 chapters 12 and 13 of Don Quixote volume 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Ricardo Don Quixote volume 2 by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra translated by John Ormsby chapter 12 of the strange adventure which befell the valiant Don Quixote with a bold night of the mirrors. The night succeeding the day of the encounter with death Don Quixote and his choir passed under some tall shady trees and Don Quixote at Sancho's persuasion ate a little from the store carried by Depple and over there supper Sancho said to his master, Senor what a fool I should have looked if I had chosen for my reward the spoils of the first adventure your worship achieved instead of the foals of the three mayors. After all a sparrow in the hand is better than a vulture in the wing. At the same time Sancho replied Don Quixote if thou hudst let me attack them as I wanted at the very least the emperor's gold crown and Cupid's painted wings would have fallen to thee as spoils for I should have taken them by force and given them into thy hands. The sceptres and crowns of those play actor-emperors said Sancho were never yet pure gold but only brass foil or tin. That is true said Don Quixote for it would not be right that the accessories of the drama should be real instead of being mere fictions and semblances like the drama itself. Towards which Sancho and as a necessary consequence towards those who represent and produce it I would that thou were favorably disposed for they are all instruments of great good to the state. Placing before us at every step a mirror in which we may see vividly displayed what goes on in human life nor is there any similitude that shows us more faithfully what we are and ought to be than the play and the players. Come tell me, hast thou not seen a play acted in which kings, emperors, pontiffs, knights, ladies and divers other personages were introduced, one plays the villain, another the nave, this one the merchant, that the soldier, one the sharp-witted fool, another the foolish lover, and when the play is over and they have put off the dresses they wore in it all the actors become equal. Yes I have seen that said Sancho. Well then, said Don Quixote, the same thing happens in the comedy and life of this world where some play emperors, others, popes, and in short all the characters that can be brought into a play, but when it is over that is to say when life ends death stripes them all of the garments that distinguish one from another and all are equal in the grave. A fine comparison, said Sancho, though not so new but that I have heard it many and many a time as well as that other one of the game of chess. How, so long as the game lasts, each piece has its own particular office and when the game is finished they are all mixed, jumbled up and shaken together and stowed away in the bag which is much like ending life in the grave. I said Sancho, it must be that some of your worship's shrewdness sticks to me, land that of itself is barren and dry will come to yield good fruit if you dung it and till it. What I mean is that your worship's conversation has been the dung that has fallen on the barren soil of my dry wit and the time I have been in your service and society has been the tillage and with the help of this I hope to yield fruit in abundance that would not fall away or slide from those paths of good breathing that your worship has made in my parched understanding. Don Quixote laughed at Sancho's affected physiology and perceived that what he said about his improvement was true for now and then he spoke in a way that surprised him. Though always so mostly, when Sancho tried to talk fine and attempted polite language, he wound up by toppling over from the summit of his simplicity into the abyss of his ignorance and where he showed his culture and his memory to the greatest advantage was in dragon and proverbs, no matter whether they had any bearing or not upon the subject in hand as may have been seen already and will be noticed in the course of this history. In conversation of this kind they passed a good part of the night, but Sancho felt a desire to let down the curtains on his eyes as he used to say when he wanted to go to sleep and strap in depel he left him at liberty to graze his fill. He did not remove Rothinante's saddle as his master's express orders were that so long as they were in the field or not slipping under a roof, Rothinante was not to be stripped, the ancient usage established and observed by Night Serent being to take off the bridle and hang it on the saddle bow, but to remove the saddle from the horse never. Sancho acted accordingly and gave him the same liberty he had given depel between whom and Rothinante there was a friendship so unequaled and so strong that it is handed down by tradition from father to son, that the author of this voracious history devoted some special chapters to it which in order to preserve the propriety and decorum due to a history so heroic he did not insert therein, although at times he forgets this resolution of his and describes how eagerly the two beasts would scratch one another when they were together and how when they were tied or full Rothinante would lay his neck across depels stretching half a yard or more on the other side and the pair would stand thus gazing thoughtfully on the ground for three days or at least so long as they were left alone or hunger did not drive them to go and look for food. I may add that they say the author left it on record that he likened their friendship to that of Nesis and Eurylus Empilides and Restes and if that be so it may be perceived to the admiration of mankind how firm the friendship must have been between these two peaceful animals shaming men who preserve friendships with one another so badly this was why it was said for friend no longer is their friend the reeds turn lances now and someone else has sung friend to friend the bug etc and let no one fancy that the author was at all astray when he compared the friendship of these animals to that of men for men have received many lessons from beasts and learned many important things as for example the cluster from the stork vomiting gratitude from the dog watchfulness from the crane foresight from the ant modesty from the elephant and loyalty from the horse Sancho at last fell asleep at the foot of a cork tree while Don Quixote dosed at that of a sturdy oak but a short time only had elapsed when a noisy herd behind him awoke him and rising up startled he listened and looked in the direction that the noise came from and perceived two men on horseback one of whom let him himself drop from the saddle said to the other dismount my friend and take the briddles off the horses for so far as i can see this place will furnish grass for them and the solitude and silence my lovesick thoughts need of as he said this he stretched himself upon the ground and as he flung himself down the armor in which he was clad rattled whereby Don Quixote perceived that he must be a nighterrant and going over to Sancho who was asleep he shook him by the arm and with no small difficulty brought him back to his senses and said in a low voice to him brother Sancho we have got an adventure God said there's a good one said Sancho and where may her ladyship the adventure be where Sancho replied Don Quixote turn thine eyes and look and thou wilt see stretched there a nighterrant who it strikes me is not over and above happy for i saw him flying himself off his horse and throw himself on the ground with the certain air of dejection and his armor rattled as he fell well Sancho how does your worship make out that to be an adventure i do not mean to say return Don Quixote that it is a complete adventure but that it is the beginning of one for it is in this way adventures begin but listen for it seems he is tuning a lute or guitar and from the way he is spitting and clearing his chest he must be getting ready to sing something faith you are right said Sancho and no doubt he is some enamored knight there is no nighter and it is not said Don Quixote but let us listen to him for if he sings by that thread we shall extract the ball of his thoughts because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Sancho was about to reply to his master but the night of the grove's voice which was neither very bad nor very good stopped him and listening attentively the pair heard him sing this sonnet your pleasure pre thee lady mine unfold declare the terms that i am to obey my will to yours submissively i am mowed and from your law my feet shall never stray would you i die to silent grief a prey then count me even now as dead and cold would you i tell my woes in some new way then shall my tale by love itself be told the unison of opposites to prove of the soft wax and diamond hard am i but still obedient to the laws of love here hard or soft i offer you my breast will tear you grave or stamp there on shall rest indelible for all eternity with an army that seemed to be drawn from the enmost recesses of his heart the night of the grove brought his sleigh to an end and shortly