{"id":250,"date":"2019-12-01T16:45:25","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T16:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/chapter\/second-part-chapter-xiv-2\/"},"modified":"2020-03-24T10:09:18","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T10:09:18","slug":"second-part-chapter-xiv","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/chapter\/second-part-chapter-xiv\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Part. Chapter XIV"},"content":{"raw":"CHAPTER XIV<\/a>\r\n
\r\n

In which the adventure of the Knight of the Wood continues<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

Among the many words that passed between Don Quixote and the Knight of the Forest, the history says that the Knight of the Wood said to Don Quixote:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cFinally, Se\u00f1or Knight, I want you to know that my destiny or, I should say, my own free choice, led me to fall in love with the peerless Casildea of Vandalia. I call her without peer because she has none, in the greatness of her stature or in the loftiness of her rank and beauty. This Casildea, then, whom I am describing to you, repaid my virtuous thoughts and courteous desires by having me, as his stepmother did with Hercules, engage in many different kinds of dangers, promising me at the end of each one that at the end of the next my hopes would be realized; but my labors have been linked together for so long that I have lost count, nor do I know which will be the final one that initiates the satisfaction of my virtuous desires. On one occasion she ordered me to chal<\/a>lenge that famous giantess of Sevilla called La Giralda,367<\/a><\/span><\/sup> who is as valiant and strong as if she were made of bronze and, without moving from one spot, is the most changeable and fickle woman in the world. I came, I saw, I conquered her, and I made her keep still and to the point, because for more than a week only north winds blew. Another time she ordered me to weigh the ancient stones of the corpulent Bulls of Guisando,368<\/a><\/span><\/sup> an undertaking better suited to laborers than to knights. On yet another occasion she ordered me to hurl and fling myself into the abyss of Cabra,369<\/a><\/span><\/sup> a singular and most fearful danger, and bring her a detailed report of what lies in its dark depths. I halted the movement of La Giralda, I weighed the Bulls of Guisando, I threw myself into the chasm and brought to light what lay hidden there in darkness, and my hopes are deader than dead, and her commands and disdain are more alive than ever. In short, most recently she has ordered me to travel through all the provinces of Spain and have all the knights errant wandering there confess that she alone is the greatest beauty of all the ladies in the world today, and that I am the most valiant and most perfectly enamored knight on earth; to satisfy this request I have already traveled most of Spain and conquered many knights who dared contradict me. But what gratifies me the most and makes me proudest is having conquered in single combat that most famous knight, Don Quixote of La Mancha, and forced him to confess that my Casildea is more beautiful than his Dulcinea; with this one conquest I consider that I have conquered all the knights in the world, because Don Quixote has conquered them all, and since I conquered him, his glory, fame, and honor have passed and been transferred to my person.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n

The conqueror enjoys more fame and glory<\/p>\r\n

the greater the distinction of the vanquished;370<\/a><\/span><\/sup><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

and as a consequence, the innumerable deeds of the aforementioned Don Quixote are mine and redound to my credit.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Don Quixote was stunned at what he heard the Knight of the Wood say and was about to tell him he was lying a thousand times over, and he <\/a>had the You lie<\/span> on the tip of his tongue but did his best to restrain himself in order to have the Knight of the Wood confess his lie with his own mouth, and so, very calmly, he said:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWith regard to your grace, Se\u00f1or Knight, having vanquished almost all the knights errant in Spain, and even the world, I say nothing; but your having conquered Don Quixote of La Mancha: about that I do have my doubts. It might have been another who resembled him, although there are few men who do.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d replied the Knight of the Wood. \u201cBy the heaven above us, I fought with Don Quixote, and I conquered and defeated him; he is a man of tall stature, a dry face, long, lanky limbs, graying hair, an aquiline, somewhat hooked nose, and a large, black, drooping mustache. He does battle under the name The Knight of the Sorrowful Face,<\/span> and for a squire he has a peasant named Sancho Panza; he sits on the back and holds the reins of a famous horse called Rocinante; finally, the lady of his desire, at one time known as Aldonza Lorenzo, is a certain Dulcinea of Toboso, like my lady, who is named Casildea and comes from Andaluc\u00eda and therefore is called Casildea of Vandalia. If all this is not enough to validate the truth of what I say, here is my sword, which will oblige incredulity itself to give me credence.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cBe calm, Se\u00f1or Knight,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cand hear what I wish to tell you. You should know that this Don Quixote whom you have mentioned is the dearest friend I have in the world; I could even say that I value him as I do my own person, and by the description you have given me, which is detailed and accurate, I can only think that he is indeed the one you have conquered. On the other hand, I see with my eyes and touch with my hands the impossibility of his being the one, and yet there are many enchanters who are his enemies, especially one who ordinarily pursues him, and one of these may have taken on his appearance and allowed himself to be vanquished in order to cheat Don Quixote of the fame that his high chivalric deeds have earned and won for him throughout the known world. And as confirmation of this, I also want you to know that these enchanters, his adversaries, only two days ago transformed the figure and person of the beauteous Dulcinea of Toboso into a foul, lowborn peasant girl, and in the same fashion they must have transformed Don Quixote; if this is not enough to persuade you of the truth of what I say, here is Don Quixote himself, who will sustain it with arms, on foot or on horseback, or in whatever manner pleases you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

