To which the courier replied in a harsh, discordant voice, "I am thedevil; I am in search of Don Quixote of La Mancha; those who arecoming this way are six troops of enchanters, who are bringing on atriumphal car the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso; she comes underenchantment, together with the gallant Frenchman Montesinos, to giveinstructions to Don Quixote as to how, she the said lady, may bedisenchanted."
"If you were the devil, as you say and as your appearanceindicates," said the duke, "you would have known the said knight DonQuixote of La Mancha, for you have him here before you."
"By God and upon my conscience," said the devil, "I never observedit, for my mind is occupied with so many different things that I wasforgetting the main thing I came about."
"This demon must be an honest fellow and a good Christian," saidSancho; "for if he wasn't he wouldn't swear by God and his conscience;I feel sure now there must be good souls even in hell itself."
Without dismounting, the demon then turned to Don Quixote andsaid, "The unfortunate but valiant knight Montesinos sends me to thee,the Knight of the Lions （would that I saw thee in their claws），bidding me tell thee to wait for him wherever I may find thee, as hebrings with him her whom they call Dulcinea del Toboso, that he mayshow thee what is needful in order to disenchant her; and as I camefor no more I need stay no longer; demons of my sort be with thee, andgood angels with these gentles;" and so saying he blew his hugehorn, turned about and went off without waiting for a reply fromanyone.
They all felt fresh wonder, but particularly Sancho and Don Quixote;Sancho to see how, in defiance of the truth, they would have it thatDulcinea was enchanted; Don Quixote because he could not feel surewhether what had happened to him in the cave of Montesinos was true ornot; and as he was deep in these cogitations the duke said to him, "Doyou mean to wait, Senor Don Quixote?"
"Why not?" replied he; "here will I wait, fearless and firm,though all hell should come to attack me."
"Well then, if I see another devil or hear another horn like thelast, I'll wait here as much as in Flanders," said Sancho.
Night now closed in more completely, and many lights began to flitthrough the wood, just as those fiery exhalations from the earth, thatlook like shooting-stars to our eyes, flit through the heavens; afrightful noise, too, was heard, like that made by the solid wheelsthe ox-carts usually have, by the harsh, ceaseless creaking ofwhich, they say, the bears and wolves are put to flight, if therehappen to be any where they are passing. In addition to all thiscommotion, there came a further disturbance to increase the tumult,for now it seemed as if in truth, on all four sides of the wood,four encounters or battles were going on at the same time; in onequarter resounded the dull noise of a terrible cannonade, in anothernumberless muskets were being discharged, the shouts of the combatantssounded almost close at hand, and farther away the Moorish lelilieswere raised again and again. In a word, the bugles, the horns, theclarions, the trumpets, the drums, the cannon, the musketry, and aboveall the tremendous noise of the carts, all made up together a din soconfused and terrific that Don Quixote had need to summon up all hiscourage to brave it; but Sancho's gave way, and he fell fainting onthe skirt of the duchess's robe, who let him lie there and promptlybade them throw water in his face. This was done, and he came tohimself by the time that one of the carts with the creaking wheelsreached the spot. It was drawn by four plodding oxen all coveredwith black housings; on each horn they had fixed a large lighted waxtaper, and on the top of the cart was constructed a raised seat, onwhich sat a venerable old man with a beard whiter than the verysnow, and so long that it fell below his waist; he was dressed in along robe of black buckram; for as the cart was thickly set with amultitude of candles it was easy to make out everything that was onit. Leading it were two hideous demons, also clad in buckram, withcountenances so frightful that Sancho, having once seen them, shut hiseyes so as not to see them again. As soon as the cart came oppositethe spot the old man rose from his lofty seat, and standing up said ina loud voice, "I am the sage Lirgandeo," and without another wordthe cart then passed on. Behind it came another of the same form, withanother aged man enthroned, who, stopping the cart, said in a voice noless solemn than that of the first, "I am the sage Alquife, thegreat friend of Urganda the Unknown," and passed on. Then another cartcame by at the same pace, but the occupant of the throne was not oldlike the others, but a man stalwart and robust, and of a forbiddingcountenance, who as he came up said in a voice far hoarser and moredevilish, "I am the enchanter Archelaus, the mortal enemy of Amadis ofGaul and all his kindred," and then passed on. Having gone a shortdistance the three carts halted and the monotonous noise of theirwheels ceased, and soon after they heard another, not noise, but soundof sweet, harmonious music, of which Sancho was very glad, taking itto be a good sign; and said he to the duchess, from whom he did notstir a step, or for a single instant, "Senora, where there's musicthere can't be mischief."