afterwards exclaimed in a melancholy and piteous voice all fairest and most ungrateful woman on earth what can it be most serene kazildare de vandalia that thou wilt suffer this deictive night to waste away and perish in ceaseless wanderings and rude and arduous tours it is not enough that i have compared all the nights of navar all the leonies all the tartasians all the castelans and finally all the nights of lamancha to confess thee the most beautiful in the world not so said don quixote at this for i am of lamancha and i have never confessed anything of the sort nor could i nor should i confess a thing so much to the prejudice of my lady's beauty thou seized how this night is raving sancho but let us listen perhaps he will tell us more about himself that he will return sancho for he seems in a mood to be wail himself for a month at a stretch but this was not the case for the night of the grove hearing voices near him instead of continuing his lamentation stood up and exclaimed in a distinct but courteous tone who goes there what are you do you belong to the number of the happy or of the miserable of the miserable answered don quixote then come to me said he of the grove and rest assured that it is to woe itself and affliction itself you come don quixote finding himself answered in such a soft and courteous manner went over to him and so did sancho the doleful night took don quixote by the arm saying sit down here sir night for that you are one and of those that profess night erranty it is to me a sufficient proof to have found you in this place where solitude and night the natural carton proper retreat of night's errant keep you company to which dan made answer a night i am of the profession you mentioned and those sorrows misfortunes and calamities have made my heart their boat the compassion i feel for the misfortunes of others has not been thereby banished from it from what you have just now sung i gathered at yours spring from love i mean from the love you bear that fair ingrate you named in your lament in the meantime they had seated themselves together on the hard ground peaceably and sociably just if as soon as day broke they were not going to break one another's heads are you sir night in love perchance asked he of the grove of don quixote by miss chance i am replied don quixote though the ill-surrising from well bestowed affections should be steamed favors rather than misfortunes that is true returned he of the grove if scorn did not unsettled our reason and understanding for if it be excessive it looks like revenge i was never scorned by my lady said don quixote certainly not said sancho who stood close by for my lady is as a lamp and softer than a roll of butter is this your squire asked he of the grove he is said don quixote i never yet saw a squire said he of the grove who ventured to speak when his master was speaking at least there is mine who is as big as his father and it cannot be proved that he has never opened his lips when i am speaking by my faith then said sancho i have spoken an am fit to speak in the presence of one as much or even but never mind it only makes it worse to steer it the squire of the grove took sancho by the arm saying to him let us to go where we can talk in squire style as much as we please and leave this gentleman our masters to fight it out over the story of their loves and depend upon it daybreak will find them at it without having made an end of it so be it by all means said sancho and i will tell your worship who i am that you may see whether i am to be reckoned among the number of the most talkative squires with this the two squires withdrew to one side and between them there are past conversations as droll as that which passed between their masters was serious chapter 13 in which is continued the adventure of the night of the grove together with the sensible original and tranquil colloquy that passed between the two squires the knights and the squires made two parties these telling the story of their lives the others the story of their loves but the history relates first of all the conversation of the servants and afterwards takes up that of the mustons and it says that withdrawing a little from the others he of the grove said to sancho a hard life it is will lead and live senior we that are squires tonight's errant verily we eat our bread in the sweat of our faces which is one of the curses god laid on our first parents it may be said to added sancho that we eat it in the chill of our bodies for who gets more heat and cold than the miserable squires of night errantry even so it would not be so bad if we had something to eat for woos are lighter if there's bread but sometimes we go a day or two without breaking our fast except with the wind that blows all that said he of the grove may be endured and put up with when we have hopes of reward for unless the knight errant he serves is excessively unlucky after a few turns the squire will at least find himself rewarded with a fine government of some island or some fair county i said sancho have already told my master that i shall be content with the government of a some island and he is so noble and generous that he has promised it to me ever so many times i said he of the grove shall be satisfied with a cannon reef for my services and my master has already assigned me one your master said sancho no doubt is a knight in the church line and can be still rewards of that sword on his good squire but mine is only a layman though i remember some clever but to my mind designing people strove to persuade him to try and become an archbishop he however would not be anything but an emperor but i was trembling all the time lest he should take a fancy to go into the church not finding myself fit to hold office in it for i may tell you though i seem a man i am no better than a beast for the church well then you are wrong there said he of the grove for those island governments are not all satisfactory some are upward some are poor some are dull and in short the highest and choicest brings with it a heavy burden of cares and troubles which the unhappy white to whose lot it has fallen bears upon his shoulders far better would it be for us who have adopted this accursed service to go back to our own houses and there employ ourselves in pleasanter occupations in hunting or fishing for instance for what squire in the world is there so poor as not to have a hack and a couple of greyhounds and a fishing rod to amuse himself with in his own village i am not in want of any of those things said sanjo to be sure i have no hack but i have a nas that is worth my master's horse price over god sent me a bad Easter and that the next one i am to see if i would swap even if i got four bushels or barley to boot you will laugh at a value i put on my dapple for dapple is the call of my beast as to greyhounds i can't want for them for there are enough and to spare my town and moreover there is more pleasure in sport when it is at other people's expense in truth and earnest sir squire said he of the grove i have made up my mind and determined to have done with these drunken vigourious of these nights and go back to my village and bring up my children for i have three like three oriental pearls i have two said sanjo that might be presented before the pope himself especially a girl whom i am breeding up for a countess please god though in spite of her mother and how old is this lady that is being bred up for countess asked he of the grove 15 a couple of years more or less answered sanjo but she is as tall as a lance and as fresh as an April morning and as strong as a porter those are gifts to fit her to be not only a countess but a nymph in the greenwood said he of the grove horse son strumpet what a pith the rogue must have to which sanjo made answers somewhat salkily she's not strumpet nor was her mother nor will either of them be pleased god while i live speak more civilly for one bred up among knights errant who are quarters itself your words don't seem to me to be very becoming oh how little you know about compliments sir squire return he of the grove what don't you know that when a horseman delivers a good lance thrust at the bull in the plaza or when anyone does anything very well the people are worn to say how horse on rip how well he has done it and that what seems to be abused in the expression is high praise disown sons and daughters senor who don't do what deserves that compliments of this sort should be paid to their parents i do disown them replied sanjo and in this way and by the same reasoning you might call me and my children and my wife all the strumpets in the world for all they do and say is of a kind that in the highest degree deserves the same praise and to see them again i pray god to deliver me from mortal sin or what comes to the same thing to deliver me from this pervious calling of squire into which i have fallen a second time decayed and beguiled by a purse with a hundred dockets that i found one day in the heart of the Sierra Morena and the devil is always putting a bag full of doubloons before my eyes here there