And saying this, he rose to his feet and grasped his sword, waiting to see what decision would be made by the Knight of the Wood, who responded in the same tranquil voice, saying:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe man who pays his debts does not mind guaranties: the man, Se\u00f1or Don Quixote, who could vanquish you transformed can certainly hope to defeat you in your own person. But since it is not right for knights to engage in feats of arms in the dark, like robbers and thieves, let us wait for day so that the sun may see our deeds. And a condition of our combat must be that the vanquished submits to the will of the victor and does everything he desires as long as his commands respect a knight\u2019s virtue.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI am more than happy with this condition and agreement,\u201d responded Don Quixote.<\/p>\r\n

And, having said this, they went to the place where their squires were and found them snoring, in the same positions they were in when sleep overcame them. The knights woke them and ordered them to ready the horses, because as soon as the sun rose, the two of them would have to engage in bloody, single, and unequaled combat; at this news, Sancho was surprised and stunned and fearful for the health of his master because of the brave deeds the Squire of the Wood had attributed to his knight; but, without saying a word, the squires went to find their animals, for by this time all three horses and the donkey had smelled one another and were standing close together.<\/p>\r\n

On the way, the Squire of the Wood said to Sancho:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou should know, brother, that it\u2019s the custom among fighting men in Andaluc\u00eda, when they are seconds in any dispute, not to stand idly by with their hands folded while the challengers do battle. I say this so you\u2019ll know that while our masters are fighting, we have to fight, too, and smash each other to pieces.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThat custom, Se\u00f1or Squire,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cmay be accepted and allowed by the ruffians and fighting men you\u2019ve mentioned, but for the squires of knights errant it doesn\u2019t apply at all. At least, I haven\u2019t heard my master mention that custom, and he knows all the rules of knight errantry by heart. No matter how much I\u2019d like it to be true that there\u2019s a specific rule that squires have to fight when their masters fight, still, I wouldn\u2019t obey it, and I\u2019d pay whatever fine they make peaceable squires pay, and I bet it wouldn\u2019t be more than two pounds of wax,371<\/a><\/span><\/sup> and <\/a>I\u2019d be happy to pay those pounds, because I know they\u2019ll cost me less than the bandages I\u2019ll need to heal my head: I already count it as split and broken in two. And there\u2019s something else: it\u2019s impossible for me to fight because I don\u2019t have a sword, and I\u2019ve never worn one in my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI know a good remedy for that,\u201d said the Squire of the Wood. \u201cI have two burlap sacks here, and they\u2019re both the same size; you\u2019ll take one and I\u2019ll take the other, and we\u2019ll hit each other with the sacks, and our weapons will be equal.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell then, let\u2019s do it that way,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cbecause that kind of fight will dust us off more than it\u2019ll hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNo, it won\u2019t be like that,\u201d replied the other man, \u201cbecause we have to put half a dozen nice smooth stones, all of them the same weight, inside the sacks so they don\u2019t blow away, and then we can hit each other and not do any harm or damage.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI swear by my father,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cjust think of all the sable pelts or tufts of carded cotton you\u2019ll have to put in the sacks so our skulls don\u2019t get crushed and our bones ground to dust! But even if you fill them with silk cocoons, let me tell you, Se\u00f1or, I won\u2019t fight; let our masters fight, and welcome to it, and let us drink and live, for time is bound to take our lives, and we don\u2019t have to go around looking for reasons to end our lives before their time and season, when they\u2019re ripe and ready to fall.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cEven so,\u201d replied the Squire of the Wood, \u201cwe have to fight for at least half an hour.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh no,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cI\u2019m not discourteous and ungrateful enough to have a quarrel, even a little one, with a man after eating and drinking with him; especially if there\u2019s no anger and no insult, who the devil could start a fight just like that?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cFor that,\u201d said the Squire of the Wood, \u201cI have just the remedy: before we begin the fight, I\u2019ll just come up to your grace and give you three or four slaps in the face that will knock you down, and that\u2019ll be enough to wake up your anger even if it\u2019s sleeping like a baby.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell, I know another move just as good to match that,\u201d responded Sancho. \u201cI\u2019ll just pick up a stick, and before your grace comes over to wake up my anger, with a few whacks I\u2019ll put yours into a sleep that\u2019ll last into the next world, where they know I\u2019m not a man to let anybody lay hands on my face. Let each man look out for himself, though the best thing would be to let everybody\u2019s anger stay asleep; nobody knows an-<\/a>other man\u2019s heart, and many who come for wool go home clipped and shorn, and God blessed peace and cursed fights, because if a cat that\u2019s hunted and locked up and treated badly turns into a lion, then since I\u2019m a man, God knows what I could turn into, and so from now on I\u2019m letting your grace know, Se\u00f1or Squire, that all the harm and damage that result from our quarrel will be on your head.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all right,\u201d replied the Squire of the Wood. \u201cGod\u2019s day will dawn and we\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

