"That is what I say," said Sancho; "there was no occasion forminding the words of a madman; for if good luck had not helped yourworship, and he had sent that stone at your head instead of at yourbreast, a fine way we should have been in for standing up for mylady yonder, God confound her! And then, would not Cardenio havegone free as a madman?"
"Against men in their senses or against madmen," said Don Quixote,"every knight-errant is bound to stand up for the honour of women,whoever they may be, much more for queens of such high degree anddignity as Queen Madasima, for whom I have a particular regard onaccount of her amiable qualities; for, besides being extremelybeautiful, she was very wise, and very patient under hermisfortunes, of which she had many; and the counsel and society of theMaster Elisabad were a great help and support to her in enduring herafflictions with wisdom and resignation; hence the ignorant andill-disposed vulgar took occasion to say and think that she was hismistress; and they lie, I say it once more, and will lie two hundredtimes more, all who think and say so."
"I neither say nor think so," said Sancho; "let them look to it;with their bread let them eat it; they have rendered account to Godwhether they misbehaved or not; I come from my vineyard, I knownothing; I am not fond of prying into other men's lives; he who buysand lies feels it in his purse; moreover, naked was I born, naked Ifind myself, I neither lose nor gain; but if they did, what is that tome? many think there are flitches where there are no hooks; but whocan put gates to the open plain? moreover they said of God-"
"God bless me," said Don Quixote, "what a set of absurdities thouart stringing together! What has what we are talking about got to dowith the proverbs thou art threading one after the other? for God'ssake hold thy tongue, Sancho, and henceforward keep to prodding thyass and don't meddle in what does not concern thee; and understandwith all thy five senses that everything I have done, am doing, orshall do, is well founded on reason and in conformity with the rulesof chivalry, for I understand them better than all the world thatprofess them."
"Senor," replied Sancho, "is it a good rule of chivalry that weshould go astray through these mountains without path or road, lookingfor a madman who when he is found will perhaps take a fancy tofinish what he began, not his story, but your worship's head and myribs, and end by breaking them altogether for us?"
"Peace, I say again, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "for let me tellthee it is not so much the desire of finding that madman that leads meinto these regions as that which I have of performing among them anachievement wherewith I shall win eternal name and fame throughout theknown world; and it shall be such that I shall thereby set the seal onall that can make a knight-errant perfect and famous."
"And is it very perilous, this achievement?"
"No," replied he of the Rueful Countenance; "though it may be in thedice that we may throw deuce-ace instead of sixes; but all will dependon thy diligence."
"On my diligence!" said Sancho.
"Yes," said Don Quixote, "for if thou dost return soon from theplace where I mean to send thee, my penance will be soon over, andmy glory will soon begin. But as it is not right to keep thee anylonger in suspense, waiting to see what comes of my words, I wouldhave thee know, Sancho, that the famous Amadis of Gaul was one ofthe most perfect knights-errant- I am wrong to say he was one; hestood alone, the first, the only one, the lord of all that were in theworld in his time. A fig for Don Belianis, and for all who say heequalled him in any respect, for, my oath upon it, they aredeceiving themselves! I say, too, that when a painter desires tobecome famous in his art he endeavours to copy the originals of therarest painters that he knows; and the same rule holds good for allthe most important crafts and callings that serve to adorn a state;thus must he who would be esteemed prudent and patient imitateUlysses, in whose person and labours Homer presents to us a livelypicture of prudence and patience; as Virgil, too, shows us in theperson of AEneas the virtue of a pious son and the sagacity of a braveand skilful captain; not representing or describing them as they were,but as they ought to be, so as to leave the example of their virtuesto posterity. In the same way Amadis was the polestar, day-star, sunof valiant and devoted knights, whom all we who fight under the bannerof love and chivalry are bound to imitate. This, then, being so, Iconsider, friend Sancho, that the knight-errant who shall imitatehim most closely will come nearest to reaching the perfection ofchivalry. Now one of the instances in which this knight mostconspicuously showed his prudence, worth, valour, endurance,fortitude, and love, was when he withdrew, rejected by the LadyOriana, to do penance upon the Pena Pobre, changing his name into thatof Beltenebros, a name assuredly significant and appropriate to thelife which he had voluntarily adopted. So, as it is easier for me toimitate him in this than in cleaving giants asunder, cutting offserpents' heads, slaying dragons, routing armies, destroying fleets,and breaking enchantments, and as this place is so well suited for asimilar purpose, I must not allow the opportunity to escape whichnow so conveniently offers me its forelock."