everywhere until i fancy a tavern stop i am putting my hand on it and hugging it and carrying it home with me and making investments and getting interest and living like a prince and so long as i think of this i make light of all the hardship i endure with this simpleton of a master of mine who i well know is more of a madman than a knight that's why they say that covetousness bursts the bag said he of the grove but if you come to talk of that sort there is not a greater one in the world that my master for he is one of those of whom they say the cares of others kill the ass for in order that another knight may recover the senses he has lost he makes a madman of himself and goes looking for what when found may for all i know fly in his own face and is he in love per chance asked son to he is said he of the grove with one casilde de vandalia the rowist and best roasted lady the whole world could produce but that ronus is not the only food he limps on for he has greater skin scrambling in his bowels as will be seen before many hours are over there's no road so smooth but it has some hole or hindrance in it said son to in other houses they cook beings but in mine it's by the pot full madness will have more followers and hangers on than sound sense but if there be any truth in the common saying that to have companions in trouble gives some relief i may take consolation from you in as much as you serve a master as crazy as my own crazy but valiant replied he of the grove and more roguish than crazy or valiant mine is not that said son to i mean he has nothing of the rogue in him on the contrary he has the soul of a pitcher he has no thought of doing harm to anyone only good to all nor has he any malice whatever in him a child might persuade him that it is night at noon day and for this simplicity i love him as the core of my heart and i can't bring myself to leave him let him do ever such foolish things for all that brother and senior said he of the grove if the blind lead the blind both are in danger of falling into the pit it is better for us to beat a quiet retreat and get back to our own porters for those who seek adventures don't always find good ones son took kept spitting from time to time and his spittle seemed to somewhat rupee and dry observing which the compassionate squire of the grove said it seems to me that with all this talk of ours our tongues are sticking to the roofs of our mouths but i have a pretty good loosener hanging from the subtle bow of my horse and getting up he came back the next minute with a large boat out of wine and a pasty half a yard across and this is no exaggeration for it was made of a house rabbit so big that sancho as he handled it took it to be made of a goat not to say a kid and looking at it he said and do you carry this with you senior why what are you thinking about said the other do you take me for some paltry squire i carry a better lardo my horse's group than a general takes with him when he goes on a march sancho eight without requiring to be pressed and in the dark bolted mouthfuls like the knots of a tether and said he you are a proper trusty squire one of the right sort some tears and grand as this banquet shows which if it has not come here by magic art a tenorate has the look of it not like me unlucky beggar that have nothing more a mile for us than a scrap of cheese so hard that one might brain a giant with it and to keep it company a few dozen carabs and as many more filberts and walnuts thanks to the austerity of my master and the idea he has and the rule he follows that night serrant must not live or sustain themselves on anything except dried fruits and the herbs of the field by my faith brother said he of the grove my stomach is not made for fizzles or wide piers or roots of the woods let our masters do as they like with their chivalry notions and laws and eat what those enjoying i carry my prog basket and the spotter hanging on the set of bow whatever they may see and it is such an object of worship with me and i love it so death there is hardly a moment but i am kissing and embracing it over and over again and so saying a thrust it into sanchez hands who rising at a loft pointed to his mouth gazed at the stars for a quarter of an hour and when he had done drinking let his head fall on one side and giving a deep sigh exclaimed our horse and rogue how catholic it is there you see said he of the grove here in sanchez exclamation how you have called this wine horse and by way of praise well said sanchez i own it and i grant it is no dishonour to call anyone horse and when it is to be understood as a praise but tell me senor by what you love best is this sudad real wine all rare wine taster said he of the grove nowhere else indeed does it come from and it has some years aged too leave me alone for that said sanchez never fear but i'll hit upon the place it came from somehow what would you say sir squire to my having such a great natural instinct in judging wines that you have only to let me smell one and i can tell positively its country its kind its flavor and soundness the changes it will undergo and everything that pertains to a wine but it is no wonder for i have had in my family on my father's side the two best wine tasters that have been known in lamancha for many a long year and to prove it i'll tell you now a thing that happened to them they gave the two of them some wine out of a cask to try asking their opinion as to the condition quality goodness or badness of the wine one of them tried it with the tip of his tongue the other did no more than bring it to his nose the first said the wine had a flavor of iron the second said it had a stronger flavor of cordovan the owner said the cask was clean and that nothing had been added to the wine from which it could have got a flavor of either iron or leather nevertheless these two great wine tasters held to what they had said time went by the wine was sold and when they came to clean out the cask they found in it a small key hanging to a thong of cordovan see now if one who comes of the same stock has not the right to give his opinion in such like cages therefore i say said he of the grove let us give up going quest of adventures and as we have loaves let us not go looking for cakes but return to our cribs for god will find us there if it be his will until my master reaches saragossa said sancho i'll remain his service after that we'll see the end of it was that the two squires talked so much and drank so much that sleep had to tie their tongues and moderate their thirst for to quench it was impossible and so the pair of them fell asleep clinging to the now nearly empty water and with the half-tuned morsels in their mouths and there we will leave them for the present to relate what passed between the night of the grove and him of the rueful countenance and of chapters 12 and 13 chapter 14 of don quixote volume 2 this is a liber box recording all liber box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liberbox.org don quixote volume 2 by miguel de savante savedra translated by john arms by chapter 14 wherein is continued the adventure of the night of the grove among the things that passed between don quixote and the night of the wood the history tells us that he of the grove said to don quixote and finds her night i would have you know that my destiny or more properly speaking my choice led me to fall in love with the peerless casildea de vandalia i call her peerless because she has no peer whether it be in bodily stature or in the supremacy of rank and beauty this same casildea then that i speak of required my honorable passion and gentle aspirations by compelling me as his stepmother did hercules to engage in many pearls of various sorts at the end of each promising me that with the end of the next the object of my hopes should be attained but my labors have gone on increasing link by link until they are past counting nor do i know what will be the last one that is to be the beginning of the accomplishment of my cast desires on one occasion she made me go and challenge the famous giantess of sevile la hiralda by name who is as mighty and strong as if made of brass and the never steering from one spot is the most rentless and changeable woman in the world i came i saw i conquered and i made her stay quiet and behave herself for nothing but north winds blew for more than a week another time i was ordered to lift those ancient stones the mighty bulls of guisando an enterprise that might more fiddly be entrusted to porters and to knights again she made me fling myself into the cavern of cabra an unparalleled and awful pearl and bring her a minute account of all that is concealed in those gloomy depths i stopped the motion of the hiralda i lifted the bulls of guisando i flung myself into the cavern and brought to light the secrets of its abyss and my hopes are as that as that can be and her scorn and her commands as lively as ever to be brief last of all she has commanded me to go through all the provinces of spain and compel all the knights errands wandering therein to confess that she surpasses