<h2> <SPAN name="ch33b" id="ch33b"></SPAN>CHAPTER XXXIII. </h2>
<p><br/></p>
<h3> OF THE DELECTABLE DISCOURSE WHICH THE DUCHESS AND HER DAMSELS HELD WITH SANCHO PANZA, WELL WORTH READING AND NOTING </h3>
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<p>The history records that Sancho did not sleep that afternoon, but in order
to keep his word came, before he had well done dinner, to visit the
duchess, who, finding enjoyment in listening to him, made him sit down
beside her on a low seat, though Sancho, out of pure good breeding, wanted
not to sit down; the duchess, however, told him he was to sit down as
governor and talk as squire, as in both respects he was worthy of even the
chair of the Cid Ruy Diaz the Campeador. Sancho shrugged his shoulders,
obeyed, and sat down, and all the duchess's damsels and duennas gathered
round him, waiting in profound silence to hear what he would say. It was
the duchess, however, who spoke first, saying:</p>
<p>"Now that we are alone, and that there is nobody here to overhear us, I
should be glad if the senor governor would relieve me of certain doubts I
have, rising out of the history of the great Don Quixote that is now in
print. One is: inasmuch as worthy Sancho never saw Dulcinea, I mean the
lady Dulcinea del Toboso, nor took Don Quixote's letter to her, for it was
left in the memorandum book in the Sierra Morena, how did he dare to
invent the answer and all that about finding her sifting wheat, the whole
story being a deception and falsehood, and so much to the prejudice of the
peerless Dulcinea's good name, a thing that is not at all becoming the
character and fidelity of a good squire?"</p>
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<p>At these words, Sancho, without uttering one in reply, got up from his
chair, and with noiseless steps, with his body bent and his finger on his
lips, went all round the room lifting up the hangings; and this done, he
came back to his seat and said, "Now, senora, that I have seen that there
is no one except the bystanders listening to us on the sly, I will answer
what you have asked me, and all you may ask me, without fear or dread. And
the first thing I have got to say is, that for my own part I hold my
master Don Quixote to be stark mad, though sometimes he says things that,
to my mind, and indeed everybody's that listens to him, are so wise, and
run in such a straight furrow, that Satan himself could not have said them
better; but for all that, really, and beyond all question, it's my firm
belief he is cracked. Well, then, as this is clear to my mind, I can
venture to make him believe things that have neither head nor tail, like
that affair of the answer to the letter, and that other of six or eight
days ago, which is not yet in history, that is to say, the affair of the
enchantment of my lady Dulcinea; for I made him believe she is enchanted,
though there's no more truth in it than over the hills of Ubeda."</p>
<p>The duchess begged him to tell her about the enchantment or deception, so
Sancho told the whole story exactly as it had happened, and his hearers
were not a little amused by it; and then resuming, the duchess said, "In
consequence of what worthy Sancho has told me, a doubt starts up in my
mind, and there comes a kind of whisper to my ear that says, 'If Don
Quixote be mad, crazy, and cracked, and Sancho Panza his squire knows it,
and, notwithstanding, serves and follows him, and goes trusting to his
empty promises, there can be no doubt he must be still madder and sillier
than his master; and that being so, it will be cast in your teeth, senora
duchess, if you give the said Sancho an island to govern; for how will he
who does not know how to govern himself know how to govern others?'"</p>
<p>"By God, senora," said Sancho, "but that doubt comes timely; but your
grace may say it out, and speak plainly, or as you like; for I know what
you say is true, and if I were wise I should have left my master long ago;
but this was my fate, this was my bad luck; I can't help it, I must follow
him; we're from the same village, I've eaten his bread, I'm fond of him,
I'm grateful, he gave me his ass-colts, and above all I'm faithful; so
it's quite impossible for anything to separate us, except the pickaxe and
shovel. And if your highness does not like to give me the government you
promised, God made me without it, and maybe your not giving it to me will
be all the better for my conscience, for fool as I am I know the proverb
'to her hurt the ant got wings,' and it may be that Sancho the squire will
get to heaven sooner than Sancho the governor. 'They make as good bread
here as in France,' and 'by night all cats are grey,' and 'a hard case