"What is it in reality," said Sancho, "that your worship means to doin such an out-of-the-way place as this?"
"Have I not told thee," answered Don Quixote, "that I mean toimitate Amadis here, playing the victim of despair, the madman, themaniac, so as at the same time to imitate the valiant Don Roland, whenat the fountain he had evidence of the fair Angelica havingdisgraced herself with Medoro and through grief thereat went mad,and plucked up trees, troubled the waters of the clear springs, slewdestroyed flocks, burned down huts, levelled houses, dragged maresafter him, and perpetrated a hundred thousand other outrages worthy ofeverlasting renown and record? And though I have no intention ofimitating Roland, or Orlando, or Rotolando （for he went by all thesenames）， step by step in all the mad things he did, said, andthought, I will make a rough copy to the best of my power of allthat seems to me most essential; but perhaps I shall content myselfwith the simple imitation of Amadis, who without giving way to anymischievous madness but merely to tears and sorrow, gained as muchfame as the most famous."
"It seems to me," said Sancho, "that the knights who behaved in thisway had provocation and cause for those follies and penances; but whatcause has your worship for going mad? What lady has rejected you, orwhat evidence have you found to prove that the lady Dulcinea delToboso has been trifling with Moor or Christian?"
"There is the point," replied Don Quixote, "and that is the beautyof this business of mine; no thanks to a knight-errant for going madwhen he has cause; the thing is to turn crazy without any provocation,and let my lady know, if I do this in the dry, what I would do inthe moist; moreover I have abundant cause in the long separation Ihave endured from my lady till death, Dulcinea del Toboso; for as thoudidst hear that shepherd Ambrosio say the other day, in absence allills are felt and feared; and so, friend Sancho, waste no time inadvising me against so rare, so happy, and so unheard-of an imitation;mad I am, and mad I must be until thou returnest with the answer toa letter that I mean to send by thee to my lady Dulcinea; and if it besuch as my constancy deserves, my insanity and penance will come to anend; and if it be to the opposite effect, I shall become mad inearnest, and, being so, I shall suffer no more; thus in whatever wayshe may answer I shall escape from the struggle and affliction inwhich thou wilt leave me, enjoying in my senses the boon thoubearest me, or as a madman not feeling the evil thou bringest me.But tell me, Sancho, hast thou got Mambrino's helmet safe? for I sawthee take it up from the ground when that ungrateful wretch tried tobreak it in pieces but could not, by which the fineness of itstemper may be seen."
To which Sancho made answer, "By the living God, Sir Knight of theRueful Countenance, I cannot endure or bear with patience some ofthe things that your worship says; and from them I begin to suspectthat all you tell me about chivalry, and winning kingdoms and empires,and giving islands, and bestowing other rewards and dignities afterthe custom of knights-errant, must be all made up of wind and lies,and all pigments or figments, or whatever we may call them; for whatwould anyone think that heard your worship calling a barber's basinMambrino's helmet without ever seeing the mistake all this time, butthat one who says and maintains such things must have his brainsaddled? I have the basin in my sack all dinted, and I am taking ithome to have it mended, to trim my beard in it, if, by God's grace,I am allowed to see my wife and children some day or other."
"Look here, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "by him thou didst swear byjust now I swear thou hast the most limited understanding that anysquire in the world has or ever had. Is it possible that all this timethou hast been going about with me thou hast never found out thatall things belonging to knights-errant seem to be illusions andnonsense and ravings, and to go always by contraries? And notbecause it really is so, but because there is always a swarm ofenchanters in attendance upon us that change and alter everything withus, and turn things as they please, and according as they are disposedto aid or destroy us; thus what seems to thee a barber's basin seemsto me Mambrino's helmet, and to another it will seem something else;and rare foresight it was in the sage who is on my side to make whatis really and truly Mambrine's helmet seem a basin to everybody,for, being held in such estimation as it is, all the world wouldpursue me to rob me of it; but when they see it is only a barber'sbasin they do not take the trouble to obtain it; as was plainlyshown by him who tried to break it, and left it on the groundwithout taking it, for, by my faith, had he known it he would neverhave left it behind. Keep it safe, my friend, for just now I have noneed of it; indeed, I shall have to take off all this armour andremain as naked as I was born, if I have a mind to follow Rolandrather than Amadis in my penance."