all women alive today in beauty and that i am the most valent and the most deeply enamored knight on earth in support of which claim i have already traveled over the greater part of spain and have vanquished several knights who have dared to contradict me but what i most plume and pride myself upon is having vanquished in single combat that so famous knight don quixote de la mancha and made him confess that my castle day is more beautiful than his lucinia and in this one victory i hold myself to have conquered all the knights in the world for this don quixote that i speak of has vanquished them all and i have invanchished him his glory his fame and his honor have passed and are now transferred to my person for the more the vanquished hat of fair renown the greater glory guilt's the victor's crown thus the innumerable achievements of the set don quixote are now set down to my account and have become mine don quixote was amazed when he heard the night of the groove and was at a thousand times on the point of telling him he lied and had the lie directly already on the tip of his tongue but he restrained himself as well as he could in order to force him to confess the lie with his own lips so he said to him quietly as to what you say sir knight about having vanquished most of the knights of spain or even the whole world i say nothing but that you have vanquished don quixote of lamancha i consider doubtful it may have been some other that resembled him although there are few like him how not vanquished said he of the groove by the heaven that is above us i fought don quixote and overcame him and made him yield and he's a man of tall stature gant features long lank limbs with her turning gray an acolyne nose rather hooked and large black drooping mustaches he does battle under the name of the countenance and he has for squire a peasant called sancho pensa he presses the loins and rules the rinds of a famous teat called rosinante and lastly he has for the mistress of his will a certain dulcinea del tobozo once upon a time called al donza de lorenzo just as i call mine casildea de bandalia because her name is casilda and she is of andalusia if all of these tokens are not enough to vindicate the truth of what i say here's my sort that will compel in credulity itself to give credence to it calm yourself sir knight said don quixote and give ear to what i'm about to say to you i would have you know that this don quixote you speak of is the greatest friend i have in the world so much that i might say i regard him in the same light as my own person and from the precise and clear indication that you have given i cannot but think that he must be the very one that you have vanquished on the other hand i see with my eyes and feel with my hands that it is impossible it can have been the same unless indeed it be that as he has many enemies who are enchanters and one in particular who is always persecuting him so one of these may have taken his shape in order to allow himself to be vanquished so as to the fraught him of the fame that he's exalted achievements as a knight have earned and acquired for him throughout the known world and in confirmation of this i must tell you too that it is but ten hours since a certain chanters his enemies transform the shape and person of the fair dulcine del tobozo into a foul and mean village lass and in the same way they must have transformed don quixote and if all of this does not suffice to convince you of the truth of what i say here's don quixote himself who will maintain it by arms on foot or on horseback or in any way you please and so saying he stood up and laid his hand on his sword waiting to see what the night of the groove would do who in an equally calm voice said in reply pledges don't distress a good prayer he who has succeeded in vanquishing you once when transformed sir don quixote may fairly hope to subdue you in your own proper shape but as it is not becoming for knights to perform their feats of arms in the dark like highwaymen and bullies let us wait till daylight that the sun may behold our deeds and the conditions of our combat shall be that the vanquish shall be at the victor's disposal to do all that he may enjoy provided that the injunction be such as shall be becoming of a knight i am more than satisfied with these conditions and terms replied don quixote and so saying they be took themself to where their squires lay and found them snoring and in the same posture they were when sleep fell upon them they rose them up and bade them get their horses ready as at sunrise they were to engage in a bloody and arduous single combat at which intelligence sancho was a gas and thunderstruck trembling for the safety of his master because of the mighty deeds he had heard the squire of the groove ascribed to his but without a word the two squires went in quest of their cattle for by this time the three horses and the ass had smelled one another out and were all together on the way he of the groove said to sancho you must know brother that it is custom with the fighting men of andalusia when they are godfathers in any quarrel not to stand idly with folded arms while their godsons fight i say so to remind you that while our masters are fighting we too have to fight and knock one another to shivers that customs are squire reply sancho may hold good among those bullies and fighting men you talk of but certainly not among squires of knights errant at least i have never heard my masters speak of any custom of the sword and he knows all the laws of knight errantry by heart but granting it true that there is an expressed law that squires are to fight while their masters are fighting i don't mean to obey it but to pay the penalty that may be laid on peaceful minded squires like myself for i am sure it cannot be more than two pans of wax and i would rather pay that for i know it will cost me less than the lint i shall be at the expense of to mend my head which i looked upon as broken and split already there's another thing that makes it impossible for me to fight that i have no sword for i never carried one in my life i know a pretty good remedy for that said he of the groove i have here two linen bags of the same size you shall take one and i the other and we will fight at back blows with equal arms if that is the way so be it with all my heart said sancho for that sort of battle will serve to knock the dust off us instead of hurting us that will not do said the other for we must put into the bags to keep the wind from blowing them away have a dozen nice smooth pebbles all of the same weight and in this way we shall be able to baste one another without doing ourselves any harm or mischief body of my father said sancho see what martin and sable and pats of cardin cotton he's putting into the bags that our heads may not be broken and our bones beaten to jelly but even if they are filled with dust so i can tell you senior i'm not going to fight let our masters fight that's their lookout and let us drink and live for time will take care to ease us of our lives without our going to look for philips so that they may be finished off before their proper time comes and they drop from ripeness still returned here of the group we must fight if it only be full half an hour by no means said sancho i'm not going to be so discordious or so ungrateful as to have any quarrel be it ever so small with one that i have eaten and drunk with besides who the devil could bring himself to fight in cold blood without anger or provocation i can remedy that entirely said he of the group and in this way before we begin battle i will come up to your worship fair and softly and give you three or four buffet with which i shall stretch you at my feet and rouse your anger though it were sleeping sounder than a dormus to match that plan said sancho i have another there is not a whip behind it i will take a cudgel and before your worship comes near enough to awaken my anger i will send your so sand to sleep with wax that it won't weaken unless it be in the other world what it is known that i am no man to let my face be handled by anyone let each look out for the arrow though the sheer way would be to let everyone's anger sleep for nobody knows the heart of anyone and a man may come for wool and go back shorn god gave his blessing to peace and his curse to quarrels if a hunted cat surrounded and heart pressed turns into a lion god knows what i who i'm a man may turn into and so from this time forth i warn you sir squire that all the harm and mischief that may come from our quarrel will be put down to your account very good said he of the group god will send the dawn and we shall be all right and now gay plummished birds of all sorts began to rubble in the trees and with their varied and glad some notes seemed to welcome and salute the fresh morn that was beginning to show the beauty of her countenance at the gates and balconies of the east shaking from her locks a profusion of liquid pearls in which dulcet moisture-based the plants too seemed to shed and shower down a pearly spray the willows distilled sweet mana the