By this time a thousand different kinds of brightly colored birds began to warble in the trees, and with their varied and joyous songs they seemed to welcome and greet the new dawn, who, through the doors and balconies of the Orient, was revealing the beauty of her face and shaking from her hair an infinite number of liquid pearls whose gentle liquor bathed the plants that seemed, in turn, to send forth buds and rain down tiny white seed pearls; the willows dripped their sweet-tasting manna, the fountains laughed, the streams murmured, the woods rejoiced, and the meadows flourished with her arrival. But as soon as the light of day made it possible to see and distinguish one thing from another, the first thing that appeared before Sancho Panza\u2019s eyes was the nose of the Squire of the Wood, which was so big it almost cast a shadow over the rest of his body. In fact, it is recounted that his nose was outlandishly large, hooked in the middle, covered with warts, and of a purplish color like an eggplant; it came down the width of two fingers past his mouth, and its size, color, warts, and curvature made his face so hideous that when Sancho saw him his feet and hands began to tremble, like a child having seizures, and he decided in his heart to let himself be slapped two hundred times before he would allow his anger to awaken and then fight with that monster.<\/p>\r\n

Don Quixote looked at his opponent and found that his sallet was already lowered, so he could not see his face, but he noticed that his rival was a husky man, though not very tall. Over his armor he wore a kind of long jacket or coat, the cloth apparently made of finest gold, and on it were scattered many small moons of gleaming mirrors, making him look extraordinarily splendid and elegant; waving above his helmet were a large number of green, yellow, and white plumes; his lance, leaning against a tree, was extremely large and thick and plated with more than a span\u2019s length of iron.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Don Quixote looked at everything and noted everything and judged from what he had seen and noted that the aforementioned knight must <\/a>be exceptionally strong, but for that reason he was not, like Sancho Panza, afraid; rather, with gallant courage, he said to the Knight of the Mirrors:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIf, Se\u00f1or Knight, your great desire to fight does not consume your courtesy, I ask you for courtesy\u2019s sake to raise your visor a little so that I may see if the elegance of your face corresponds to that of your accoutrements.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cRegardless of whether you emerge from this undertaking as the vanquished or the victor, Se\u00f1or Knight,\u201d responded the Knight of the Mirrors, \u201cyou will have more than enough time and opportunity to see me; and if I do not satisfy your desire now, it is because I think I would give notable offense to the beauteous Casildea of Vandalia if I were to delay the length of time it would take me to raise my visor without first obliging you to confess what you already know I desire.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell, as we mount our horses,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cyou can certainly tell me if I am the same Don Quixote you claim to have defeated.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTo that we respond,\u201d said the Knight of the Mirrors, \u201cthat you resemble the knight I vanquished as much as one egg resembles another; but since you say that enchanters pursue him, I do not dare to state whether you are the aforesaid or not.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThat is enough,\u201d responded Don Quixote, \u201cfor me to believe you were deceived; however, in order to free you entirely from error, let us mount our steeds; in less time than it would take you to raise your visor, if God, my lady, and my arm come to my aid, I shall see your face, and you will see that I am not the vanquished Don Quixote you think I am.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

And with this they cut short their words and mounted their horses, and Don Quixote turned the reins of Rocinante in order to take a position in the field so that he could gallop back and meet his adversary, and the Knight of the Mirrors did the same. But Don Quixote had not gone twenty paces when he heard the Knight of the Mirrors call, and both of them moved off course, and the Knight of the Mirrors said:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cRemember, Se\u00f1or Knight, that the condition of our combat is that the one vanquished, as I have said before, is subject to the will of the victor.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI know that,\u201d responded Don Quixote, \u201cso long as the things the vanquished is commanded and ordered to perform do not go beyond the limits imposed by chivalry.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThat is understood,\u201d responded the Knight of the Mirrors.<\/p>\r\n

At this moment Don Quixote caught a glimpse of the squire\u2019s strange <\/a>nose, and he was no less astounded to see it than Sancho; in fact, he judged him to be some monster or a new kind of man never before seen in the world. Sancho, who saw his master riding off so that he could charge, did not wish to remain alone with the big-nosed man, fearing that a single slap by that nose to his own would be the end of their fight, and he would be knocked to the ground by the blow, or by fright, and so he followed after his master, holding on to a strap hanging from Rocinante\u2019s saddle, and when it seemed to him that it was time to return, he said:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI beg your grace, Se\u00f1or, that before you turn to charge you help me climb this cork tree, where I\u2019ll be able to see better than on the ground the brave encounter your grace is going to have with that knight.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhat I think, Sancho,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cis that you want to climb up into the stands so you can watch the bullfight in safety.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTo tell the truth,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cthe outsize nose of that squire has me so scared and frightened that I don\u2019t dare stay anywhere near him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt is so large,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cthat if I were not who I am, I would be terrified, too, and so come, I shall help you climb the tree.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

While Don Quixote stopped to help Sancho into the cork tree, the Knight of the Mirrors took as much of the field as he thought necessary, and believing that Don Quixote had done the same, and not waiting for the sound of a trumpet or any other warning, he turned the reins of his horse\u2014who was no faster or better looking than Rocinante\u2014and at his full gallop, which was a medium trot, he rode to encounter his enemy, but seeing him occupied with Sancho\u2019s climb, he checked the reins and stopped in the middle of the charge, for which the horse was extremely grateful, since he could no longer move. Don Quixote, who thought his enemy was already bearing down on him, swiftly dug his spurs into Rocinante\u2019s skinny flanks and goaded him so mercilessly that, the history tells us, this was the only time he was known to have galloped, because on all other occasions he always ran at a pronounced trot, and with this unprecedented fury Rocinante reached the place where the Knight of the Mirrors was digging his spurs all the way into his horse without being able to move him the length of a finger from the spot where he had called a halt to his charge.<\/p>\r\n