enough his, who hasn't broken his fast at two in the afternoon,' and
'there's no stomach a hand's breadth bigger than another,' and the same
can be filled 'with straw or hay,' as the saying is, and 'the little birds
of the field have God for their purveyor and caterer,' and 'four yards of
Cuenca frieze keep one warmer than four of Segovia broad-cloth,' and 'when
we quit this world and are put underground the prince travels by as narrow
a path as the journeyman,' and 'the Pope's body does not take up more feet
of earth than the sacristan's,' for all that the one is higher than the
other; for when we go to our graves we all pack ourselves up and make
ourselves small, or rather they pack us up and make us small in spite of
us, and then—good night to us. And I say once more, if your ladyship
does not like to give me the island because I'm a fool, like a wise man I
will take care to give myself no trouble about it; I have heard say that
'behind the cross there's the devil,' and that 'all that glitters is not
gold,' and that from among the oxen, and the ploughs, and the yokes, Wamba
the husbandman was taken to be made King of Spain, and from among
brocades, and pleasures, and riches, Roderick was taken to be devoured by
adders, if the verses of the old ballads don't lie."</p>
<p>"To be sure they don't lie!" exclaimed Dona Rodriguez, the duenna, who was
one of the listeners. "Why, there's a ballad that says they put King
Rodrigo alive into a tomb full of toads, and adders, and lizards, and that
two days afterwards the king, in a plaintive, feeble voice, cried out from
within the tomb-</p>
<p>They gnaw me now, they gnaw me now,<br/>
There where I most did sin.<br/>
<br/></p>
<p>And according to that the gentleman has good reason to say he would rather
be a labouring man than a king, if vermin are to eat him."</p>
<p>The duchess could not help laughing at the simplicity of her duenna, or
wondering at the language and proverbs of Sancho, to whom she said,
"Worthy Sancho knows very well that when once a knight has made a promise
he strives to keep it, though it should cost him his life. My lord and
husband the duke, though not one of the errant sort, is none the less a
knight for that reason, and will keep his word about the promised island,
in spite of the envy and malice of the world. Let Sancho he of good cheer;
for when he least expects it he will find himself seated on the throne of
his island and seat of dignity, and will take possession of his government
that he may discard it for another of three-bordered brocade. The charge I
give him is to be careful how he governs his vassals, bearing in mind that
they are all loyal and well-born."</p>
<p>"As to governing them well," said Sancho, "there's no need of charging me
to do that, for I'm kind-hearted by nature, and full of compassion for the
poor; there's no stealing the loaf from him who kneads and bakes;' and by
my faith it won't do to throw false dice with me; I am an old dog, and I
know all about 'tus, tus;' I can be wide-awake if need be, and I don't let
clouds come before my eyes, for I know where the shoe pinches me; I say
so, because with me the good will have support and protection, and the bad
neither footing nor access. And it seems to me that, in governments, to
make a beginning is everything; and maybe, after having been governor a
fortnight, I'll take kindly to the work and know more about it than the
field labour I have been brought up to."</p>
<p>"You are right, Sancho," said the duchess, "for no one is born ready
taught, and the bishops are made out of men and not out of stones. But to
return to the subject we were discussing just now, the enchantment of the
lady Dulcinea, I look upon it as certain, and something more than evident,
that Sancho's idea of practising a deception upon his master, making him
believe that the peasant girl was Dulcinea and that if he did not
recognise her it must be because she was enchanted, was all a device of
one of the enchanters that persecute Don Quixote. For in truth and
earnest, I know from good authority that the coarse country wench who
jumped up on the ass was and is Dulcinea del Toboso, and that worthy
Sancho, though he fancies himself the deceiver, is the one that is
deceived; and that there is no more reason to doubt the truth of this,
than of anything else we never saw. Senor Sancho Panza must know that we
too have enchanters here that are well disposed to us, and tell us what
goes on in the world, plainly and distinctly, without subterfuge or
deception; and believe me, Sancho, that agile country lass was and is
Dulcinea del Toboso, who is as much enchanted as the mother that bore her;