fountains laughed the brooks babbled the woods rejoiced and the meadows arrayed themselves in all their glory at her coming but hardly had the light of day made it possible to see and distinguish things when the first object that presented itself into the eyes of sancho panza was the squire of the grooves nose which was so big that it almost over shadowed his whole body it is in fact stated that it was of an enormous size hooked in the middle covered with words and of a mulberry color like an eggplant it hung down two fingers length below his mouth and the size the colors the words and the bend of it made his face so hideous that sancho as he looked at him began to tremble hand and foot like a child in convulsions and he vowed in his heart to let himself be given 200 buffets sooner than be provoked to fight with that monster don quixote examined his adversary and found that he already had his helmet on and visor lowered so that he could not see his face he observed however that he was a sturdily built man but not very tall in stature over his armor he wore a surcut or casog of what seemed to be the finest cloth of gold all bespangled with glittering mirrors like little moons which gave him an extremely gallant and splendid appearance above his helmet floated a great quantity of plumes green yellow and white and his lens which was leaning against the tree was very long and stout and had a steel point more than a palm in length don quixote observed all and took note of all and from what he saw and observed he concluded that the set night must be a man of great strength but he did not for all that give away to fear like sancho panza on the country with a composed and downless air he said to the night of the mirrors if sir knight your great eagerness to fight has not vanished your courtesy by it i would entreat you to raise your visor a little in order that i may see if the comeliness of your continents corresponds with that of your equipment whether you come victorious or vanquished out of this and price sir knight replied he of the mirrors you will have more than enough time and leisure to see me and if now i do not comply with your request it is because it seems to me that i should do a serious wrong to the fair casillera de bandalia in wasting time while i start to raise my visor before compelling you to confess what you are already aware i maintain well then said don quixote while we're mounting you can at least tell me if i am that don quixote whom you said you vanquished to that we answer said he of the mirrors that you are as like as a very knight i've vanquished as one egg is to another but as you say enchanters will secure you i will not venture to say possibly whether you are the said person or not that said don quixote is enough to convince me that you are under a deception however entirely to relieve you of it let our horses be brought and in less time that it would take you to raise your visor you've got my lady and my arms done me in good stead i shall see your face and you shall see that i am not vanquished don quixote you take me to be with this cutting short the colloquy they mounted and don quixote willed resonant around in order to take a proper distance to charge back upon his adversary and he of the mirrors did the same but don quixote had not moved away 20 paces when he heard himself called by the other and each returning halfway he of the mirrors said to him remember sir knight that the terms of our combat are that the vanquished as said before should be at victor's disposal i'm aware of it already said don quixote provided that what is commanded and imposed upon the vanquished be things that do not transgress the limits of chivalry that is understood replied he of the mirrors at this moment the extraordinary nose of the squire presented itself into don quixote's view and he was no less amazed and sent you at the site in so much that he sent him down as a monster of some kind or a human being of some new species of on earthly breed sancho seeing his master retiring to run his course did not like to be left along with the nosy man fearing that with one flap of that nose on his own the battle would be all over for him and he would be left stretched on the ground either by the blow or with fright so he ran for his master holding up to rosinantes tighter of leather and when it seemed to him time to turn about he said i implore of your worship senor before you turn to charge to help me up into this cork tree from which i will be able to witness the gallant encounter your worship is going to have with this night more to my taste and better than from the ground it seems to me rather sancho said don quixote that thou wouldst mount a scaffold in order to see the bulls without danger to tell the truth returned sancho the monstrous nose of that squire has filled me with fear and terror and i dare not stay near him it is said don quixote such a one that where i not what i am it would terrify me too so come i will help thee up where thou willed while don quixote waited for sancho to mount into the cork tree he of the mirrors took as much ground as he considered requisite and supposing don quixote to have done the same without waiting for any sound of trumpet or other signal to direct them he wielded his horse which was not more agile or better looking than rosinante and at his top speed which was an easy trot he proceeded to charge his enemy seeing him however engaged in putting sancho off he drew ryan and halted the mid career for which his horse was very grateful as he was already unable to go don quixote fencing that his foe was coming down upon him flying drove his purse vigorously into rosinante's leaning flanks and made him scut along with in such style that the history tells us on this occasion only was he known to make something like running for all the others it was a simple trot with him and with this unparalleled fury he bore down to where he of the mirrors stood digging his spears into his horse up the bottoms without being able to make him steer a fingers length from the spot where he had come to a standstill in his course at this lucky moment in crisis don quixote came upon his adversary in trouble with his horse and embarrassed with his lands which he either could not manage or had no time to lay in rest don quixote however paid no attention to these difficulties and in perfect safety to himself and without any risk encountered him of the mirrors with such force that he brought him to the ground in spite of himself of the hinges of his horse and with so heavy fall that he lay to all appearance dead not steering hand or foot the instant sancho saw him fall he slid down from the cork tree and made all haste to where his master was who dismounting from rosinante went and stood over him of the mirrors and on lacing his helmet to see if he was dead and to give him air if he should happen to be alive he saw who can say what he saw without feeling all who hear it with astonishment wonder and awe he saw the history says the very continents the very face the very look the very physiognomy the very effigy the very image of the bachelor samson carrasco as soon as he saw it he called that in loud voice make haste here sancho and behold what thou art to see but not to believe quick my son and learn what magic can do and wizards and enchanters are capable of sancho came up and when he saw the continents of the bachelor carrasco he felt crossing himself a thousand times and blessing himself as many more all this time the prosperous night showed no signs of life and sancho said to don quixote it is my opinion senor that in any case you worship should take and thrust your sword into the mouth of this one here that looks like the bachelor samson carrasco perhaps in him you will kill one of your enemies the enchanters thy advice is not bad said don quixote for of enemies the fewer the better and he was drawing his sword to carry into effect sancho's council and suggestion when the squire of the mirrors came up now without the nose which had made him so hideous and cried out in a loud voice mind what you're about senor don quixote that is your friend the bachelor samson carrasco you have at your feet and i am his squire and the nose said sancho seeing him without the hideous future he had before to which he replied i have it here in my pocket and putting his hand into his right pocket he pulled out a masquerade nose of varnish spaceport of the make already described and sancho examining him more and more closely exclaim aloud in a voice of amazement holy mary be good to me isn't it tom sesial my neighbor and gossip why to be sure i am return the now on nose squire don sesial i am gossiping friend sancho panza and i'll tell you presently the means and tricks and false wits by which i have been brought here but in the meantime beg and intrigue of your master not to touch maltreat wound or slay the night of the mirrors whom he has at his feet because beyond all dispute it is the rash and ill advised bachelor samson carrasco our fellow townsman at this moment he of the mirrors came to himself and don't give