At this fortunate time and juncture, Don Quixote found his adversary held back by his horse and hindered by his lance, which he failed to, or did not have a chance to, rest in its socket. Don Quixote, who cared nothing at all for these obstacles, without any risk and with absolutely <\/a>no danger, charged the Knight of the Mirrors with so much force that almost without intending to he knocked him to the ground, back over the haunches of the horse, causing him so great a fall that without moving feet or hands, he gave every sign of being dead.<\/p>\r\n

As soon as Sancho saw him fall, he slid down from the cork tree and ran as fast as he could to his master, who, dismounting Rocinante, approached the Knight of the Mirrors and, unlacing his helmet to see if he was dead and, if he were alive, to give him some air\u2026saw\u2026Who can say what he saw without causing amazement, wonder, and fear in his listeners? He saw, says the history, the very face, the very figure, the very appearance, the very physiognomy, the very image, the personification itself of Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, and as soon as he saw him he shouted:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cCome quickly, Sancho, and look at what you will not believe! Hurry, my friend, and see what magic can do, what wizards and enchanters can do!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Sancho came running, and when he saw the face of Bachelor Carrasco, he began to cross himself a thousand times and to make the sign of the cross a thousand more. During all this time the fallen knight gave no signs of being alive, and Sancho said to Don Quixote:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my opinion, Se\u00f1or, that to be on the safe side your grace should kneel down and run your sword into the mouth of this man who seems to be Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, and maybe you\u2019ll kill one of those enemy enchanters inside him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThat is not bad advice,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cbecause the fewer your enemies, the better.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

And as he drew his sword to carry out the advice and counsel of Sancho, the Squire of the Mirrors, now without the nose that had made him so hideous, came up to him and shouted:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYour grace, Se\u00f1or Don Quixote, think about what you are doing; that man lying at your feet is your friend Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, and I am his squire.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

And Sancho, seeing him free of his earlier ugliness, said:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhat happened to your nose?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

To which he responded:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI have it here, in my pocket.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

And then he put his hand into his right pocket and pulled out a nose made of pasteboard and varnish, a mask, in the shape that has already been described. And Sancho looked at him more and more closely and said in a loud, surprised voice:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMother of God! Can this be Tom\u00e9 Cecial, my neighbor and compadre?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOf course it is,\u201d responded the denosed squire. \u201cI\u2019m Tom\u00e9 Cecial, Sancho Panza, my friend and compadre, and I\u2019ll tell you later about the secrets and lies and tricks that brought me here; in the meantime, ask and beg your master not to touch, mistreat, wound, or kill the Knight of the Mirrors who is lying at his feet, because beyond any doubt he\u2019s the bold but badly advised Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, our neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

At this point the Knight of the Mirrors regained consciousness; Don Quixote, seeing this, held the naked tip of his sword over his face and said:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cKnight, thou art dead if thou dost not confess that the peerless Dulcinea of Toboso is more beauteous than thy Casildea of Vandalia; what is more, if thou wisheth to survive this contest and defeat, thou needs must promise to go to the city of Toboso and appear before her on my behalf, so that she may do with thee whatever she willeth; and if she givest thee leave to go, thou must come back and find me, and the trail of my great deeds will serve thee as a guide that will bring thee to me, and thou must tell me all that transpired with her; these conditions, as we agreed before our combat, do not go beyond the bounds of knight errantry.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI confess,\u201d said the fallen knight, \u201cthat the torn and dirty shoe of Se\u00f1ora Dulcinea of Toboso is worth more than the unkempt but clean beard of Casildea, and I promise to go and return from her presence to yours, and to give you a complete and detailed account of whatever you ask.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThou must also confess and believe,\u201d added Don Quixote, \u201cthat the knight whom thou hast vanquished was not, nor could he be, Don Quixote of La Mancha, but another who resembled him, as I confess and believe that although thou resemblest Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, thou art not he but another who resembleth him, and that mine enemies hath placed his figure before me so that I may halt and temper the force of mine anger, and be gentle in how I use the glory of thy defeat.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI confess, judge, and accept everything that you believe, judge, and accept,\u201d responded the knight with the injured back. \u201cLet me get up, I beg you, if my fall will allow that, because it has left me badly battered.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Don Quixote helped him to his feet, as did his squire, Tom\u00e9 Cecial, and Sancho could not take his eyes off him, asking him questions whose answers were clear indications that he really was the same Tom\u00e9 Cecial he said he was; but the apprehension created in Sancho by what his mas<\/a>ter had said about the enchanters transforming the figure of the Knight of the Mirrors into that of Bachelor Carrasco did not permit him to give credence to the truth he was seeing with his own eyes. In short, both master and servant were deceived, and the Knight of the Mirrors and his squire, gloomy and out of sorts, rode away from Don Quixote and Sancho, intending to find a place where they could plaster and tape the knight\u2019s ribs. Don Quixote and Sancho continued on their way to Zaragoza, where the history leaves them in order to give an accounting of who the Knight of the Mirrors and his big-nosed squire were.<\/p>\r\n","rendered":"

