IN WHICH SANCHO PANZA GIVES A SATISFACTORY REPLY TO THE
DOUBTS AND QUESTIONS OF THE BACHELOR SAMSON CARRASCO
TOGETHER WITH OTHER MATTERS WORTH KNOWING AND MENTIONING
Samson was anxious to learn what Sancho had done with the hundred
crowns he had found in the knapsack. Sancho replied that he had spent
them for the benefit of himself, his wife and children; adding that,
had he come back to his wife without riches of any sort, he would have
had a doubtful reward waiting for him. Now, he said, if anybody wanted
to know anything about him, he was ready to answer the King himself.
"It is no one's business," said he, "whether I took the money, or did
not; whether I spent it or did not spend it, for if every beating I
have received in my master's service were to be valued at no more than
four maravedis, another hundred crowns would not pay me for half of
them. Let each look to himself and not try to make out white, black;
and black, white; for each of us is as God made us--aye, and often
worse."
Don Quixote was curious to know whether there was to be a second part
to the book; and Samson replied that the author was diligently looking
for one, but had as yet found none; so it remained only a possibility.
Yet, inspired by the profits he had made out of the first book, he was
anxious to find a second part, he said.
"The author looks for money and profit, does he?" asked Sancho. "Well,
let Master Moor, or whoever he is, pay attention to what he is doing,
and I and my master will give him adventures and accidents of all
sorts, enough to make up not only a second part but a hundred. The
good man fancies, no doubt, we are asleep in the straw here, but let
him hold up our feet to be shod and he will see which foot it is we go
lame on. All I say is, that if my master would take my advice, we
would now be afield, redressing outrages and righting wrongs, as is
the use and custom of good knights errant."
Scarcely had Sancho spoken these words, when Rocinante commenced to
neigh; and how could this be interpreted to be anything else than a
good omen? In an instant Don Quixote had resolved to sally forth again
in a few days. The bachelor warned him this time to expose himself to
no such tremendous risks as on his previous sallies, and begged him to
remember always, his life was no longer his own, but was dedicated to
those in need and in despair.
"There is what I abominate, Senor Samson," Sancho sustained him. "My
master will attack a hundred men as a greedy boy would half a dozen
melons. Body of the world, Senor bachelor, there is a time to attack
and a time to retreat!"
And here it was that Sancho felt it a solemn duty to himself and his
wife and offspring to come to a definite understanding with his master
regarding his position in battle. He wanted it stipulated that his
master was to do all the fighting. He would willingly look after his
master's and Rocinante's comfort, and keep them clean, but when it
came to drawing sword, he would leave that honor to Don Quixote, he
declared. He would do his duty so well that it would be worth a
kingdom as well as an island, both of which he would gladly accept.
The bachelor, having recommended Saragossa and the kingdom of Aragon
as hotbeds of adventure, Don Quixote thanked him and asked him whether
he was a poet; to which the bachelor replied that he was not one of
the famous ones. Don Quixote explained that he wanted a most original
idea of his carried out in poetry. Could Samson write a poem of love
in such a manner as to have the first letters of each line, reading
downward, form the name of his beloved one, the peerless Dulcinea del
Toboso? Samson promised he would try, but Don Quixote replied: "It
must be done by some means or other, for unless the name stands there
plain and manifest, no woman would believe the verses were made for
her." And so the bachelor promised to do it, and to have them ready
before the day of the departure, which would be on the third day.
Don Quixote extracted a promise from Samson to keep his intentions a
secret; and he and Sancho took leave of him, Don Quixote promising he
would not fail to send him word of his conquests. Sancho in the
meantime went home and began preparations for their second quest of
adventure.