{"id":306,"date":"2019-12-01T16:45:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T16:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/chapter\/second-part-chapter-lxx-2\/"},"modified":"2020-04-02T19:18:05","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T19:18:05","slug":"second-part-chapter-lxx","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/donquixoteoflamancha\/chapter\/second-part-chapter-lxx\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Part. Chapter LXX"},"content":{"raw":"CHAPTER LXX<\/a>\r\n
\r\n

Which follows chapter LXIX, and deals with matters necessary to the clarity of this history<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

That night Sancho slept on a low, small bed in the same room as Don Quixote, something that Sancho would have avoided if he could because he knew very well that with all his questions and answers, his master would not let him sleep, and he was not inclined to speak a great deal because the pains of his recent torments were very present and had done nothing to loosen his tongue, and he would have preferred to sleep in a hovel alone than in that rich chamber in the company of another. What he feared was so real and what he suspected so true, that as soon as his master climbed into his bed, he heard his master say:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhat do you think, Sancho, of what happened tonight? Great and powerful is the strength of love scorned, for with your own eyes you saw Altisidora dead, not by arrows or sword or any other instrument of war, or by deadly poison, but because of the harshness and disdain with which I have always treated her.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShe was welcome to die as much as she wanted and however she wanted,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cand to leave me alone, because I never fell in love with her or scorned her in my life. As I\u2019ve said before, I don\u2019t <\/a>know how it can be that Altisidora\u2019s well-being, a maiden who\u2019s more willful than wise, has anything to do with the sufferings of Sancho Panza. Now at last I see, clearly and distinctly, that there are enchanters and enchantments in the world, and may God save me from them because I don\u2019t know how to save myself; even so, I beg your grace to let me sleep and not ask me anything else, unless you want me to throw myself out a window.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThen sleep, Sancho my friend,\u201d responded Don Quixote, \u201cif the pinpricks and pinches and slaps you have received allow you to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNo pain,\u201d replied Sancho, \u201cwas as great an insult as the slaps, simply because they were given to me by duennas, confound them; and again I beg your grace to let me sleep, because it relieves the miseries we feel when we\u2019re awake.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThen sleep,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cand God be with you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Both of them fell asleep, and during this time Cide Hamete, author of this great history, wished to write and give an account of what moved the duke and duchess to devise the elaborate scheme that has just been narrated; he says that Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, not having forgotten when the Knight of the Mirrors was vanquished and overthrown by Don Quixote, a defeat and a fall that ruined and destroyed all his plans, wanted to try his hand again, hoping for better success than before; and so, learning from the page who carried the letter and gift to Teresa Panza, Sancho\u2019s wife, where Don Quixote was, he found new arms and another horse, and on his shield he put the white moon and had all of it carried by a mule led by a peasant and not Tom\u00e9 Cecial, his former squire, so that he would not be recognized by Sancho or Don Quixote.<\/p>\r\n

And so he came to the castle of the duke, who informed him of the direction and route Don Quixote had taken and of his intention to appear in the jousts at Zaragoza. He also told him of the tricks that had been played on Don Quixote and of the scheme for disenchanting Dulcinea that would have to take place at the expense of Sancho\u2019s hindquarters. Finally, he recounted the trick that Sancho had played on his master, leading him to believe that Dulcinea had been enchanted and transformed into a peasant girl, and how his wife, the duchess, led Sancho to believe that he was the one deceived because Dulcinea really was enchanted; the bachelor laughed a good deal and marveled as he considered Sancho\u2019s shrewdness and simplicity, and the extremes of Don Quixote\u2019s madness.<\/p>\r\n

The duke asked if he found Don Quixote, and regardless of whether he defeated him or not, that he return and tell him what had occurred. <\/a>The bachelor agreed and set out to look for him; he did not find him in Zaragoza and continued on his way, and what has already been related happened to him.<\/p>\r\n