CHAPTER XIV<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

In which the adventure of the Knight of the Wood continues<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

Among the many words that passed between Don Quixote and the Knight of the Forest, the history says that the Knight of the Wood said to Don Quixote:<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, Se\u00f1or Knight, I want you to know that my destiny or, I should say, my own free choice, led me to fall in love with the peerless Casildea of Vandalia. I call her without peer because she has none, in the greatness of her stature or in the loftiness of her rank and beauty. This Casildea, then, whom I am describing to you, repaid my virtuous thoughts and courteous desires by having me, as his stepmother did with Hercules, engage in many different kinds of dangers, promising me at the end of each one that at the end of the next my hopes would be realized; but my labors have been linked together for so long that I have lost count, nor do I know which will be the final one that initiates the satisfaction of my virtuous desires. On one occasion she ordered me to chal<\/a>lenge that famous giantess of Sevilla called La Giralda,367<\/a><\/span><\/sup> who is as valiant and strong as if she were made of bronze and, without moving from one spot, is the most changeable and fickle woman in the world. I came, I saw, I conquered her, and I made her keep still and to the point, because for more than a week only north winds blew. Another time she ordered me to weigh the ancient stones of the corpulent Bulls of Guisando,368<\/a><\/span><\/sup> an undertaking better suited to laborers than to knights. On yet another occasion she ordered me to hurl and fling myself into the abyss of Cabra,369<\/a><\/span><\/sup> a singular and most fearful danger, and bring her a detailed report of what lies in its dark depths. I halted the movement of La Giralda, I weighed the Bulls of Guisando, I threw myself into the chasm and brought to light what lay hidden there in darkness, and my hopes are deader than dead, and her commands and disdain are more alive than ever. In short, most recently she has ordered me to travel through all the provinces of Spain and have all the knights errant wandering there confess that she alone is the greatest beauty of all the ladies in the world today, and that I am the most valiant and most perfectly enamored knight on earth; to satisfy this request I have already traveled most of Spain and conquered many knights who dared contradict me. But what gratifies me the most and makes me proudest is having conquered in single combat that most famous knight, Don Quixote of La Mancha, and forced him to confess that my Casildea is more beautiful than his Dulcinea; with this one conquest I consider that I have conquered all the knights in the world, because Don Quixote has conquered them all, and since I conquered him, his glory, fame, and honor have passed and been transferred to my person.<\/p>\n

\n

The conqueror enjoys more fame and glory<\/p>\n

the greater the distinction of the vanquished;370<\/a><\/span><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

and as a consequence, the innumerable deeds of the aforementioned Don Quixote are mine and redound to my credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don Quixote was stunned at what he heard the Knight of the Wood say and was about to tell him he was lying a thousand times over, and he <\/a>had the You lie<\/span> on the tip of his tongue but did his best to restrain himself in order to have the Knight of the Wood confess his lie with his own mouth, and so, very calmly, he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWith regard to your grace, Se\u00f1or Knight, having vanquished almost all the knights errant in Spain, and even the world, I say nothing; but your having conquered Don Quixote of La Mancha: about that I do have my doubts. It might have been another who resembled him, although there are few men who do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d replied the Knight of the Wood. \u201cBy the heaven above us, I fought with Don Quixote, and I conquered and defeated him; he is a man of tall stature, a dry face, long, lanky limbs, graying hair, an aquiline, somewhat hooked nose, and a large, black, drooping mustache. He does battle under the name The Knight of the Sorrowful Face,<\/span> and for a squire he has a peasant named Sancho Panza; he sits on the back and holds the reins of a famous horse called Rocinante; finally, the lady of his desire, at one time known as Aldonza Lorenzo, is a certain Dulcinea of Toboso, like my lady, who is named Casildea and comes from Andaluc\u00eda and therefore is called Casildea of Vandalia. If all this is not enough to validate the truth of what I say, here is my sword, which will oblige incredulity itself to give me credence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBe calm, Se\u00f1or Knight,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cand hear what I wish to tell you. You should know that this Don Quixote whom you have mentioned is the dearest friend I have in the world; I could even say that I value him as I do my own person, and by the description you have given me, which is detailed and accurate, I can only think that he is indeed the one you have conquered. On the other hand, I see with my eyes and touch with my hands the impossibility of his being the one, and yet there are many enchanters who are his enemies, especially one who ordinarily pursues him, and one of these may have taken on his appearance and allowed himself to be vanquished in order to cheat Don Quixote of the fame that his high chivalric deeds have earned and won for him throughout the known world. And as confirmation of this, I also want you to know that these enchanters, his adversaries, only two days ago transformed the figure and person of the beauteous Dulcinea of Toboso into a foul, lowborn peasant girl, and in the same fashion they must have transformed Don Quixote; if this is not enough to persuade you of the truth of what I say, here is Don Quixote himself, who will sustain it with arms, on foot or on horseback, or in whatever manner pleases you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And saying this, he rose to his feet and grasped his sword, waiting to see what decision would be made by the Knight of the Wood, who responded in the same tranquil voice, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man who pays his debts does not mind guaranties: the man, Se\u00f1or Don Quixote, who could vanquish you transformed can certainly hope to defeat you in your own person. But since it is not right for knights to engage in feats of arms in the dark, like robbers and thieves, let us wait for day so that the sun may see our deeds. And a condition of our combat must be that the vanquished submits to the will of the victor and does everything he desires as long as his commands respect a knight\u2019s virtue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am more than happy with this condition and agreement,\u201d responded Don Quixote.<\/p>\n