and when we least expect it, we shall see her in her own proper form, and
then Sancho will be disabused of the error he is under at present."</p>
<p>"All that's very possible," said Sancho Panza; "and now I'm willing to
believe what my master says about what he saw in the cave of Montesinos,
where he says he saw the lady Dulcinea del Toboso in the very same dress
and apparel that I said I had seen her in when I enchanted her all to
please myself. It must be all exactly the other way, as your ladyship
says; because it is impossible to suppose that out of my poor wit such a
cunning trick could be concocted in a moment, nor do I think my master is
so mad that by my weak and feeble persuasion he could be made to believe a
thing so out of all reason. But, senora, your excellence must not
therefore think me ill-disposed, for a dolt like me is not bound to see
into the thoughts and plots of those vile enchanters. I invented all that
to escape my master's scolding, and not with any intention of hurting him;
and if it has turned out differently, there is a God in heaven who judges
our hearts."</p>
<p>"That is true," said the duchess; "but tell me, Sancho, what is this you
say about the cave of Montesinos, for I should like to know."</p>
<p>Sancho upon this related to her, word for word, what has been said already
touching that adventure, and having heard it the duchess said, "From this
occurrence it may be inferred that, as the great Don Quixote says he saw
there the same country wench Sancho saw on the way from El Toboso, it is,
no doubt, Dulcinea, and that there are some very active and exceedingly
busy enchanters about."</p>
<p>"So I say," said Sancho, "and if my lady Dulcinea is enchanted, so much
the worse for her, and I'm not going to pick a quarrel with my master's
enemies, who seem to be many and spiteful. The truth is that the one I saw
was a country wench, and I set her down to be a country wench; and if that
was Dulcinea it must not be laid at my door, nor should I be called to
answer for it or take the consequences. But they must go nagging at me at
every step—'Sancho said it, Sancho did it, Sancho here, Sancho
there,' as if Sancho was nobody at all, and not that same Sancho Panza
that's now going all over the world in books, so Samson Carrasco told me,
and he's at any rate one that's a bachelor of Salamanca; and people of
that sort can't lie, except when the whim seizes them or they have some
very good reason for it. So there's no occasion for anybody to quarrel
with me; and then I have a good character, and, as I have heard my master
say, 'a good name is better than great riches;' let them only stick me
into this government and they'll see wonders, for one who has been a good
squire will be a good governor."</p>
<p>"All worthy Sancho's observations," said the duchess, "are Catonian
sentences, or at any rate out of the very heart of Michael Verino himself,
who florentibus occidit annis. In fact, to speak in his own style, 'under
a bad cloak there's often a good drinker.'"</p>
<p>"Indeed, senora," said Sancho, "I never yet drank out of wickedness; from
thirst I have very likely, for I have nothing of the hypocrite in me; I
drink when I'm inclined, or, if I'm not inclined, when they offer it to
me, so as not to look either strait-laced or ill-bred; for when a friend
drinks one's health what heart can be so hard as not to return it? But if
I put on my shoes I don't dirty them; besides, squires to knights-errant
mostly drink water, for they are always wandering among woods, forests and
meadows, mountains and crags, without a drop of wine to be had if they
gave their eyes for it."</p>
<p>"So I believe," said the duchess; "and now let Sancho go and take his
sleep, and we will talk by-and-by at greater length, and settle how he may
soon go and stick himself into the government, as he says."</p>
<p>Sancho once more kissed the duchess's hand, and entreated her to let good
care be taken of his Dapple, for he was the light of his eyes.</p>
<p>"What is Dapple?" said the duchess.</p>
<p>"My ass," said Sancho, "which, not to mention him by that name, I'm
accustomed to call Dapple; I begged this lady duenna here to take care of
him when I came into the castle, and she got as angry as if I had said she
was ugly or old, though it ought to be more natural and proper for duennas
to feed asses than to ornament chambers. God bless me! what a spite a
gentleman of my village had against these ladies!"</p>
<p>"He must have been some clown," said Dona Rodriguez the duenna; "for if he
had been a gentleman and well-born he would have exalted them higher than
the horns of the moon."</p>
<p>"That will do," said the duchess; "no more of this; hush, Dona Rodriguez,