He returned to the castle of the duke and told him everything, including the conditions of their combat, and he said that Don Quixote was already returning home to keep, like a good knight errant, his promise to withdraw to his village for a year, in which time it might be, said the bachelor, that his madness would be cured; for this was the purpose that had moved him to assume those disguises, since it was a sad thing for a gentleman as intelligent as Don Quixote to be mad. With this, he took his leave of the duke and returned to his village and waited there for Don Quixote, who was riding behind him.<\/p>\r\n

This gave the duke the opportunity to arrange the deception: such was the pleasure he derived from matters concerning Sancho and Don Quixote; he sent out many of his servants on foot and on horseback to search roads close to and far from the castle, all the ones he imagined Don Quixote might use to return home, so that either willingly or by force they could bring him back to the castle if they found him. They did find him, and they so informed the duke, who had already arranged what was to be done, and as soon as he had been informed of their arrival, he ordered the torches lit, and the lamps placed in the courtyard, and Altisidora to climb the catafalque, and all the devices that have been recounted performed so vividly and realistically that there was very little difference between them and the truth.<\/p>\r\n

Cide Hamete goes on to say that in his opinion the deceivers are as mad as the deceived, and that the duke and duchess came very close to seeming like fools since they went to such lengths to deceive two fools, who, one sleeping soundly and the other keeping watch over his unrestrained thoughts, were overtaken by daylight and filled with the desire to arise, for the featherbeds of idleness never gave pleasure to Don Quixote, whether he was the vanquished or the victor.<\/p>\r\n

Altisidora\u2014restored to life, in Don Quixote\u2019s opinion\u2014followed the whim of her master and mistress, and crowned with the same garland she had worn on the catafalque, and dressed in a tunic of white taffeta sown with gold flowers, and with her hair hanging loose down her back, and leaning on a staff of fine black ebony, she entered Don Quixote\u2019s room; her presence disquieted and confused him, and he covered and concealed himself almost completely under the sheets and blankets on the bed, his tongue silenced, unable to utter a single courtesy. Altisidora sat <\/a>on a chair near the head of his bed, and after heaving a great sigh, in a faint and piteous voice she said:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhen highborn women and secluded maidens trample on their honor, and give permission to their tongues to break free of all restraints and proclaim in public the secrets hidden in their hearts, they find themselves in desperate circumstances. I, Se\u00f1or Don Quixote of La Mancha, am one of these, afflicted, vanquished, enamored, but with it all long-suffering and modest, so much so, and so much of each, that my silence made my heart burst and I lost my life. For two days, on account of the harshness with which you have treated me, O unfeeling knight,<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n

Oh, harder than marble to my complaints!651<\/a><\/span><\/sup><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

I was dead, or, at least, judged to be so by those who saw me; and if it had not been that Love took pity on me and placed the remedy in the sufferings of this good squire, I would have remained in the next world.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLove could just as well have placed them in the sufferings of my donkey, and I would have thanked him for that. But tell me, Se\u00f1ora, and may heaven find you another lover more tenderhearted than my master, what did you see in the next world? What\u2019s it like in hell? Because whoever dies in despair is bound to go there.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cTo tell the truth,\u201d responded Altisidora, \u201cI probably didn\u2019t die completely because I didn\u2019t enter hell, and if I had, I really couldn\u2019t have left even if I\u2019d wanted to. The truth is I reached the gate, where about a dozen devils were playing pelota, all of them in tights and doublets, their collars trimmed with borders of Flemish lace and cuffs of the same material, exposing four fingers\u2019 width of arm so that their hands appeared longer, and in them they were holding bats of fire, and what amazed me most was that instead of balls they were using books, apparently full of wind and trash, which was something marvelous and novel; but this did not amaze me as much as seeing that, although it is natural for players to be happy when they win and sad when they lose, in that game everybody was grumbling, everybody was quarreling, and everybody was cursing.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not surprising,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cbecause devils, whether they play or not, can never be happy, whether they win or not.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThat must be true,\u201d responded Altisidora, \u201cbut there\u2019s something else that also surprises me, I mean, surprised me then, and it was that at <\/a>the first volley there wasn\u2019t a ball left in play that was in condition to be used again, and so they went through books, new and old, which was a remarkable thing to see. One of them, brand new and nicely bound, was hit so hard that its innards spilled out and its pages were scattered. One devil said to another:<\/p>\r\n