up the perceiving it held the naked point of his sword over his face and said to him you're a dead man night unless you confess that the peerless dulce nether to bosso excels your castle there the vandalia in beauty and in addition to this you must promise if you should survive this encounter and fall to go to the city of el to bosso and present yourself before her on my behalf that she deal to you accordingly to her good pleasure and if she leaves you free to do yours you're in like manner to return and seek me out for the trail of my mighty deeds will serve you as a guide to lead you to where i may be and tell me what may have passed between you and her conditions which in accordance with what we stipulated before our combat do not transgress the just limits of night errantry i confess said the fallen night that the dirty tattered shoe of the lady dulce nether to bosso is better than the ill calm though clean beard of cassilldea and i promise to go and return from her presence to yours and give you a full and particular account of all that you demand of me you must also confess and believe added don quixote that the night you vanquished was not and could not be don quixote of la mancha but someone else in his likeness just as i confess and believe that you though you seem to be the bachelor san son carrasco are not so but someone other resembling him whom my enemies have put before me in his shape in order that i may restrain and mother it the behemons of my wrath and make a gentle use of the glory of my victory i confess hold and think everything to be as you believe hold and think it the crippled knight let me rise and entreat you if indeed the shock of my fall will allow me for it has left me in a sorry plight enough don quixote helping to rise with the assistance of his squire tom sesial from whom sancio never took his eyes and to whom he put in questions the replies to which furnished clear proof that he was really and truly the tom sesial he said but the impression made on sancio's mind but what his master said about the enchanters having changed the face of the night of the mirrors into that of the bachelor san son carrasco would not permit him to believe what he saw with his eyes in fine both master and man remained under the dilution and down in the mouth and out of luck he of the mirrors and his squire parted from don quixote and sancio he meaning to go and look for some village where he could plaster and strap his ribs don quixote and sancio resumed their journey to saragosa and on it the story leaves them in order that it may tell who the night of the mirrors and his long-nosed squire where end of chapter 14 recorded by antonio in mocha dominican republic chapters 15 and 16 of don quixote volume two this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recorded by craig allen don quixote volume two by miguel de saravante savedra translated by john ormsby chapter 15 wherein it is told and known who the night of the mirrors and his squire were don quixote went off satisfied elated and vain glorious in the highest degree at having won a victory over such a valiant night as he fancied him of the mirrors to be and one from whose nightly word he expected to learn whether the enchantment of his lady still continued in as much as the said vanquished night was bound under the penalty of ceasing to be one to return and render him an account of what took place between him and her but don quixote was of one mind he of the mirrors of another for he just then had no thought of anything but finding some village where he could plaster himself as has been said already the history goes on to say that when the bachelor samson carrasco recommended don quixote to resume his night air entry which he had laid aside it was in consequence of having been previously in conclave with the curate and the barber on the means to be adopted to induce don quixote to stay at home in peace and quiet without worrying himself with his ill-starred adventures at which consultation it was decided by the unanimous vote of all and on the special advice of carrasco that don quixote should be allowed to go as it seemed impossible to restrain him and that samson should sally forth to meet him as a night airant and do battle with him for there would be no difficulty about a cause and vanquish him that being looked upon as an easy matter and that it should be agreed and settled that the vanquished was to be at the mercy of the victor then don quixote being vanquished the bachelor knight was to command him to return to his village and his house and not quit it for two years or until he received further orders from him all which it was clear don quixote would unhesitatingly obey rather than contravene or fail to observe the laws of chivalry and during the period of his seclusion he might perhaps forget his folly or there might be an opportunity of discovering some ready remedy for his madness carrasco undertook the task and tom sesiel a gossip and neighbor of sancho ponzas a lively and feather-headed fellow offered himself as his squire carrasco armed himself in the fashion described and tom sesiel that he might be known by his gossip when they met fitted on over his own natural nose the false masquerade one that had been mentioned and so they followed the same route don quixote and almost came up with him in time to be present at the adventure of the cart of death and finally encountered them in the grove where all that the sagacious reader has been reading about took place and had it not been for the extraordinary fancies of don quixote and his conviction that the bachelor was not the bachelor senor bachelor would have been incapacitated forever from taking his degree of licentiate all through not finding nests where he thought to find birds tom sesiel seeing how ill they had succeeded and what a sorry and their expedition had come to said to the bachelor sure enough senor samson carrasco we are served right it is easy enough to plan and set about an enterprise but it is often a difficult matter to come well out of it don quixote a madman and we sane he goes off laughing safe and sound and you are left sore and sorry i'd like to know now which is the matter he who is so because he cannot help it or he who is so because of his own choice to which samson replied the difference between the two sorts of madmen is that he who is so will he nil he will be one always while he who is so of his own accord can leave off being one whenever he likes in that case said tom sesiel i was a madman of my own accord when i volunteered to become your square and of my own accord i'll leave off being one and go home that's your affair return samson but to suppose that i am going home until i have given don quixote a thrashing is absurd and it is not any wish that he may recover his senses that will make me hunt him out now but i wish for the sore pain i am in with my ribs won't let me entertain more charitable thoughts thus discoursing the pair proceeded until they reached a town where it was their good luck to find a bone-setter with whose help the unfortunate samson was cured tom sesiel left him and went home while he stayed behind meditating vengeance and the history will return to him again at the proper time so as not to omit making merry with don quixote now chapter 16 of what befell don quixote with a discreet gentleman of la mancha don quixote pursued his journey in the high spirits satisfaction and self complacency already described fancying himself the most valorous knight errant of the age in the world because of his late victory all the adventures that could be fall him from that time forth he regarded as already done and brought to a happy issue he made light of enchantments and enchanters he thought no more of the countless drubbings that had been administered to him in the course of his knight errantry nor of the volley of stones that had leveled half his teeth nor of the ingratitude of the galley slaves nor of the audacity of the angizians and the shower of steaks that fell upon him in short he said to himself that could he discover any means mode or way of disenchanting his lady dulcinea he would not envy the highest fortune that the most fortunate knight errant of your ever reach or could reach he was going along entirely absorbed in these fancies when sancho said to him isn't it odd senor that i have still before my eyes that monstrous enormous nose of my gossip tom sesial and thus thou then believe sancho said don quixote that the knight of mirrors was the bachelor carasco and his squire tom sesial thy gossip i don't know what to say to that's replied sancho all i know is that the tokens he gave me about my own house wife and children nobody else but himself could have given me and the face once the nose was off was the very face of tom sesial as i have seen it many a time in my town and next door to my own house and the sound of the voice was just the same let us reason the matter sancho said don quixote come now by what process of thinking can it be supposed that the bachelor samson carasco would come as a knight errant in arms