and let Senor Panza rest easy and leave the treatment of Dapple in my
charge, for as he is a treasure of Sancho's, I'll put him on the apple of
my eye."</p>
<p>"It will be enough for him to be in the stable," said Sancho, "for neither
he nor I are worthy to rest a moment in the apple of your highness's eye,
and I'd as soon stab myself as consent to it; for though my master says
that in civilities it is better to lose by a card too many than a card too
few, when it comes to civilities to asses we must mind what we are about
and keep within due bounds."</p>
<p>"Take him to your government, Sancho," said the duchess, "and there you
will be able to make as much of him as you like, and even release him from
work and pension him off."</p>
<p>"Don't think, senora duchess, that you have said anything absurd," said
Sancho; "I have seen more than two asses go to governments, and for me to
take mine with me would be nothing new."</p>
<p>Sancho's words made the duchess laugh again and gave her fresh amusement,
and dismissing him to sleep she went away to tell the duke the
conversation she had had with him, and between them they plotted and
arranged to play a joke upon Don Quixote that was to be a rare one and
entirely in knight-errantry style, and in that same style they practised
several upon him, so much in keeping and so clever that they form the best
adventures this great history contains.</p>
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<h2> <SPAN name="ch34b" id="ch34b"></SPAN>CHAPTER XXXIV. </h2>
<p><br/></p>
<h3> WHICH RELATES HOW THEY LEARNED THE WAY IN WHICH THEY WERE TO DISENCHANT THE PEERLESS DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO, WHICH IS ONE OF THE RAREST ADVENTURES IN THIS BOOK </h3>
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<p>Great was the pleasure the duke and duchess took in the conversation of
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; and, more bent than ever upon the plan they
had of practising some jokes upon them that should have the look and
appearance of adventures, they took as their basis of action what Don
Quixote had already told them about the cave of Montesinos, in order to
play him a famous one. But what the duchess marvelled at above all was
that Sancho's simplicity could be so great as to make him believe as
absolute truth that Dulcinea had been enchanted, when it was he himself
who had been the enchanter and trickster in the business. Having,
therefore, instructed their servants in everything they were to do, six
days afterwards they took him out to hunt, with as great a retinue of
huntsmen and beaters as a crowned king.</p>
<p>They presented Don Quixote with a hunting suit, and Sancho with another of
the finest green cloth; but Don Quixote declined to put his on, saying
that he must soon return to the hard pursuit of arms, and could not carry
wardrobes or stores with him. Sancho, however, took what they gave him,
meaning to sell it the first opportunity.</p>
<p>The appointed day having arrived, Don Quixote armed himself, and Sancho
arrayed himself, and mounted on his Dapple (for he would not give him up
though they offered him a horse), he placed himself in the midst of the
troop of huntsmen. The duchess came out splendidly attired, and Don
Quixote, in pure courtesy and politeness, held the rein of her palfrey,
though the duke wanted not to allow him; and at last they reached a wood
that lay between two high mountains, where, after occupying various posts,
ambushes, and paths, and distributing the party in different positions,
the hunt began with great noise, shouting, and hallooing, so that, between
the baying of the hounds and the blowing of the horns, they could not hear
one another. The duchess dismounted, and with a sharp boar-spear in her
hand posted herself where she knew the wild boars were in the habit of
passing. The duke and Don Quixote likewise dismounted and placed
themselves one at each side of her. Sancho took up a position in the rear
of all without dismounting from Dapple, whom he dared not desert lest some
mischief should befall him. Scarcely had they taken their stand in a line
with several of their servants, when they saw a huge boar, closely pressed
by the hounds and followed by the huntsmen, making towards them, grinding
his teeth and tusks, and scattering foam from his mouth. As soon as he saw
him Don Quixote, bracing his shield on his arm, and drawing his sword,
advanced to meet him; the duke with boar-spear did the same; but the
duchess would have gone in front of them all had not the duke prevented
her. Sancho alone, deserting Dapple at the sight of the mighty beast, took
to his heels as hard as he could and strove in vain to mount a tall oak.