\u2018See what book that is.\u2019<\/p>\r\n

And the other devil responded:<\/p>\r\n

\u2018This is the second part of the history of Don Quixote of La Mancha, composed not by Cide Hamete, its first author, but by an Aragonese who is, he says, a native of Tordesillas.\u2019<\/p>\r\n

\u2018Take it away from here,\u2019 responded the other devil, \u2018and throw it into the pit of hell so that my eyes never see it again.\u2019<\/p>\r\n

\u2018Is it so bad?\u2019 responded the other one.<\/p>\r\n

\u2018So bad,\u2019 replied the first, \u2018that if I myself set out to make it worse, I would fail.\u2019 And they continued with their game, hitting other books, and I, because I had heard the name of Don Quixote, whom I love and adore so passionately, did my best to keep this vision in my memory.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt must have been a vision, no doubt about it,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cbecause there is no other I in the world, and that history is already being passed from hand to hand but stops in none, because everyone\u2019s foot is kicking it along. I have not been perturbed to hear that I wander like a shade in the darkness of the abyss or in the light of the world, because I am not the one told about in that history. If it is good, faithful, and true, it will have centuries of life, but if it is bad, the road will not be long between its birth and its grave.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Altisidora was going to continue her complaints about Don Quixote, when the knight said to her:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAs I have often told you, Se\u00f1ora, I am grieved that you have turned your thoughts to me, for they can sooner be thanked than remedied by mine; I was born to belong to Dulcinea of Toboso, and the Fates, if there are any, have dedicated me to her, and to think that any other beauty can occupy the place she has in my soul is to think the impossible. This is sufficient discouragement for you to withdraw inside the borders of your modesty, for no one can be obliged to do the impossible.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Hearing which, Altisidora, showing signs of anger and vexation, said:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cGood Lord! Don Codfish, with a soul of metal, like the pit of a date, harder and more stubborn than a peasant when he has his mind set on something, if I get near you I\u2019ll scratch out your eyes! Do you think by any chance, Don Defeated, Don Battered, that I died for you? Every-<\/a>thing you saw tonight was pretense; I\u2019m not the kind of woman who would let herself suffer as much as the dirt under her fingernail, much less die, on account of nonsense like that.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI believe it,\u201d said Sancho, \u201cbecause all this about lovers dying makes me laugh: they can say it easily enough, but doing it is a story only Judas would believe.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

