WHEREIN ARE RELATED SOME TRIFLING MATTERS, AS TRIVIAL
AS THEY ARE NECESSARY TO THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF
THIS GREAT HISTORY
The scholar was surprised that Don Quixote permitted his servant to talk
to him in this way, but ascribed his lenience to the good mood he was in.
After having whiled away still another hour talking pleasantly, they
proceeded to find a place where they might spend the night. The scholar
knew of a hermitage not very far off; and on their way there they
encountered a man with a mule that was loaded with halberds and lances.
Don Quixote was curious to know where he was taking the weapons, but the
man answered that he was in great haste to reach the inn beyond the
hermitage. He would spend the night at this inn, he said, and if they
happened to be there too, he would tell them some things that were both
interesting and curious. Don Quixote was so inquisitive that he decided
to pass by the hermitage and go to the inn instead.
Just before coming to the inn, they met a happy looking lad of
eighteen or nineteen, who carried a sword over his shoulder and a
bundle on his back. Don Quixote stopped him and asked where he was
going; and the lad replied that he was going to war for his king. He
told the knight how he had been in the service of office-seekers and
adventurers in Madrid until he had tired of such a life; and this
pleased Don Quixote so much that he invited him to sit behind him on
Rocinante and ride with him to the inn to sup with him. But the page,
seeing the leanness of the knight's steed, said he preferred to walk,
though he was glad to accept the invitation for supper.
As soon as they had arrived at the inn, Don Quixote asked the landlord
for the man with the lances and halberds; and Sancho was happy to know
that his master took this inn for an inn and not for an enchanted
castle.