"Nor where there are lights and it is bright," said the duchess;to which Sancho replied, "Fire gives light, and it's bright wherethere are bonfires, as we see by those that are all round us andperhaps may burn us; but music is a sign of mirth and merrymaking."
"That remains to be seen," said Don Quixote, who was listening toall that passed; and he was right, as is shown in the followingchapter.
CHAPTER XXXV
WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO DON QUIXOTE TOUCHINGTHE DISENCHANTMENT OF DULCINEA, TOGETHER WITH OTHER MARVELLOUSINCIDENTS
THEY saw advancing towards them, to the sound of this pleasingmusic, what they call a triumphal car, drawn by six grey mules withwhite linen housings, on each of which was mounted a penitent, robedalso in white, with a large lighted wax taper in his hand. The car wastwice or, perhaps, three times as large as the former ones, and infront and on the sides stood twelve more penitents, all as white assnow and all with lighted tapers, a spectacle to excite fear as wellas wonder; and on a raised throne was seated a nymph draped in amultitude of silver-tissue veils with an embroidery of countlessgold spangles glittering all over them, that made her appear, if notrichly, at least brilliantly, apparelled. She had her face coveredwith thin transparent sendal, the texture of which did not prevent thefair features of a maiden from being distinguished, while the numerouslights made it possible to judge of her beauty and of her years, whichseemed to be not less than seventeen but not to have yet reachedtwenty. Beside her was a figure in a robe of state, as they call it,reaching to the feet, while the head was covered with a black veil.But the instant the car was opposite the duke and duchess and DonQuixote the music of the clarions ceased, and then that of the lutesand harps on the car, and the figure in the robe rose up, and flingingit apart and removing the veil from its face, disclosed to theireyes the shape of Death itself, fleshless and hideous, at whichsight Don Quixote felt uneasy, Sancho frightened, and the duke andduchess displayed a certain trepidation. Having risen to its feet,this living death, in a sleepy voice and with a tongue hardly awake,held forth as follows:
I am that Merlin who the legends say
The devil had for father, and the lie
Hath gathered credence with the lapse of time.
Of magic prince, of Zoroastric lore
Monarch and treasurer, with jealous eye
I view the efforts of the age to hide
The gallant deeds of doughty errant knights,
Who are, and ever have been, dear to me.
Enchanters and magicians and their kind
Are mostly hard of heart; not so am I;
For mine is tender, soft, compassionate,
And its delight is doing good to all.
In the dim caverns of the gloomy Dis,
Where, tracing mystic lines and characters,
My soul abideth now, there came to me
The sorrow-laden plaint of her, the fair,
The peerless Dulcinea del Toboso.
I knew of her enchantment and her fate,
From high-born dame to peasant wench transformed
And touched with pity, first I turned the leaves
Of countless volumes of my devilish craft,
And then, in this grim grisly skeleton
Myself encasing, hither have I come
To show where lies the fitting remedy
To give relief in such a piteous case.
O thou, the pride and pink of all that wear
The adamantine steel! O shining light,
O beacon, polestar, path and guide of all
Who, scorning slumber and the lazy down,
Adopt the toilsome life of bloodstained arms!
To thee, great hero who all praise transcends,
La Mancha's lustre and Iberia's star,
Don Quixote, wise as brave, to thee I say-
For peerless Dulcinea del Toboso
Her pristine form and beauty to regain,
'T is needful that thy esquire Sancho shall,
On his own sturdy buttocks bared to heaven,