While they were having this conversation, the musician, singer, and poet, who had sung the two stanzas already described, came in, and making a deep bow to Don Quixote, he said:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSe\u00f1or Knight, your grace should consider and count me in the number of your greatest admirers, for I have been devoted to you for some time now, as much for your fame as for your exploits.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Don Quixote responded:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYour grace should tell me who you are so that my courtesy may respond to your merits.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The youth responded that he was the musician and panegyrist of the previous night.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cCertainly,\u201d replied Don Quixote, \u201cyour grace has an excellent voice, but what you sang did not seem very appropriate to me. What do stanzas by Garcilaso have to do with the death of this lady?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYour grace should not be surprised at that,\u201d responded the musician, \u201cfor among the untutored poets of our day, the custom is for each to write however he wishes and steal from whomever he wishes regardless of whether or not it suits his intention, and there is no foolishness, either sung or written, that is not attributed to poetic license.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Don Quixote wished to respond but was prevented from doing so by the duke and duchess, who came in to see him, and they had a long and pleasant conversation in which Sancho said so many amusing things and so many clever things that the duke and duchess were once again astounded by his simplicity and his shrewdness. Don Quixote asked them to give him permission to depart that very day, because it is more seemly for defeated knights like him to sleep in pigsties rather than in royal palaces. They gave it willingly, and the duchess asked if Altisidora remained in his good graces. He responded:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSe\u00f1ora, your ladyship should know that all the problems afflicting this maiden are born of idleness, and the remedy lies in honest and constant labor. She has told me that they use lace trimmings in hell, and since she must know how to make them, she should never let them out of her hands; if she is occupied in moving the bobbins, the image or im<\/a>ages of what she desires will not move through her imagination, and this is the truth, this is my opinion, and this is my advice.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnd mine,\u201d added Sancho, \u201cfor I\u2019ve never seen in all my life a lace-maker who\u2019s died for love; maidens who are occupied think more about finishing their tasks than about love. At least that\u2019s true for me, because when I\u2019m busy digging I never think about my better half, I mean my Teresa Panza, and I love her more than my eyelashes.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWell said, Sancho,\u201d said the duchess, \u201cand from now on I shall keep my Altisidora busy doing needlework, which she does extremely well.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no reason, Se\u00f1ora,\u201d responded Altisidora, \u201cto make use of this remedy, for consideration of the cruelties this wicked vagrant has inflicted on me will wipe him from my memory with no need for other measures. And with the permission of your highness, I should like to leave now in order not to have before my eyes not only his sorrowful face, but his hideous and hateful features.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThat seems to me,\u201d said the duke, \u201clike the old saying:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n

Because the one who says insults<\/p>\r\n

is very close to forgiving.\u201d652<\/a><\/span><\/sup><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Altisidora made a show of drying her tears with a handkerchief, and after curtsying to her master and mistress, she left the room.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cGo in peace,\u201d said Sancho, \u201cpoor maiden, go in peace, I mean, you have bad luck because you fell in love with a soul of esparto grass and a heart of oak. By my faith, if you\u2019d fallen in love with me, you\u2019d be singing a different tune!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The conversation came to an end, and Don Quixote dressed, dined with the duke and duchess, and departed that afternoon.<\/p>\r\n\r\n","rendered":"

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

\n

Which follows chapter LXIX, and deals with matters necessary to the clarity of this history<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

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

That night Sancho slept on a low, small bed in the same room as Don Quixote, something that Sancho would have avoided if he could because he knew very well that with all his questions and answers, his master would not let him sleep, and he was not inclined to speak a great deal because the pains of his recent torments were very present and had done nothing to loosen his tongue, and he would have preferred to sleep in a hovel alone than in that rich chamber in the company of another. What he feared was so real and what he suspected so true, that as soon as his master climbed into his bed, he heard his master say:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think, Sancho, of what happened tonight? Great and powerful is the strength of love scorned, for with your own eyes you saw Altisidora dead, not by arrows or sword or any other instrument of war, or by deadly poison, but because of the harshness and disdain with which I have always treated her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was welcome to die as much as she wanted and however she wanted,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cand to leave me alone, because I never fell in love with her or scorned her in my life. As I\u2019ve said before, I don\u2019t <\/a>know how it can be that Altisidora\u2019s well-being, a maiden who\u2019s more willful than wise, has anything to do with the sufferings of Sancho Panza. Now at last I see, clearly and distinctly, that there are enchanters and enchantments in the world, and may God save me from them because I don\u2019t know how to save myself; even so, I beg your grace to let me sleep and not ask me anything else, unless you want me to throw myself out a window.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen sleep, Sancho my friend,\u201d responded Don Quixote, \u201cif the pinpricks and pinches and slaps you have received allow you to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo pain,\u201d replied Sancho, \u201cwas as great an insult as the slaps, simply because they were given to me by duennas, confound them; and again I beg your grace to let me sleep, because it relieves the miseries we feel when we\u2019re awake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen sleep,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cand God be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both of them fell asleep, and during this time Cide Hamete, author of this great history, wished to write and give an account of what moved the duke and duchess to devise the elaborate scheme that has just been narrated; he says that Bachelor Sans\u00f3n Carrasco, not having forgotten when the Knight of the Mirrors was vanquished and overthrown by Don Quixote, a defeat and a fall that ruined and destroyed all his plans, wanted to try his hand again, hoping for better success than before; and so, learning from the page who carried the letter and gift to Teresa Panza, Sancho\u2019s wife, where Don Quixote was, he found new arms and another horse, and on his shield he put the white moon and had all of it carried by a mule led by a peasant and not Tom\u00e9 Cecial, his former squire, so that he would not be recognized by Sancho or Don Quixote.<\/p>\n

