TO ALL this Sancho listened with no little sorrow at heart to seehow his hopes of dignity were fading away and vanishing in smoke,and how the fair Princess Micomicona had turned into Dorothea, and thegiant into Don Fernando, while his master was sleeping tranquilly,totally unconscious of all that had come to pass. Dorothea wasunable to persuade herself that her present happiness was not all adream; Cardenio was in a similar state of mind, and Luscinda'sthoughts ran in the same direction. Don Fernando gave thanks to Heavenfor the favour shown to him and for having been rescued from theintricate labyrinth in which he had been brought so near thedestruction of his good name and of his soul; and in short everybodyin the inn was full of contentment and satisfaction at the happy issueof such a complicated and hopeless business. The curate as asensible man made sound reflections upon the whole affair, andcongratulated each upon his good fortune; but the one that was inthe highest spirits and good humour was the landlady, because of thepromise Cardenio and the curate had given her to pay for all thelosses and damage she had sustained through Don Quixote's means.Sancho, as has been already said, was the only one who was distressed,unhappy, and dejected; and so with a long face he went in to hismaster, who had just awoke, and said to him:
"Sir Rueful Countenance, your worship may as well sleep on as muchas you like, without troubling yourself about killing any giant orrestoring her kingdom to the princess; for that is all over andsettled now."
"I should think it was," replied Don Quixote, "for I have had themost prodigious and stupendous battle with the giant that I everremember having had all the days of my life; and with one back-stroke-swish!- I brought his head tumbling to the ground, and so much bloodgushed forth from him that it ran in rivulets over the earth likewater."
"Like red wine, your worship had better say," replied Sancho;"for I would have you know, if you don't know it, that the deadgiant is a hacked wine-skin, and the blood four-and-twenty gallonsof red wine that it had in its belly, and the cut-off head is thebitch that bore me; and the devil take it all."
"What art thou talking about, fool?" said Don Quixote; "art thouin thy senses?"
"Let your worship get up," said Sancho, "and you will see the nicebusiness you have made of it, and what we have to pay; and you willsee the queen turned into a private lady called Dorothea, and otherthings that will astonish you, if you understand them."
"I shall not be surprised at anything of the kind," returned DonQuixote; "for if thou dost remember the last time we were here Itold thee that everything that happened here was a matter ofenchantment, and it would be no wonder if it were the same now."
"I could believe all that," replied Sancho, "if my blanketing wasthe same sort of thing also; only it wasn't, but real and genuine; forI saw the landlord, Who is here to-day, holding one end of the blanketand jerking me up to the skies very neatly and smartly, and with asmuch laughter as strength; and when it comes to be a case of knowingpeople, I hold for my part, simple and sinner as I am, that there isno enchantment about it at all, but a great deal of bruising and badluck."
"Well, well, God will give a remedy," said Don Quixote; "hand memy clothes and let me go out, for I want to see thesetransformations and things thou speakest of."
Sancho fetched him his clothes; and while he was dressing, thecurate gave Don Fernando and the others present an account of DonQuixote's madness and of the stratagem they had made use of towithdraw him from that Pena Pobre where he fancied himself stationedbecause of his lady's scorn. He described to them also nearly allthe adventures that Sancho had mentioned, at which they marvelledand laughed not a little, thinking it, as all did, the strangestform of madness a crazy intellect could be capable of. But now, thecurate said, that the lady Dorothea's good fortune prevented herfrom proceeding with their purpose, it would be necessary to devise ordiscover some other way of getting him home.
Cardenio proposed to carry out the scheme they had begun, andsuggested that Luscinda would act and support Dorothea's partsufficiently well.
"No," said Don Fernando, "that must not be, for I want Dorothea tofollow out this idea of hers; and if the worthy gentleman's village isnot very far off, I shall be happy if I can do anything for hisrelief."
"It is not more than two days' journey from this," said the curate.
"Even if it were more," said Don Fernando, "I would gladly travel sofar for the sake of doing so good a work.