And, having said this, they went to the place where their squires were and found them snoring, in the same positions they were in when sleep overcame them. The knights woke them and ordered them to ready the horses, because as soon as the sun rose, the two of them would have to engage in bloody, single, and unequaled combat; at this news, Sancho was surprised and stunned and fearful for the health of his master because of the brave deeds the Squire of the Wood had attributed to his knight; but, without saying a word, the squires went to find their animals, for by this time all three horses and the donkey had smelled one another and were standing close together.<\/p>\n

On the way, the Squire of the Wood said to Sancho:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should know, brother, that it\u2019s the custom among fighting men in Andaluc\u00eda, when they are seconds in any dispute, not to stand idly by with their hands folded while the challengers do battle. I say this so you\u2019ll know that while our masters are fighting, we have to fight, too, and smash each other to pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat custom, Se\u00f1or Squire,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cmay be accepted and allowed by the ruffians and fighting men you\u2019ve mentioned, but for the squires of knights errant it doesn\u2019t apply at all. At least, I haven\u2019t heard my master mention that custom, and he knows all the rules of knight errantry by heart. No matter how much I\u2019d like it to be true that there\u2019s a specific rule that squires have to fight when their masters fight, still, I wouldn\u2019t obey it, and I\u2019d pay whatever fine they make peaceable squires pay, and I bet it wouldn\u2019t be more than two pounds of wax,371<\/a><\/span><\/sup> and <\/a>I\u2019d be happy to pay those pounds, because I know they\u2019ll cost me less than the bandages I\u2019ll need to heal my head: I already count it as split and broken in two. And there\u2019s something else: it\u2019s impossible for me to fight because I don\u2019t have a sword, and I\u2019ve never worn one in my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a good remedy for that,\u201d said the Squire of the Wood. \u201cI have two burlap sacks here, and they\u2019re both the same size; you\u2019ll take one and I\u2019ll take the other, and we\u2019ll hit each other with the sacks, and our weapons will be equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell then, let\u2019s do it that way,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cbecause that kind of fight will dust us off more than it\u2019ll hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it won\u2019t be like that,\u201d replied the other man, \u201cbecause we have to put half a dozen nice smooth stones, all of them the same weight, inside the sacks so they don\u2019t blow away, and then we can hit each other and not do any harm or damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI swear by my father,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cjust think of all the sable pelts or tufts of carded cotton you\u2019ll have to put in the sacks so our skulls don\u2019t get crushed and our bones ground to dust! But even if you fill them with silk cocoons, let me tell you, Se\u00f1or, I won\u2019t fight; let our masters fight, and welcome to it, and let us drink and live, for time is bound to take our lives, and we don\u2019t have to go around looking for reasons to end our lives before their time and season, when they\u2019re ripe and ready to fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven so,\u201d replied the Squire of the Wood, \u201cwe have to fight for at least half an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cI\u2019m not discourteous and ungrateful enough to have a quarrel, even a little one, with a man after eating and drinking with him; especially if there\u2019s no anger and no insult, who the devil could start a fight just like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor that,\u201d said the Squire of the Wood, \u201cI have just the remedy: before we begin the fight, I\u2019ll just come up to your grace and give you three or four slaps in the face that will knock you down, and that\u2019ll be enough to wake up your anger even if it\u2019s sleeping like a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I know another move just as good to match that,\u201d responded Sancho. \u201cI\u2019ll just pick up a stick, and before your grace comes over to wake up my anger, with a few whacks I\u2019ll put yours into a sleep that\u2019ll last into the next world, where they know I\u2019m not a man to let anybody lay hands on my face. Let each man look out for himself, though the best thing would be to let everybody\u2019s anger stay asleep; nobody knows an-<\/a>other man\u2019s heart, and many who come for wool go home clipped and shorn, and God blessed peace and cursed fights, because if a cat that\u2019s hunted and locked up and treated badly turns into a lion, then since I\u2019m a man, God knows what I could turn into, and so from now on I\u2019m letting your grace know, Se\u00f1or Squire, that all the harm and damage that result from our quarrel will be on your head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all right,\u201d replied the Squire of the Wood. \u201cGod\u2019s day will dawn and we\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