And so he came to the castle of the duke, who informed him of the direction and route Don Quixote had taken and of his intention to appear in the jousts at Zaragoza. He also told him of the tricks that had been played on Don Quixote and of the scheme for disenchanting Dulcinea that would have to take place at the expense of Sancho\u2019s hindquarters. Finally, he recounted the trick that Sancho had played on his master, leading him to believe that Dulcinea had been enchanted and transformed into a peasant girl, and how his wife, the duchess, led Sancho to believe that he was the one deceived because Dulcinea really was enchanted; the bachelor laughed a good deal and marveled as he considered Sancho\u2019s shrewdness and simplicity, and the extremes of Don Quixote\u2019s madness.<\/p>\n

The duke asked if he found Don Quixote, and regardless of whether he defeated him or not, that he return and tell him what had occurred. <\/a>The bachelor agreed and set out to look for him; he did not find him in Zaragoza and continued on his way, and what has already been related happened to him.<\/p>\n

He returned to the castle of the duke and told him everything, including the conditions of their combat, and he said that Don Quixote was already returning home to keep, like a good knight errant, his promise to withdraw to his village for a year, in which time it might be, said the bachelor, that his madness would be cured; for this was the purpose that had moved him to assume those disguises, since it was a sad thing for a gentleman as intelligent as Don Quixote to be mad. With this, he took his leave of the duke and returned to his village and waited there for Don Quixote, who was riding behind him.<\/p>\n

This gave the duke the opportunity to arrange the deception: such was the pleasure he derived from matters concerning Sancho and Don Quixote; he sent out many of his servants on foot and on horseback to search roads close to and far from the castle, all the ones he imagined Don Quixote might use to return home, so that either willingly or by force they could bring him back to the castle if they found him. They did find him, and they so informed the duke, who had already arranged what was to be done, and as soon as he had been informed of their arrival, he ordered the torches lit, and the lamps placed in the courtyard, and Altisidora to climb the catafalque, and all the devices that have been recounted performed so vividly and realistically that there was very little difference between them and the truth.<\/p>\n

Cide Hamete goes on to say that in his opinion the deceivers are as mad as the deceived, and that the duke and duchess came very close to seeming like fools since they went to such lengths to deceive two fools, who, one sleeping soundly and the other keeping watch over his unrestrained thoughts, were overtaken by daylight and filled with the desire to arise, for the featherbeds of idleness never gave pleasure to Don Quixote, whether he was the vanquished or the victor.<\/p>\n

Altisidora\u2014restored to life, in Don Quixote\u2019s opinion\u2014followed the whim of her master and mistress, and crowned with the same garland she had worn on the catafalque, and dressed in a tunic of white taffeta sown with gold flowers, and with her hair hanging loose down her back, and leaning on a staff of fine black ebony, she entered Don Quixote\u2019s room; her presence disquieted and confused him, and he covered and concealed himself almost completely under the sheets and blankets on the bed, his tongue silenced, unable to utter a single courtesy. Altisidora sat <\/a>on a chair near the head of his bed, and after heaving a great sigh, in a faint and piteous voice she said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen highborn women and secluded maidens trample on their honor, and give permission to their tongues to break free of all restraints and proclaim in public the secrets hidden in their hearts, they find themselves in desperate circumstances. I, Se\u00f1or Don Quixote of La Mancha, am one of these, afflicted, vanquished, enamored, but with it all long-suffering and modest, so much so, and so much of each, that my silence made my heart burst and I lost my life. For two days, on account of the harshness with which you have treated me, O unfeeling knight,<\/p>\n