offensive and defensive to fight with me have i ever been by any chance his enemy have i ever given him any occasion to owe me a grudge am i his rival or does he profess arms that he should envy the fame i have acquired in them well but what are we to say senior return sancho about that night whoever he is being so like the bachelor carasco and his squire so like my gossip tom sesial and if that be enchantment as your worship says was there no other pair in the world for them to take the likeness of it is all said don quixote a scheme and plot of the malignant magicians that persecute me who foreseeing that i was to be victorious in the conflict arranged that the vanquished knight should display the countenance of my friend the bachelor in order that the friendship i bear him should interpose to stay the edge of my sword and might of my arm and temper the just wrath of my heart so that he who sought to take my life by fraud and falsehood should save his own and to prove it thou knowest already sancho by experience which cannot lie or deceive how easy it is for enchanters to change one countenance into another turning fair into foul and foul into fair for it is not two days since thou sawest with thine own eyes the beauty and elegance of the peerless dulcinea in all its perfection and natural harmony while i saw her in the repulsive and mean form of a coarse country wench with cataracts in her eyes and a foul smell in her mouth and when the perverse enchanter ventured to affect so wicked a transformation it is no wonder that he affected that of samson carasco and i gossip in order to snatch the glory of victory out of my grasp for all that however i consoled myself because after all in whatever shape he may have been i have been victorious over my enemy god knows what's the truth of it all said sancho and knowing as he did that the transformation of dulcinea had been a device and imposition of his own his master's illusions were not satisfactory to him but he did not like to reply lest he should say something that might disclose his trickery as they were engaged in this conversation they were overtaken by a man who was following the same road behind them mounted on a very handsome fleabit and mare and dressed in a gabin of fine green cloth with tawny velvet facings and a montera of the same velvet the trappings of the mare were of the field in ginetta fashion and of mulberry color and green he carried a moorish cutlass hanging from a broad green and gold balderic the buskins were of the same make as the balderic the spurs were not guilt but lacquered green and so brightly polished that matching as they did the rest of his apparel they looked better than if they had been of pure gold when the traveler came up with them he saluted them courteously and spurring his mare was passing them without stopping but don Quixote called out to him gallant sir if so be your worship is going all road and has no occasion for speed it would be a pleasure to me if we were to join company in truth replied he on the mare I would not pass you so hastily but for fear that horse might turn restive in the company of my mare you may safely hold in your mare senor said sancho in reply to this for our horse is the most virtuous and well behaved horse in the world he never does anything wrong on such occasions and the only time he misbehaved my master and I suffered for it sevenfold I say again your worship may pull up if you like for if she was offered to him between two plates the horse would not hanker after her the traveler drew grain amazed at the trim and features of don Quixote who rode without his helmet which sancho carried like a valise in front of dapples pack saddle and if the man in green examined don Quixote closely still more closely did don Quixote examine the man in green who struck him as being a man of intelligence in appearance he was about 50 years of age with but few gray hairs and aquiline cast of features and an expression between grave and the gay and his dress and accoutrements showed him to be a man of good condition what he and green thought of don Quixote of lamancha was that a man of that sort and shape he had never yet seen he marveled at the length of his hair his lofty stature the lankness and salowness of his countenance his armor his bearing and his gravity a figure and picture such as he had not seen in those regions for many a long day don Quixote saw very plainly the attention with which the traveler was regarding him and read his curiosity in his astonishment and courteous as he was and ready to please everybody before the other could ask him any question he anticipated him by saying the appearance I present to your worship being so strange and so out of the common I should not be surprised if it filled you with wonder but you will cease to wonder when I tell you as I do that I am one of those nights who as people say go seeking adventures I have left my home I have mortgaged my estate I have given up my comforts and committed myself to the arms of fortune to bear me wither so ever she may please my desire was to bring to life again night errantry now dead and for some time past stumbling here falling there now coming down headlong now raising myself up again I have carried out a great portion of my design suckering widows protecting maidens and giving aid to wives orphans and minors the proper and natural duty of nights errant and therefore because of my many valiant and Christian achievements I have been already found worthy to make my way in print to well nigh all or most of the nations of the earth thirty thousand volumes of my history have been printed and it is on the high road to be printed thirty thousand thousands of times if heaven does not put a stop to it in short to sum up all in a few words or in a single one I may tell you I am Don Quixote of La Mancha otherwise called the night of the rueful countenance for those self-praises degrading I must perform sound my own sometimes that is to say when there is no one at hand to do it for me so that gentle sir neither this horse nor this lance nor the shield nor this squire nor all these arms put together nor the solanness of my countenance nor my gaunt leanness will henceforth astonish you now that you know who I am and what profession I know with these words Don Quixote held his piece and from the time he took to answer the man in green seemed to be at a loss for a reply after a long pause however he said to him you were right when you saw curiosity in my amazement sir knight but you have not succeeded in removing the astonishment I feel at seeing you for although you say senior that knowing who you are ought to remove it it has not done so on the contrary now that I know I am left more amazed and astonished than before what is it possible that there are knights errant in the world in these days and histories of real chivalry printed I cannot realize the fact that there can be anyone on earth nowadays who aids widows or protects maidens or defends wives or suckers orphans nor should I believe it had I not seen it in your worship with my own eyes blessed be heaven for by means of this history of your noble and genuine chivalrous deeds which you say has been printed the countless stories of fictitious knights errant with which the world is filled so much to the injury of morality and the prejudice and discredit of good histories will have been driven into oblivion there is a good deal to be said on that point said Don Quixote as to whether the histories of the knights errant are fiction or not why is there anyone who doubts that these histories are false said the man in green I doubt it said Don Quixote but never mind that just now if our journey lasts long enough I trust in God I shall show your worship that you do wrong in going with the stream of those who regard it as a matter of certainty that they are not true from this last observation of Don Quixote's the traveler began to have a suspicion that he was some crazy being and was waiting him to confirm it by something further but before they could turn to any new subject Don Quixote begged him to tell him who he was since he himself had rendered account of his station in life to this he in the green gabin replied I sir knight of the rueful countenance I'm a gentleman by birth native of the village where please God we are going to dine today I am more than fairly well off and my name is Don Diego de Miranda I pass my life with my wife children and friends my pursuits are hunting and fishing but I keep neither hawks nor greyhounds nothing but a tame parkridge or a bold ferret or two I have six dozen or so books some in our mother tongue some latin some of them history others devotional those of chivalry have not as yet crossed the threshold of my door I am more given to turning over the profane than the devotional so long as they are books of honest entertainment that charm by their style and attract and interest by the invention they display though of these there are very few in Spain sometimes I dine with my neighbors and friends and often invite them my entertainments are neat and