As he was clinging to a branch, however, half-way up in his struggle to
reach the top, the bough, such was his ill-luck and hard fate, gave way,
and caught in his fall by a broken limb of the oak, he hung suspended in
the air unable to reach the ground. Finding himself in this position, and
that the green coat was beginning to tear, and reflecting that if the
fierce animal came that way he might be able to get at him, he began to
utter such cries, and call for help so earnestly, that all who heard him
and did not see him felt sure he must be in the teeth of some wild beast.
In the end the tusked boar fell pierced by the blades of the many spears
they held in front of him; and Don Quixote, turning round at the cries of
Sancho, for he knew by them that it was he, saw him hanging from the oak
head downwards, with Dapple, who did not forsake him in his distress,
close beside him; and Cide Hamete observes that he seldom saw Sancho Panza
without seeing Dapple, or Dapple without seeing Sancho Panza; such was
their attachment and loyalty one to the other. Don Quixote went over and
unhooked Sancho, who, as soon as he found himself on the ground, looked at
the rent in his huntingcoat and was grieved to the heart, for he thought
he had got a patrimonial estate in that suit.</p>
<p>Meanwhile they had slung the mighty boar across the back of a mule, and
having covered it with sprigs of rosemary and branches of myrtle, they
bore it away as the spoils of victory to some large field-tents which had
been pitched in the middle of the wood, where they found the tables laid
and dinner served, in such grand and sumptuous style that it was easy to
see the rank and magnificence of those who had provided it. Sancho, as he
showed the rents in his torn suit to the duchess, observed, "If we had
been hunting hares, or after small birds, my coat would have been safe
from being in the plight it's in; I don't know what pleasure one can find
in lying in wait for an animal that may take your life with his tusk if he
gets at you. I recollect having heard an old ballad sung that says,</p>
<p>By bears be thou devoured, as erst<br/>
Was famous Favila."<br/>
<br/>
<br/></p>
<p>"That," said Don Quixote, "was a Gothic king, who, going a-hunting, was
devoured by a bear."</p>
<p>"Just so," said Sancho; "and I would not have kings and princes expose
themselves to such dangers for the sake of a pleasure which, to my mind,
ought not to be one, as it consists in killing an animal that has done no
harm whatever."</p>
<p>"Quite the contrary, Sancho; you are wrong there," said the duke; "for
hunting is more suitable and requisite for kings and princes than for
anybody else. The chase is the emblem of war; it has stratagems, wiles,
and crafty devices for overcoming the enemy in safety; in it extreme cold
and intolerable heat have to be borne, indolence and sleep are despised,
the bodily powers are invigorated, the limbs of him who engages in it are
made supple, and, in a word, it is a pursuit which may be followed without
injury to anyone and with enjoyment to many; and the best of it is, it is
not for everybody, as field-sports of other sorts are, except hawking,
which also is only for kings and great lords. Reconsider your opinion
therefore, Sancho, and when you are governor take to hunting, and you will
find the good of it."</p>
<p>"Nay," said Sancho, "the good governor should have a broken leg and keep
at home;" it would be a nice thing if, after people had been at the
trouble of coming to look for him on business, the governor were to be
away in the forest enjoying himself; the government would go on badly in
that fashion. By my faith, senor, hunting and amusements are more fit for
idlers than for governors; what I intend to amuse myself with is playing
all fours at Eastertime, and bowls on Sundays and holidays; for these
huntings don't suit my condition or agree with my conscience."</p>
<p>"God grant it may turn out so," said the duke; "because it's a long step
from saying to doing."</p>
<p>"Be that as it may," said Sancho, "'pledges don't distress a good payer,'
and 'he whom God helps does better than he who gets up early,' and 'it's
the tripes that carry the feet and not the feet the tripes;' I mean to say
that if God gives me help and I do my duty honestly, no doubt I'll govern
better than a gerfalcon. Nay, let them only put a finger in my mouth, and
they'll see whether I can bite or not."</p>
<p>"The curse of God and all his saints upon thee, thou accursed Sancho!"