\n

Oh, harder than marble to my complaints!651<\/a><\/span><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I was dead, or, at least, judged to be so by those who saw me; and if it had not been that Love took pity on me and placed the remedy in the sufferings of this good squire, I would have remained in the next world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLove could just as well have placed them in the sufferings of my donkey, and I would have thanked him for that. But tell me, Se\u00f1ora, and may heaven find you another lover more tenderhearted than my master, what did you see in the next world? What\u2019s it like in hell? Because whoever dies in despair is bound to go there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo tell the truth,\u201d responded Altisidora, \u201cI probably didn\u2019t die completely because I didn\u2019t enter hell, and if I had, I really couldn\u2019t have left even if I\u2019d wanted to. The truth is I reached the gate, where about a dozen devils were playing pelota, all of them in tights and doublets, their collars trimmed with borders of Flemish lace and cuffs of the same material, exposing four fingers\u2019 width of arm so that their hands appeared longer, and in them they were holding bats of fire, and what amazed me most was that instead of balls they were using books, apparently full of wind and trash, which was something marvelous and novel; but this did not amaze me as much as seeing that, although it is natural for players to be happy when they win and sad when they lose, in that game everybody was grumbling, everybody was quarreling, and everybody was cursing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not surprising,\u201d responded Sancho, \u201cbecause devils, whether they play or not, can never be happy, whether they win or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat must be true,\u201d responded Altisidora, \u201cbut there\u2019s something else that also surprises me, I mean, surprised me then, and it was that at <\/a>the first volley there wasn\u2019t a ball left in play that was in condition to be used again, and so they went through books, new and old, which was a remarkable thing to see. One of them, brand new and nicely bound, was hit so hard that its innards spilled out and its pages were scattered. One devil said to another:<\/p>\n

\u2018See what book that is.\u2019<\/p>\n

And the other devil responded:<\/p>\n

\u2018This is the second part of the history of Don Quixote of La Mancha, composed not by Cide Hamete, its first author, but by an Aragonese who is, he says, a native of Tordesillas.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Take it away from here,\u2019 responded the other devil, \u2018and throw it into the pit of hell so that my eyes never see it again.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Is it so bad?\u2019 responded the other one.<\/p>\n

\u2018So bad,\u2019 replied the first, \u2018that if I myself set out to make it worse, I would fail.\u2019 And they continued with their game, hitting other books, and I, because I had heard the name of Don Quixote, whom I love and adore so passionately, did my best to keep this vision in my memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must have been a vision, no doubt about it,\u201d said Don Quixote, \u201cbecause there is no other I in the world, and that history is already being passed from hand to hand but stops in none, because everyone\u2019s foot is kicking it along. I have not been perturbed to hear that I wander like a shade in the darkness of the abyss or in the light of the world, because I am not the one told about in that history. If it is good, faithful, and true, it will have centuries of life, but if it is bad, the road will not be long between its birth and its grave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altisidora was going to continue her complaints about Don Quixote, when the knight said to her:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I have often told you, Se\u00f1ora, I am grieved that you have turned your thoughts to me, for they can sooner be thanked than remedied by mine; I was born to belong to Dulcinea of Toboso, and the Fates, if there are any, have dedicated me to her, and to think that any other beauty can occupy the place she has in my soul is to think the impossible. This is sufficient discouragement for you to withdraw inside the borders of your modesty, for no one can be obliged to do the impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearing which, Altisidora, showing signs of anger and vexation, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cGood Lord! Don Codfish, with a soul of metal, like the pit of a date, harder and more stubborn than a peasant when he has his mind set on something, if I get near you I\u2019ll scratch out your eyes! Do you think by any chance, Don Defeated, Don Battered, that I died for you? Every-<\/a>thing you saw tonight was pretense; I\u2019m not the kind of woman who would let herself suffer as much as the dirt under her fingernail, much less die, on account of nonsense like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it,\u201d said Sancho, \u201cbecause all this about lovers dying makes me laugh: they can say it easily enough, but doing it is a story only Judas would believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

