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VOLUME[ PART 2  ]  

CHAPTER[ XXIV. WHEREIN ARE RELATED A THOUSAND TRIFLING MATTERS, AS TRIVIAL AS THEY ARE

NECESSARY TO THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF THIS GREAT HISTORY

He who translated this great history from the original written by its

first author, Cide Hamete Benengeli, says that on coming to the chapter

giving the adventures of the cave of Montesinos he found written on the

margin of it, in Hamete's own hand, these exact words:

"I cannot convince or persuade myself that everything that is written in

the preceding chapter could have precisely happened to the valiant Don

Quixote; and for this reason, that all the adventures that have occurred

up to the present have been possible and probable; but as for this one of

the cave, I see no way of accepting it as true, as it passes all

reasonable bounds. For me to believe that Don Quixote could lie, he being

the most truthful gentleman and the noblest knight of his time, is

impossible; he would not have told a lie though he were shot to death

with arrows. On the other hand, I reflect that he related and told the

story with all the circumstances detailed, and that he could not in so

short a space have fabricated such a vast complication of absurdities;

if, then, this adventure seems apocryphal, it is no fault of mine; and

so, without affirming its falsehood or its truth, I write it down. Decide

for thyself in thy wisdom, reader; for I am not bound, nor is it in my

power, to do more; though certain it is they say that at the time of his

death he retracted, and said he had invented it, thinking it matched and

tallied with the adventures he had read of in his histories." And then he

goes on to say:

The cousin was amazed as well at Sancho's boldness as at the patience of

his master, and concluded that the good temper the latter displayed arose

from the happiness he felt at having seen his lady Dulcinea, even

enchanted as she was; because otherwise the words and language Sancho had

addressed to him deserved a thrashing; for indeed he seemed to him to

have been rather impudent to his master, to whom he now observed, "I,

Senor Don Quixote of La Mancha, look upon the time I have spent in

travelling with your worship as very well employed, for I have gained

four things in the course of it; the first is that I have made your

acquaintance, which I consider great good fortune; the second, that I

have learned what the cave of Montesinos contains, together with the

transformations of Guadiana and of the lakes of Ruidera; which will be of

use to me for the Spanish Ovid that I have in hand; the third, to have

discovered the antiquity of cards, that they were in use at least in the

time of Charlemagne, as may be inferred from the words you say Durandarte

uttered when, at the end of that long spell while Montesinos was talking

to him, he woke up and said, 'Patience and shuffle.' This phrase and

expression he could not have learned while he was enchanted, but only

before he had become so, in France, and in the time of the aforesaid

emperor Charlemagne. And this demonstration is just the thing for me for

that other book I am writing, the 'Supplement to Polydore Vergil on the

Invention of Antiquities;' for I believe he never thought of inserting

that of cards in his book, as I mean to do in mine, and it will be a

matter of great importance, particularly when I can cite so grave and

veracious an authority as Senor Durandarte. And the fourth thing is, that

I have ascertained the source of the river Guadiana, heretofore unknown

to mankind."

"You are right," said Don Quixote; "but I should like to know, if by

God's favour they grant you a licence to print those books of yours-which

I doubt--to whom do you mean dedicate them?"

"There are lords and grandees in Spain to whom they can be dedicated,"

said the cousin.

"Not many," said Don Quixote; "not that they are unworthy of it, but

because they do not care to accept books and incur the obligation of

making the return that seems due to the author's labour and courtesy. One

prince I know who makes up for all the rest, and more-how much more, if I

ventured to say, perhaps I should stir up envy in many a noble breast;

but let this stand over for some more convenient time, and let us go and

look for some place to shelter ourselves in to-night."

"Not far from this," said the cousin, "there is a hermitage, where there

lives a hermit, who they say was a soldier, and who has the reputation of

being a good Christian and a very intelligent and charitable man. Close

to the hermitage he has a small house which he built at his own cost, but

though small it is large enough for the reception of guests."

"Has this hermit any hens, do you think?" asked Sancho.

"Few hermits are without them," said Don Quixote; "for those we see

now-a-days are not like the hermits of the Egyptian deserts who were clad

in palm-leaves, and lived on the roots of the earth. But do not think

that by praising these I am disparaging the others; all I mean to say is

that the penances of those of the present day do not come up to the

asceticism and austerity of former times; but it does not follow from

this that they are not all worthy; at least I think them so; and at the

worst the hypocrite who pretends to be good does less harm than the open

sinner."

At this point they saw approaching the spot where they stood a man on

foot, proceeding at a rapid pace, and beating a mule loaded with lances

and halberds. When he came up to them, he saluted them and passed on

without stopping. Don Quixote called to him, "Stay, good fellow; you seem

to be making more haste than suits that mule."

"I cannot stop, senor," answered the man; "for the arms you see I carry

here are to be used tomorrow, so I must not delay; God be with you. But

if you want to know what I am carrying them for, I mean to lodge to-night

at the inn that is beyond the hermitage, and if you be going the same

road you will find me there, and I will tell you some curious things;

once more God be with you;" and he urged on his mule at such a pace that

Don Quixote had no time to ask him what these curious things were that he

meant to tell them; and as he was somewhat inquisitive, and always

tortured by his anxiety to learn something new, he decided to set out at

once, and go and pass the night at the inn instead of stopping at the

hermitage, where the cousin would have had them halt. Accordingly they

mounted and all three took the direct road for the inn, which they

reached a little before nightfall. On the road the cousin proposed they

should go up to the hermitage to drink a sup. The instant Sancho heard

this he steered his Dapple towards it, and Don Quixote and the cousin did

the same; but it seems Sancho's bad luck so ordered it that the hermit

was not at home, for so a sub-hermit they found in the hermitage told

them. They called for some of the best. She replied that her master had

none, but that if they liked cheap water she would give it with great

pleasure.