exclaimed Don Quixote; "when will the day come—as I have often said
to thee—when I shall hear thee make one single coherent, rational
remark without proverbs? Pray, your highnesses, leave this fool alone, for
he will grind your souls between, not to say two, but two thousand
proverbs, dragged in as much in season, and as much to the purpose as—may
God grant as much health to him, or to me if I want to listen to them!"</p>
<p>"Sancho Panza's proverbs," said the duchess, "though more in number than
the Greek Commander's, are not therefore less to be esteemed for the
conciseness of the maxims. For my own part, I can say they give me more
pleasure than others that may be better brought in and more seasonably
introduced."</p>
<p>In pleasant conversation of this sort they passed out of the tent into the
wood, and the day was spent in visiting some of the posts and
hiding-places, and then night closed in, not, however, as brilliantly or
tranquilly as might have been expected at the season, for it was then
midsummer; but bringing with it a kind of haze that greatly aided the
project of the duke and duchess; and thus, as night began to fall, and a
little after twilight set in, suddenly the whole wood on all four sides
seemed to be on fire, and shortly after, here, there, on all sides, a vast
number of trumpets and other military instruments were heard, as if
several troops of cavalry were passing through the wood. The blaze of the
fire and the noise of the warlike instruments almost blinded the eyes and
deafened the ears of those that stood by, and indeed of all who were in
the wood. Then there were heard repeated lelilies after the fashion of the
Moors when they rush to battle; trumpets and clarions brayed, drums beat,
fifes played, so unceasingly and so fast that he could not have had any
senses who did not lose them with the confused din of so many instruments.
The duke was astounded, the duchess amazed, Don Quixote wondering, Sancho
Panza trembling, and indeed, even they who were aware of the cause were
frightened. In their fear, silence fell upon them, and a postillion, in
the guise of a demon, passed in front of them, blowing, in lieu of a
bugle, a huge hollow horn that gave out a horrible hoarse note.</p>
<p>"Ho there! brother courier," cried the duke, "who are you? Where are you
going? What troops are these that seem to be passing through the wood?"</p>
<p>To which the courier replied in a harsh, discordant voice, "I am the
devil; I am in search of Don Quixote of La Mancha; those who are coming
this way are six troops of enchanters, who are bringing on a triumphal car
the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso; she comes under enchantment, together
with the gallant Frenchman Montesinos, to give instructions to Don Quixote
as to how, she the said lady, may be disenchanted."</p>
<p>"If you were the devil, as you say and as your appearance indicates," said
the duke, "you would have known the said knight Don Quixote of La Mancha,
for you have him here before you."</p>
<p>"By God and upon my conscience," said the devil, "I never observed it, for
my mind is occupied with so many different things that I was forgetting
the main thing I came about."</p>
<p>"This demon must be an honest fellow and a good Christian," said Sancho;
"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."</p>
<p>Without dismounting, the demon then turned to Don Quixote and said, "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 he brings with him her whom they
call Dulcinea del Toboso, that he may show thee what is needful in order
to disenchant her; and as I came for no more I need stay no longer; demons
of my sort be with thee, and good angels with these gentles;" and so
saying he blew his huge horn, turned about and went off without waiting
for a reply from anyone.</p>
<p>They all felt fresh wonder, but particularly Sancho and Don Quixote;
Sancho to see how, in defiance of the truth, they would have it that
Dulcinea was enchanted; Don Quixote because he could not feel sure whether