"At this moment Don Quixote came out in full panoply, withMambrino's helmet, all dinted as it was, on his head, his buckler onhis arm, and leaning on his staff or pike. The strange figure hepresented filled Don Fernando and the rest with amazement as theycontemplated his lean yellow face half a league long, his armour ofall sorts, and the solemnity of his deportment. They stood silentwaiting to see what he would say, and he, fixing his eyes on the airDorothea, addressed her with great gravity and composure:
"I am informed, fair lady, by my squire here that your greatness hasbeen annihilated and your being abolished, since, from a queen andlady of high degree as you used to be, you have been turned into aprivate maiden. If this has been done by the command of the magicianking your father, through fear that I should not afford you the aidyou need and are entitled to, I may tell you he did not know anddoes not know half the mass, and was little versed in the annals ofchivalry; for, if he had read and gone through them as attentively anddeliberately as I have, he would have found at every turn that knightsof less renown than mine have accomplished things more difficult: itis no great matter to kill a whelp of a giant, however arrogant he maybe; for it is not many hours since I myself was engaged with one, and-I will not speak of it, that they may not say I am lying; time,however, that reveals all, will tell the tale when we least expectit."
"You were engaged with a couple of wine-skins, and not a giant,"said the landlord at this; but Don Fernando told him to hold histongue and on no account interrupt Don Quixote, who continued, "Isay in conclusion, high and disinherited lady, that if your father hasbrought about this metamorphosis in your person for the reason Ihave mentioned, you ought not to attach any importance to it; forthere is no peril on earth through which my sword will not force away, and with it, before many days are over, I will bring your enemy'shead to the ground and place on yours the crown of your kingdom."
Don Quixote said no more, and waited for the reply of theprincess, who aware of Don Fernando's determination to carry on thedeception until Don Quixote had been conveyed to his home, withgreat ease of manner and gravity made answer, "Whoever told you,valiant Knight of the Rueful Countenance, that I had undergone anychange or transformation did not tell you the truth, for I am the sameas I was yesterday. It is true that certain strokes of good fortune,that have given me more than I could have hoped for, have made somealteration in me; but I have not therefore ceased to be what I wasbefore, or to entertain the same desire I have had all through ofavailing myself of the might of your valiant and invincible arm. Andso, senor, let your goodness reinstate the father that begot me inyour good opinion, and be assured that he was a wise and prudentman, since by his craft he found out such a sure and easy way ofremedying my misfortune; for I believe, senor, that had it not beenfor you I should never have lit upon the good fortune I now possess;and in this I am saying what is perfectly true; as most of thesegentlemen who are present can fully testify. All that remains is toset out on our journey to-morrow, for to-day we could not make muchway; and for the rest of the happy result I am looking forward to, Itrust to God and the valour of your heart."
So said the sprightly Dorothea, and on hearing her Don Quixoteturned to Sancho, and said to him, with an angry air, "I declarenow, little Sancho, thou art the greatest little villain in Spain.Say, thief and vagabond, hast thou not just now told me that thisprincess had been turned into a maiden called Dorothea, and that thehead which I am persuaded I cut off from a giant was the bitch thatbore thee, and other nonsense that put me in the greatest perplexity Ihave ever been in all my life? I vow" （and here he looked to heavenand ground his teeth） "I have a mind to play the mischief with thee,in a way that will teach sense for the future to all lying squiresof knights-errant in the world."
"Let your worship be calm, senor," returned Sancho, "for it may wellbe that I have been mistaken as to the change of the lady princessMicomicona; but as to the giant's head, or at least as to the piercingof the wine-skins, and the blood being red wine, I make no mistake, assure as there is a God; because the wounded skins are there at thehead of your worship's bed, and the wine has made a lake of theroom; if not you will see when the eggs come to be fried; I meanwhen his worship the landlord calls for all the damages: for the rest,I am heartily glad that her ladyship the queen is as she was, for itconcerns me as much as anyone."
"I tell thee again, Sancho, thou art a fool," said Don Quixote;"forgive me, and that will do."