on. The display with which itis to be attended will be something rare and out of the common, for itwill be celebrated in a meadow adjoining the town of the bride, who iscalled, par excellence, Quiteria the fair, as the bridegroom is calledCamacho the rich. She is eighteen, and he twenty-two, and they arefairly matched, though some knowing ones, who have all the pedigreesin the world by heart, will have it that the family of the fairQuiteria is better than Camacho's; but no one minds that now-a-days,for wealth can solder a great many flaws. At any rate, Camacho isfree-handed, and it is his fancy to screen the whole meadow withboughs and cover it in overhead, so that the sun will have hard workif he tries to get in to reach the grass that covers the soil. Hehas provided dancers too, not only sword but also bell-dancers, for inhis own town there are those who ring the changes and jingle the bellsto perfection; of shoe-dancers I say nothing, for of them he hasengaged a host. But none of these things, nor of the many others Ihave omitted to mention, will do more to make this a memorable weddingthan the part which I suspect the despairing Basilio will play init. This Basilio is a youth of the same village as Quiteria, and helived in the house next door to that of her parents, of whichcircumstance Love took advantage to reproduce to the word thelong-forgotten loves of Pyramus and Thisbe; for Basilio loved Quiteriafrom his earliest years, and she responded to his passion withcountless modest proofs of affection, so that the loves of the twochildren, Basilio and Quiteria, were the talk and the amusement of thetown. As they grew up, the father of Quiteria made up his mind torefuse Basilio his wonted freedom of access to the house, and torelieve himself of constant doubts and suspicions, he arranged a matchfor his daughter with the rich Camacho, as he did not approve ofmarrying her to Basilio, who had not so large a share of the giftsof fortune as of nature; for if the truth be told ungrudgingly, heis the most agile youth we know, a mighty thrower of the bar, afirst-rate wrestler, and a great ball-player; he runs like a deer, andleaps better than a goat, bowls over the nine-pins as if by magic,sings like a lark, plays the guitar so as to make it speak, and, aboveall, handles a sword as well as the best."
"For that excellence alone," said Don Quixote at this, "the youthdeserves to marry, not merely the fair Quiteria, but Queen Guinevereherself, were she alive now, in spite of Launcelot and all who wouldtry to prevent it."
"Say that to my wife," said Sancho, who had until now listened insilence, "for she won't hear of anything but each one marrying hisequal, holding with the proverb 'each ewe to her like.' What I wouldlike is that this good Basilio （for I am beginning to take a fancyto him already） should marry this lady Quiteria; and a blessing andgood luck- I meant to say the opposite- on people who would preventthose who love one another from marrying."
"If all those who love one another were to marry," said Don Quixote,"it would deprive parents of the right to choose, and marry theirchildren to the proper person and at the proper time; and if it wasleft to daughters to choose husbands as they pleased, one would be forchoosing her father's servant, and another, some one she has seenpassing in the street and fancies gallant and dashing, though he maybe a drunken bully; for love and fancy easily blind the eyes of thejudgment, so much wanted in choosing one's way of life; and thematrimonial choice is very liable to error, and it needs great cautionand the special favour of heaven to make it a good one. He who hasto make a long journey, will, if he is wise, look out for sometrusty and pleasant companion to accompany him before he sets out.Why, then, should not he do the same who has to make the whole journeyof life down to the final halting-place of death, more especially whenthe companion has to be his companion in bed, at board, andeverywhere, as the wife is to her husband? The companionship ofone's wife is no article of merchandise, that, after it has beenbought, may be returned, or bartered, or changed; for it is aninseparable accident that lasts as long as life lasts; it is a noosethat, once you put it round your neck, turns into a Gordian knot,which, if the scythe of Death does not cut it, there is no untying.I could say a great deal more on this subject, were I not prevented bythe anxiety I feel to know if the senor licentiate has anything moreto tell about the story of Basilio."
To this the student, bachelor, or, as Don Quixote called him,licentiate, replied, "I have nothing whatever to say further, but thatfrom the moment Basilio learned that the fair Quiteria was to bemarried to Camacho the rich, he has never been seen to smile, or heardto utter rational word, and he always goes about moody and dejected,talking to himself in a way that shows plainly he is out of hissenses. He eats little and sleeps little, and all he eats is fruit,and when he sleeps, if he sleeps at all, it is in the field on thehard earth like a brute beast. Sometimes he gazes at the sky, at othertimes he fixes his eyes on the earth in such an abstracted way that hemight be taken for a clothed statue, with its drapery stirred by thewind. In short, he shows such signs of a heart crushed by suffering,that all we who know him believe that when to-morrow the fair Quiteriasays 'yes,' it will be his sentence of death."
"God will guide it better," said Sancho, "for God who gives thewound gives the salve; nobody knows what will happen; there are a goodmany hours between this and to-morrow, and any one of them, or anymoment, the house may fall; I have seen the rain coming down and thesun shining all at one time; many a one goes to bed in good health whocan't stir the next day. And tell me, is there anyone who can boast ofhaving driven a nail into the wheel of fortune? No, faith; and betweena woman's 'yes' and 'no' I wouldn't venture to put the point of a pin,for there would not be room for it; if you tell me Quiteria lovesBasilio heart and soul, then I'll give him a bag of good luck; forlove, I have heard say, looks through spectacles that make copper seemgold, poverty wealth, and blear eyes pearls."
"What art thou driving at, Sancho? curses on thee!" said DonQuixote; "for when thou takest to stringing proverbs and sayingstogether, no one can understand thee but Judas himself, and I wishhe had thee. Tell me, thou animal, what dost thou know about nailsor wheels, or anything else?"
"Oh, if you don't understand me," replied Sancho, "it is no wondermy words are taken for nonsense; but no matter; I understand myself,and I know I have not said anything very foolish in what I havesaid; only your worship, senor, is always gravelling at everything Isay, nay, everything I do."
"Cavilling, not gravelling," said Don Quixote, "thou prevaricator ofhonest language, God confound thee!"
"Don't find fault with me, your worship," returned Sancho, "foryou know I have not been bred up at court or trained at Salamanca,to know whether I am adding or dropping a letter or so in my words.Why! God bless me, it's not fair to force a Sayago-man to speak like aToledan; maybe there are Toledans who do not hit it off when itcomes to polished talk."
"That is true," said the licentiate, "for those who have been bredup in the Tanneries and the Zocodover cannot talk like those who arealmost all day pacing the cathedral cloisters, and yet they are allToledans. Pure, correct, elegant and lucid language will be met within men of courtly breeding and discrimination, though they may havebeen born in Majalahonda; I say of discrimination, because there aremany who are not so, and discrimination is the grammar of goodlanguage, if it be accompanied by practice. I, sirs, for my sinshave studied canon law at Salamanca, and I rather pique myself onexpressing my meaning in clear, plain, and intelligible language."
"If you did not pique yourself more on your dexterity with thosefoils you carry than on dexterity of tongue," said the otherstudent, "you would have been head of the degrees, where you are nowtail."
"Look here, bachelor Corchuelo," returned the licentiate, "youhave the most mistaken idea in the world about skill with the sword,if you think it useless."
"It is no idea on my part, but an established truth," repliedCorchuelo; "and if you wish me to prove it to you by experiment, youhave swords there, and it is a good opportunity; I have a steadyhand and a strong arm, and these joined with my resolution, which isnot small, will make you confess that I am not mistaken. Dismountand put in practice your positions and circles and angles and science,for I hope to make you see stars at noonday with my rude rawswordsmanship, in which, next to God, I place my trust that the man isyet to be born who will make me turn my back, and that there is notone in the world I will not compel to give ground."