what had happened to him in the cave of Montesinos was true or not; and as
he was deep in these cogitations the duke said to him, "Do you mean to
wait, Senor Don Quixote?"</p>
<p>"Why not?" replied he; "here will I wait, fearless and firm, though all
hell should come to attack me."</p>
<p>"Well then, if I see another devil or hear another horn like the last,
I'll wait here as much as in Flanders," said Sancho.</p>
<p>Night now closed in more completely, and many lights began to flit through
the wood, just as those fiery exhalations from the earth, that look like
shooting-stars to our eyes, flit through the heavens; a frightful noise,
too, was heard, like that made by the solid wheels the ox-carts usually
have, by the harsh, ceaseless creaking of which, they say, the bears and
wolves are put to flight, if there happen to be any where they are
passing. In addition to all this commotion, 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 one quarter resounded the dull noise of a terrible
cannonade, in another numberless muskets were being discharged, the shouts
of the combatants sounded almost close at hand, and farther away the
Moorish lelilies were raised again and again. In a word, the bugles, the
horns, the clarions, the trumpets, the drums, the cannon, the musketry,
and above all the tremendous noise of the carts, all made up together a
din so confused and terrific that Don Quixote had need to summon up all
his courage to brave it; but Sancho's gave way, and he fell fainting on
the skirt of the duchess's robe, who let him lie there and promptly bade
them throw water in his face. This was done, and he came to himself by the
time that one of the carts with the creaking wheels reached the spot. It
was drawn by four plodding oxen all covered with black housings; on each
horn they had fixed a large lighted wax taper, and on the top of the cart
was constructed a raised seat, on which sat a venerable old man with a
beard whiter than the very snow, and so long that it fell below his waist;
he was dressed in a long robe of black buckram; for as the cart was
thickly set with a multitude of candles it was easy to make out everything
that was on it. Leading it were two hideous demons, also clad in buckram,
with countenances so frightful that Sancho, having once seen them, shut
his eyes so as not to see them again. As soon as the cart came opposite
the spot the old man rose from his lofty seat, and standing up said in a
loud voice, "I am the sage Lirgandeo," and without another word the cart
then passed on. Behind it came another of the same form, with another aged
man enthroned, who, stopping the cart, said in a voice no less solemn than
that of the first, "I am the sage Alquife, the great friend of Urganda the
Unknown," and passed on. Then another cart came by at the same pace, but
the occupant of the throne was not old like the others, but a man stalwart
and robust, and of a forbidding countenance, who as he came up said in a
voice far hoarser and more devilish, "I am the enchanter Archelaus, the
mortal enemy of Amadis of Gaul and all his kindred," and then passed on.
Having gone a short distance the three carts halted and the monotonous
noise of their wheels ceased, and soon after they heard another, not
noise, but sound of sweet, harmonious music, of which Sancho was very
glad, taking it to be a good sign; and said he to the duchess, from whom
he did not stir a step, or for a single instant, "Senora, where there's
music there can't be mischief."</p>
<p>"Nor where there are lights and it is bright," said the duchess; to which
Sancho replied, "Fire gives light, and it's bright where there are
bonfires, as we see by those that are all round us and perhaps may burn
us; but music is a sign of mirth and merrymaking."</p>
<p>"That remains to be seen," said Don Quixote, who was listening to all that
passed; and he was right, as is shown in the following chapter.</p>
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