"If I found any in water," said Sancho, "there are wells along the road

where I could have had enough of it. Ah, Camacho's wedding, and plentiful

house of Don Diego, how often do I miss you!"

Leaving the hermitage, they pushed on towards the inn, and a little

farther they came upon a youth who was pacing along in front of them at

no great speed, so that they overtook him. He carried a sword over his

shoulder, and slung on it a budget or bundle of his clothes apparently,

probably his breeches or pantaloons, and his cloak and a shirt or two;

for he had on a short jacket of velvet with a gloss like satin on it in

places, and had his shirt out; his stockings were of silk, and his shoes

square-toed as they wear them at court. His age might have been eighteen

or nineteen; he was of a merry countenance, and to all appearance of an

active habit, and he went along singing seguidillas to beguile the

wearisomeness of the road. As they came up with him he was just finishing

one, which the cousin got by heart and they say ran thus--

I'm off to the wars

  For the want of pence,

Oh, had I but money

  I'd show more sense.

The first to address him was Don Quixote, who said, "You travel very

airily, sir gallant; whither bound, may we ask, if it is your pleasure to

tell us?"

To which the youth replied, "The heat and my poverty are the reason of my

travelling so airily, and it is to the wars that I am bound."

"How poverty?" asked Don Quixote; "the heat one can understand."

"Senor," replied the youth, "in this bundle I carry velvet pantaloons to

match this jacket; if I wear them out on the road, I shall not be able to

make a decent appearance in them in the city, and I have not the

wherewithal to buy others; and so for this reason, as well as to keep

myself cool, I am making my way in this fashion to overtake some

companies of infantry that are not twelve leagues off, in which I shall

enlist, and there will be no want of baggage trains to travel with after

that to the place of embarkation, which they say will be Carthagena; I

would rather have the King for a master, and serve him in the wars, than

serve a court pauper."

"And did you get any bounty, now?" asked the cousin.

"If I had been in the service of some grandee of Spain or personage of

distinction," replied the youth, "I should have been safe to get it; for

that is the advantage of serving good masters, that out of the servants'

hall men come to be ancients or captains, or get a good pension. But I,

to my misfortune, always served place-hunters and adventurers, whose keep

and wages were so miserable and scanty that half went in paying for the

starching of one's collars; it would be a miracle indeed if a page

volunteer ever got anything like a reasonable bounty."

"And tell me, for heaven's sake," asked Don Quixote, "is it possible, my

friend, that all the time you served you never got any livery?"

"They gave me two," replied the page; "but just as when one quits a

religious community before making profession, they strip him of the dress

of the order and give him back his own clothes, so did my masters return

me mine; for as soon as the business on which they came to court was

finished, they went home and took back the liveries they had given merely

for show."

"What spilorceria!--as an Italian would say," said Don Quixote; "but for

all that, consider yourself happy in having left court with as worthy an

object as you have, for there is nothing on earth more honourable or

profitable than serving, first of all God, and then one's king and

natural lord, particularly in the profession of arms, by which, if not

more wealth, at least more honour is to be won than by letters, as I have

said many a time; for though letters may have founded more great houses

than arms, still those founded by arms have I know not what superiority

over those founded by letters, and a certain splendour belonging to them

that distinguishes them above all. And bear in mind what I am now about

to say to you, for it will be of great use and comfort to you in time of

trouble; it is, not to let your mind dwell on the adverse chances that

may befall you; for the worst of all is death, and if it be a good death,

the best of all is to die. They asked Julius Caesar, the valiant Roman

emperor, what was the best death. He answered, that which is unexpected,

which comes suddenly and unforeseen; and though he answered like a pagan,

and one without the knowledge of the true God, yet, as far as sparing our

feelings is concerned, he was right; for suppose you are killed in the

first engagement or skirmish, whether by a cannon ball or blown up by

mine, what matters it? It is only dying, and all is over; and according

to Terence, a soldier shows better dead in battle, than alive and safe in

flight; and the good soldier wins fame in proportion as he is obedient to

his captains and those in command over him. And remember, my son, that it

is better for the soldier to smell of gunpowder than of civet, and that

if old age should come upon you in this honourable calling, though you

may be covered with wounds and crippled and lame, it will not come upon

you without honour, and that such as poverty cannot lessen; especially

now that provisions are being made for supporting and relieving old and

disabled soldiers; for it is not right to deal with them after the

fashion of those who set free and get rid of their black slaves when they

are old and useless, and, turning them out of their houses under the

pretence of making them free, make them slaves to hunger, from which they

cannot expect to be released except by death. But for the present I won't

say more than get ye up behind me on my horse as far as the inn, and sup

with me there, and to-morrow you shall pursue your journey, and God give

you as good speed as your intentions deserve."

The page did not accept the invitation to mount, though he did that to

supper at the inn; and here they say Sancho said to himself, "God be with

you for a master; is it possible that a man who can say things so many

and so good as he has said just now, can say that he saw the impossible

absurdities he reports about the cave of Montesinos? Well, well, we shall

see."

And now, just as night was falling, they reached the inn, and it was not

without satisfaction that Sancho perceived his master took it for a real

inn, and not for a castle as usual. The instant they entered Don Quixote

asked the landlord after the man with the lances and halberds, and was

told that he was in the stable seeing to his mule; which was what Sancho

and the cousin proceeded to do for their beasts, giving the best manger

and the best place in the stable to Rocinante.

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