While they were having this conversation, the musician, singer, and poet, who had sung the two stanzas already described, came in, and making a deep bow to Don Quixote, he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cSe\u00f1or Knight, your grace should consider and count me in the number of your greatest admirers, for I have been devoted to you for some time now, as much for your fame as for your exploits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don Quixote responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cYour grace should tell me who you are so that my courtesy may respond to your merits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The youth responded that he was the musician and panegyrist of the previous night.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly,\u201d replied Don Quixote, \u201cyour grace has an excellent voice, but what you sang did not seem very appropriate to me. What do stanzas by Garcilaso have to do with the death of this lady?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour grace should not be surprised at that,\u201d responded the musician, \u201cfor among the untutored poets of our day, the custom is for each to write however he wishes and steal from whomever he wishes regardless of whether or not it suits his intention, and there is no foolishness, either sung or written, that is not attributed to poetic license.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don Quixote wished to respond but was prevented from doing so by the duke and duchess, who came in to see him, and they had a long and pleasant conversation in which Sancho said so many amusing things and so many clever things that the duke and duchess were once again astounded by his simplicity and his shrewdness. Don Quixote asked them to give him permission to depart that very day, because it is more seemly for defeated knights like him to sleep in pigsties rather than in royal palaces. They gave it willingly, and the duchess asked if Altisidora remained in his good graces. He responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cSe\u00f1ora, your ladyship should know that all the problems afflicting this maiden are born of idleness, and the remedy lies in honest and constant labor. She has told me that they use lace trimmings in hell, and since she must know how to make them, she should never let them out of her hands; if she is occupied in moving the bobbins, the image or im<\/a>ages of what she desires will not move through her imagination, and this is the truth, this is my opinion, and this is my advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd mine,\u201d added Sancho, \u201cfor I\u2019ve never seen in all my life a lace-maker who\u2019s died for love; maidens who are occupied think more about finishing their tasks than about love. At least that\u2019s true for me, because when I\u2019m busy digging I never think about my better half, I mean my Teresa Panza, and I love her more than my eyelashes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell said, Sancho,\u201d said the duchess, \u201cand from now on I shall keep my Altisidora busy doing needlework, which she does extremely well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no reason, Se\u00f1ora,\u201d responded Altisidora, \u201cto make use of this remedy, for consideration of the cruelties this wicked vagrant has inflicted on me will wipe him from my memory with no need for other measures. And with the permission of your highness, I should like to leave now in order not to have before my eyes not only his sorrowful face, but his hideous and hateful features.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat seems to me,\u201d said the duke, \u201clike the old saying:<\/p>\n

\n

Because the one who says insults<\/p>\n

is very close to forgiving.\u201d652<\/a><\/span><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Altisidora made a show of drying her tears with a handkerchief, and after curtsying to her master and mistress, she left the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo in peace,\u201d said Sancho, \u201cpoor maiden, go in peace, I mean, you have bad luck because you fell in love with a soul of esparto grass and a heart of oak. By my faith, if you\u2019d fallen in love with me, you\u2019d be singing a different tune!\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation came to an end, and Don Quixote dressed, dined with the duke and duchess, and departed that afternoon.<\/p>\n

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