By this time a thousand different kinds of brightly colored birds began to warble in the trees, and with their varied and joyous songs they seemed to welcome and greet the new dawn, who, through the doors and balconies of the Orient, was revealing the beauty of her face and shaking from her hair an infinite number of liquid pearls whose gentle liquor bathed the plants that seemed, in turn, to send forth buds and rain down tiny white seed pearls; the willows dripped their sweet-tasting manna, the fountains laughed, the streams murmured, the woods rejoiced, and the meadows flourished with her arrival. But as soon as the light of day made it possible to see and distinguish one thing from another, the first thing that appeared before Sancho Panza\u2019s eyes was the nose of the Squire of the Wood, which was so big it almost cast a shadow over the rest of his body. In fact, it is recounted that his nose was outlandishly large, hooked in the middle, covered with warts, and of a purplish color like an eggplant; it came down the width of two fingers past his mouth, and its size, color, warts, and curvature made his face so hideous that when Sancho saw him his feet and hands began to tremble, like a child having seizures, and he decided in his heart to let himself be slapped two hundred times before he would allow his anger to awaken and then fight with that monster.<\/p>\n

Don Quixote looked at his opponent and found that his sallet was already lowered, so he could not see his face, but he noticed that his rival was a husky man, though not very tall. Over his armor he wore a kind of long jacket or coat, the cloth apparently made of finest gold, and on it were scattered many small moons of gleaming mirrors, making him look extraordinarily splendid and elegant; waving above his helmet were a large number of green, yellow, and white plumes; his lance, leaning against a tree, was extremely large and thick and plated with more than a span\u2019s length of iron.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

Don Quixote looked at everything and noted everything and judged from what he had seen and noted that the aforementioned knight must <\/a>be exceptionally strong, but for that reason he was not, like Sancho Panza, afraid; rather, with gallant courage, he said to the Knight of the Mirrors:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf, Se\u00f1or Knight, your great desire to fight does not consume your courtesy, I ask you for courtesy\u2019s sake to raise your visor a little so that I may see if the elegance of your face corresponds to that of your accoutrements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of whether you emerge from this undertaking as the vanquished or the victor, Se\u00f1or Knight,\u201d responded the Knight of the Mirrors, \u201cyou will have more than enough time and opportunity to see me; and if I do not satisfy your desire now, it is because I think I would give notable offense to the beauteous Casildea of Vandalia if I were to delay the length of time it would take me to raise my visor without first obliging you to confess what you already know I desire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, as we mount our horses,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cyou can certainly tell me if I am the same Don Quixote you claim to have defeated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo that we respond,\u201d said the Knight of the Mirrors, \u201cthat you resemble the knight I vanquished as much as one egg resembles another; but since you say that enchanters pursue him, I do not dare to state whether you are the aforesaid or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is enough,\u201d responded Don Quixote, \u201cfor me to believe you were deceived; however, in order to free you entirely from error, let us mount our steeds; in less time than it would take you to raise your visor, if God, my lady, and my arm come to my aid, I shall see your face, and you will see that I am not the vanquished Don Quixote you think I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with this they cut short their words and mounted their horses, and Don Quixote turned the reins of Rocinante in order to take a position in the field so that he could gallop back and meet his adversary, and the Knight of the Mirrors did the same. But Don Quixote had not gone twenty paces when he heard the Knight of the Mirrors call, and both of them moved off course, and the Knight of the Mirrors said:<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, Se\u00f1or Knight, that the condition of our combat is that the one vanquished, as I have said before, is subject to the will of the victor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that,\u201d responded Don Quixote, \u201cso long as the things the vanquished is commanded and ordered to perform do not go beyond the limits imposed by chivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is understood,\u201d responded the Knight of the Mirrors.<\/p>\n

At this moment Don Quixote caught a glimpse of the squire\u2019s strange <\/a>nose, and he was no less astounded to see it than Sancho; in fact, he judged him to be some monster or a new kind of man never before seen in the world. Sancho, who saw his master riding off so that he could charge, did not wish to remain alone with the big-nosed man, fearing that a single slap by that nose to his own would be the end of their fight, and he would be knocked to the ground by the blow, or by fright, and so he followed after his master, holding on to a strap hanging from Rocinante\u2019s saddle, and when it seemed to him that it was time to return, he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI beg your grace, Se\u00f1or, that before you turn to charge you help me climb this cork tree, where I\u2019ll be able to see better than on the ground the brave encounter your grace is going to have with that knight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I think, Sancho,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cis that you want to climb up into the stands so you can watch the bullfight in safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo tell the truth,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cthe outsize nose of that squire has me so scared and frightened that I don\u2019t dare stay anywhere near him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so large,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cthat if I were not who I am, I would be terrified, too, and so come, I shall help you climb the tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Don Quixote stopped to help Sancho into the cork tree, the Knight of the Mirrors took as much of the field as he thought necessary, and believing that Don Quixote had done the same, and not waiting for the sound of a trumpet or any other warning, he turned the reins of his horse\u2014who was no faster or better looking than Rocinante\u2014and at his full gallop, which was a medium trot, he rode to encounter his enemy, but seeing him occupied with Sancho\u2019s climb, he checked the reins and stopped in the middle of the charge, for which the horse was extremely grateful, since he could no longer move. Don Quixote, who thought his enemy was already bearing down on him, swiftly dug his spurs into Rocinante\u2019s skinny flanks and goaded him so mercilessly that, the history tells us, this was the only time he was known to have galloped, because on all other occasions he always ran at a pronounced trot, and with this unprecedented fury Rocinante reached the place where the Knight of the Mirrors was digging his spurs all the way into his horse without being able to move him the length of a finger from the spot where he had called a halt to his charge.<\/p>\n