well served without stint of anything I have no taste for tattle nor do I allow tattling in my presence I try not into my neighbor's lives nor have I a link's eyes for what others do I hear mass every day I share my substance with the poor making no display of good works lest I let hypocrisy and vain glory those enemies that subtly take possession of the most watchful heart find an entrance into mine I strive to make peace between those who I know to be at variance I am the devoted servant of our lady and my trust is ever in the infinite mercy of God our Lord Sancho listened with the greatest attention to the account of the gentleman's life and occupation and thinking at a good and holy life and that he who led it ought to work miracles he threw himself off dapple and running in haste seized his right stirrup and kissed his foot again and again with a devout heart and almost with tears seeing this the gentleman asked him what are you about brother what are these kisses for let me kiss said Sancho for I think your worship is the first saint in the saddle I ever saw in all the days of my life I am no saint replied the gentleman but a great sinner but you are brother for you must be a good fellow as your simplicity shows Sancho went back and regained his pack saddle having extracted a laugh from his master's profound melancholy and excited fresh amazement in Don Diego Don Quixote then asked him how many children he had and observed that one of the things where in the ancient philosophers who were without the true knowledge of God place the summum bonum was in the gifts of nature in those of fortune and in having many friends and many good children I senior don Quixote answered the gentleman have one son without whom perhaps I should count myself happier than I am not because he is a bad son but because he is not so good as I could wish he is 18 years of age he has been for six at Salamanca studying Latin and Greek and when I wished him to turn to the study of other sciences I found him so wrapped up in that of poetry if that can be called a science that there is no getting him to take kindly to the law which I wished him to study or to theology the queen of them all I would like him to be an honor to his family as we live in days when our kings liberally reward learning that his virtuous and worthy for learning without virtue is a pearl on a dung hill he spends the whole day in settling whether Homer expressed himself correctly or not in such and such a line of the Iliad whether Marshall was indecent or not in such and such an epigram whether such and such lines of Virgil are to be understood in this way or in that in short all his talk is of the works of these poets and those of Horace Perseus juvenile tibulus for of the moderns in our own language he makes no great account but with all his seeming indifference to Spanish poetry just now his thoughts are absorbed in making a gloss on four lines that have been sent him from Salamanca which I suspect are for some poetical tournament to all this Don Quixote said in reply children's senor are portions of their parents bowels and therefore be they good or bad are to be loved as we love the souls that give us life it is for the parents to guide them from infancy in the ways of virtue propriety and worthy Christian conduct so that when grown up they may be the staff of their parents old age and the glory of their posterity and to force them to study this or that science I do not think wise though it may be no harm to persuade them and when there is no need to study for the sake of pane lucrando and it is the students good fortune that heaven has given him parents who provide him with it it would be my advice to let him pursue whatever science they may see him most inclined to and though that a poetry is less useful than pleasurable it is not one of those that bring discredit upon the possessor poetry gentle sir is as I take it like a tender young maiden of supreme beauty to a ray be deck and adorn whom is the task of several other maidens who are all the rest of the sciences and she must avail herself of the help of all and all derive their luster from her but this maiden will not bear to be handled nor dragged through the streets nor exposed either at the corners of the marketplaces or in the closets of palaces she is the product of an alchemy of such virtue that he who is able to practice it will turn her into pure gold of inestimable worth he that possesses her must keep her within bounds not permitting her to break out and rival satires or soulless sonnets she must have no account be offered for sale unless indeed it be in heroic poems moving tragedies or sprightly and ingenious comedies she must not be touched by the buffoons nor by the ignorant vulgar incapable of comprehending or appreciating her hidden treasures and do not suppose senor that I apply the term vulgar here merely to plebeians and the lower orders for everyone who is ignorant be he lord or prince may and should be included among the vulgar he then who shall embrace and cultivate poetry under the conditions I have named shall become famous and his name honored throughout all the civilized nations of the earth and with regard to what you say senor of your son having no great opinion of Spanish poetry I am inclined to think that he is not quite right there and for this reason the great poet Homer did not write in Latin because he was a Greek nor did Virgil write in Greek because he was a Latin in short all the ancient poets wrote it in the language they imbibed with their mother's milk and never went in quest of foreign ones to express their sublime conceptions and that being so the usage should injustice extend to all nations and the German poet should not be undervalued because he writes in his own language nor the Castilian nor even the Biscayen for writing in his but your son senor I suspect is not prejudiced against Spanish poetry but against those poets who are mere Spanish verse writers without any knowledge of other languages or sciences to adorn and to give life and vigor to their natural inspiration and yet even in this he may be wrong for according to a true belief a poet is born one that is to say the poet by nature comes forth a poet from his mother's womb and following the bent that heaven has bestowed upon him without the aid of study or art he produces things that show how truly he spoke who said est deus in nobis etc at the same time I say that the poet by nature who calls in art to his aid will be a far better poet and will surpass him who tries to be one relying upon his knowledge of art alone the reason is that art does not surpass nature but only brings it to perfection and thus nature combined with art and art with nature will produce a perfect poet to bring my argument to a close I would say then gentle sir let your son go on as his star leads him for being so studious as he seems to be and having already successfully surmounted the first step of the sciences which is that of languages with their help he will by his own exertions reach the summit of polite literature which so well becomes an independent gentleman and adorns honors and distinguishes him as much as the mitre does the bishop or the gown the learned counselor if your son writes satires reflecting on the honor of others chide and correct him and tear them up but if he composes discourses in which he rebukes vice in general in the style of Horace and with elegance like his commend him for it is legitimate for a poet to write against envy and lash the envious in his verse and the other vices too provided he does not single out individuals there are however poets who for the sake of saying something spiteful would run the risk of being banished to the coast of Pontus if the poet be pure in his morals he will be pure in his verses too the pen is the tongue of the mind and as the thought engendered there so will be the things that it writes down and when kings and princes observe this marvelous science of poetry and wise virtuous and thoughtful subjects they honor value exalt them and even crown them with the leaves of that tree which the thunderbolt strikes not as if to show that they whose brows are honored and adorned with such a crown are not to be assailed by anyone he of the green cabin was filled with astonishment at Don Quixote's argument so much so that he began to abandon the notion he had taken up about his being crazy but in the middle of the discourse it not being very much to his taste Sancho had turned aside out of the road to beg him a little milk from some shepherds who were milking their use hard by and just as the gentleman highly pleased was about to renew the conversation Don Quixote raising his head perceived a cart covered with royal flags coming along the road they were traveling and persuaded that this must be some new adventure he called aloud to Sancho to come and bring him his helmet Sancho hearing himself called quitted the shepherds and prodding dappled vigorously came up to his master to whom there fell a terrific and desperate adventure end of chapter sixteen recorded by Craig Allen