WHICH TREATS OF THE NOTABLE ALTERCATION WHICH SANCHO PANZA
HAD WITH DON QUIXOTE'S NIECE AND HIS HOUSEKEEPER, TOGETHER
WITH OTHER DROLL MATTERS
The man turned out to be no other than Sancho, who wanted to see his
master. But the housekeeper and the niece were bent on not admitting
him, for they considered Sancho the arch enticer and felt that he was
to blame for Don Quixote's expeditions into the country. When Sancho
heard himself thus accused, he defended himself with accusations
against Don Quixote, who, he said, had been the one to hypnotize him;
and then he added that he had come to find out about his island.
As soon as Don Quixote recognized his squire, he quickly took him
inside, being afraid that he would tell the women all the little
details of the knight's adventures, such as the galley-slave episode
and others not tending to reflect honor on his shield. Whereupon the
barber and the curate left, both of them in despair of their friend's
ever being cured. The curate remarked that it would not surprise him
to learn before many moons that Don Quixote and Sancho had set off
again on another sally. They were curious to know what the master and
the servant might be discussing at that very moment. However, the
curate was of the firm belief that they could rely upon the two women
to keep their ears to the door. They would learn from them what had
been the topic, and what had been said.
When Don Quixote was alone with his squire, he expressed dismay over
his having told the housekeeper the knight had taken him from house
and home, when he knew perfectly well that he had gone of his own free
will. They had shared everything, he said; everything except blows,
where he had had a distinct advantage over his squire, having taken
ninety-nine out of a hundred beatings. This dividing of fortune,
Sancho thought, was quite as it should be, for of course knights
errant ought to share the greater benefits of the battle. Here Don
Quixote interrupted with a Latin quotation, which had an evil effect
on Sancho, for it made him retaliate with the blanket episode which to
him still seemed the height of all his suffering in the world. But
this attempt to belittle the fairness of his master's division of
honors in battle was speedily parried by Don Quixote, who maintained
that his squire's bodily suffering in the blanket was as nothing
compared with the painful agony of his own heart and soul when he had
seen his squire in such a predicament. And then he proceeded to
question Sancho as to public opinion of his deeds and valor.
Sancho was inclined to be reticent; but urged by Don Quixote--and
having been forgiven in advance for any vexation he might cause him by
telling the truth--he told of the variety of opinions that existed in
the village. This his master thought only natural; for when had the
world ever given full recognition to a genius or a great hero until
after he was dead? He pointed to all the great names he could
recollect in history that had been persecuted.
But Sancho had not come to the worst; and at last he found sufficient
courage to tell his master of a book entitled "The Ingenious Gentleman,
Don Quixote of La Mancha," which had already, he said, been spread
abroad. In this book not only Don Quixote, but he himself--under his own
name!--and the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso figured; and he was so stupefied
that he had to cross himself, for he could not imagine how everything
that had been told in the book--the most intimate happenings between Don
Quixote and himself--had come to be known to the author. Don Quixote
thought it was very plain that the adventures must have been reported by
some sage and enchanter; but Sancho told him that the author was one Cid
Hamet Berengena (meaning eggplant). It was no other than the son of
Bartholomew Carrasco, who had been a student at Salamanca, who had told
him all this, he said. He asked his master whether he should like to see
the young bachelor, and Don Quixote begged him to run and fetch him at
once, for, he said, he would be unable to digest a thing until he had had
a talk with him.
"Cid Hamet Berengena," repeated Don Quixote to himself. "That is a
Moorish name."
"Yes, I have heard the Moors like eggplant," added Sancho.
And then his lord and master asked: "Didst thou not mistake the
surname of this 'Cid,' which means in Arabic 'lord,' Sancho?"
"Perhaps," said Sancho; "but the bachelor can tell you that."
And he ran to fetch him.