บทที่ บทที่ 67 · CHAPTER XV. WHEREIN IT IS TOLD AND KNOWN WHO THE KNIGHT OF THE MIRRORS AND HIS

. CHAPTER XV. WHEREIN IT IS TOLD AND KNOWN WHO THE KNIGHT OF THE MIRRORS AND HIS

CHAPTER XV.

WHEREIN IT IS TOLD AND KNOWN WHO THE KNIGHT OF THE MIRRORS AND HIS

SQUIRE WERE

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Don Quixote went off satisfied, elated, and vain-glorious in the

highest degree at having won a victory over such a valiant knight as he

fancied him of the Mirrors to be, and one from whose knightly word he

expected to learn whether the enchantment of his lady still continued;

inasmuch as the said vanquished knight 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, then, that when the bachelor

Samson Carrasco recommended Don Quixote to resume his knight-errantry

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 knight-errant, 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 Cecial, a gossip and neighbour of Sancho Panza’s, a

lively, feather-headed fellow, offered himself as his squire. Carrasco

armed himself in the fashion described, and Tom Cecial, that he might

not be known by his gossip when they met, fitted on over his own

natural nose the false masquerade one that has been mentioned; and so

they followed the same route Don Quixote took, 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, señor bachelor would have been

incapacitated for ever from taking his degree of licentiate, all

through not finding nests where he thought to find birds.

Tom Cecial, seeing how ill they had succeeded, and what a sorry end

their expedition had come to, said to the bachelor, “Sure enough, Señor

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 madder, he who is so because he cannot help it, or he who

is so 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 Cecial, “I was a madman of my own accord when

I volunteered to become your squire, and, of my own accord, I’ll leave

off being one and go home.”

“That’s your affair,” returned 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 a 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 Cecial 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.

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