At this fortunate time and juncture, Don Quixote found his adversary held back by his horse and hindered by his lance, which he failed to, or did not have a chance to, rest in its socket. Don Quixote, who cared nothing at all for these obstacles, without any risk and with absolutely <\/a>no danger, charged the Knight of the Mirrors with so much force that almost without intending to he knocked him to the ground, back over the haunches of the horse, causing him so great a fall that without moving feet or hands, he gave every sign of being dead.<\/p>\n

As soon as Sancho saw him fall, he slid down from the cork tree and ran as fast as he could to his master, who, dismounting Rocinante, approached the Knight of the Mirrors and, unlacing his helmet to see if he was dead and, if he were alive, to give him some air\u2026saw\u2026Who can say what he saw without causing amazement, wonder, and fear in his listeners? He saw, says the history, the very face, the very figure, the very appearance, the very physiognomy, the very image, the personification itself of Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, and as soon as he saw him he shouted:<\/p>\n

\u201cCome quickly, Sancho, and look at what you will not believe! Hurry, my friend, and see what magic can do, what wizards and enchanters can do!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sancho came running, and when he saw the face of Bachelor Carrasco, he began to cross himself a thousand times and to make the sign of the cross a thousand more. During all this time the fallen knight gave no signs of being alive, and Sancho said to Don Quixote:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my opinion, Se\u00f1or, that to be on the safe side your grace should kneel down and run your sword into the mouth of this man who seems to be Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, and maybe you\u2019ll kill one of those enemy enchanters inside him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not bad advice,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cbecause the fewer your enemies, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as he drew his sword to carry out the advice and counsel of Sancho, the Squire of the Mirrors, now without the nose that had made him so hideous, came up to him and shouted:<\/p>\n

\u201cYour grace, Se\u00f1or Don Quixote, think about what you are doing; that man lying at your feet is your friend Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, and I am his squire.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Sancho, seeing him free of his earlier ugliness, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to your nose?\u201d<\/p>\n

To which he responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have it here, in my pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then he put his hand into his right pocket and pulled out a nose made of pasteboard and varnish, a mask, in the shape that has already been described. And Sancho looked at him more and more closely and said in a loud, surprised voice:<\/p>\n

\u201cMother of God! Can this be Tom\u00e9 Cecial, my neighbor and compadre?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it is,\u201d responded the denosed squire. \u201cI\u2019m Tom\u00e9 Cecial, Sancho Panza, my friend and compadre, and I\u2019ll tell you later about the secrets and lies and tricks that brought me here; in the meantime, ask and beg your master not to touch, mistreat, wound, or kill the Knight of the Mirrors who is lying at his feet, because beyond any doubt he\u2019s the bold but badly advised Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, our neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point the Knight of the Mirrors regained consciousness; Don Quixote, seeing this, held the naked tip of his sword over his face and said:<\/p>\n

\u201cKnight, thou art dead if thou dost not confess that the peerless Dulcinea of Toboso is more beauteous than thy Casildea of Vandalia; what is more, if thou wisheth to survive this contest and defeat, thou needs must promise to go to the city of Toboso and appear before her on my behalf, so that she may do with thee whatever she willeth; and if she givest thee leave to go, thou must come back and find me, and the trail of my great deeds will serve thee as a guide that will bring thee to me, and thou must tell me all that transpired with her; these conditions, as we agreed before our combat, do not go beyond the bounds of knight errantry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI confess,\u201d said the fallen knight, \u201cthat the torn and dirty shoe of Se\u00f1ora Dulcinea of Toboso is worth more than the unkempt but clean beard of Casildea, and I promise to go and return from her presence to yours, and to give you a complete and detailed account of whatever you ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThou must also confess and believe,\u201d added Don Quixote, \u201cthat the knight whom thou hast vanquished was not, nor could he be, Don Quixote of La Mancha, but another who resembled him, as I confess and believe that although thou resemblest Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, thou art not he but another who resembleth him, and that mine enemies hath placed his figure before me so that I may halt and temper the force of mine anger, and be gentle in how I use the glory of thy defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI confess, judge, and accept everything that you believe, judge, and accept,\u201d responded the knight with the injured back. \u201cLet me get up, I beg you, if my fall will allow that, because it has left me badly battered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don Quixote helped him to his feet, as did his squire, Tom\u00e9 Cecial, and Sancho could not take his eyes off him, asking him questions whose answers were clear indications that he really was the same Tom\u00e9 Cecial he said he was; but the apprehension created in Sancho by what his mas<\/a>ter had said about the enchanters transforming the figure of the Knight of the Mirrors into that of Bachelor Carrasco did not permit him to give credence to the truth he was seeing with his own eyes. In short, both master and servant were deceived, and the Knight of the Mirrors and his squire, gloomy and out of sorts, rode away from Don Quixote and Sancho, intending to find a place where they could plaster and tape the knight\u2019s ribs. Don Quixote and Sancho continued on their way to Zaragoza, where the history leaves them in order to give an accounting of who the Knight of the Mirrors and his big-nosed squire were.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":16,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-250","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":483,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":893,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/250\/revisions\/893"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/483"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/250\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}