WHEREIN IT IS SHOWN WHO MASTER PEDRO AND HIS APE WERE,
TOGETHER WITH THE MISHAP DON QUIXOTE HAD IN THE BRAYING
ADVENTURE, WHICH HE DID NOT CONCLUDE AS HE WOULD HAVE LIKED
OR AS HE HAD EXPECTED
It was no doubt a good thing for Master Pedro of the puppet-show that
neither Sancho nor Don Quixote recognized in him the thief who stole
the squire's donkey, when he was asleep; for he it was. None other
than the galley-slave Gines de Pasamonte, or Don Ginesillo de
Paropilla, as Don Quixote would have it. It was in the guise of a
showman, with only one eye and a part of his face visible, that he
found it an easy matter to evade being caught by the servants of the
law, who had been hunting for him ever since he was liberated through
the generosity and bravery of Don Quixote. The ape he had bought from
some captives who had returned from Barbary; and he had soon taught
him the tricks which made people think he was really divining things.
Before entering a village the clever galley-slave would learn all he
could about its inhabitants; and being blessed with a remarkable
memory, he seldom had any difficulty in making the ape's feat seem
impressive to the masses.
Now, when Don Quixote left the inn, it suddenly occurred to him that
he ought to visit the banks of the Ebro before steering towards
Saragossa. So he kept on the road for two days, and on the third day
as he was mounting a hill he was suddenly aroused by hearing a
tremendous din of drums, mixed with the sound of trumpets and
musket-shots. In as few instants as it took to make his charger ascend
to the top of the hill, he was there; and he saw several hundred men,
armed with weapons of every imaginable sort. There were flags, of
various descriptions, and among them one in particular attracted his
attention: it was a large standard in white, on which was painted a
donkey, and also an inscription, reading thus:
They did not bray in vain,
Our alcaldes twain.
This made Don Quixote believe the warriors must be from the braying
town, and he remarked to Sancho that the man to whom they had talked
at the inn must have been misinformed, for evidently the two had not
been magistrates but alcaldes, according to the sign. To this Sancho
replied that having once been a magistrate should not exclude any one
from becoming an alcalde; besides, somebody must have brayed, and
whether it was an alcalde or a magistrate mattered little, he thought.
Don Quixote, however, was in a quandary as to what to do that he might
best live up to the laws of knight-errantry.
He finally went to the braying ones, and, having begged their leave to
address them, he began a stirring discourse on war and peace that
lasted a considerable time. He flayed those who would go into battle
for trifling matters; but just when he seemed to be about to win the
braying ones over to his way of thinking, he had to pause for breath.
Sancho thought it his duty to interrupt the silence and take up the
broken thread here, so he continued in his own way, keeping more or
less to the same subject. He started in by praising his master--the
Knight of the Lions!--his bravery, his generosity, his knowledge of
Latin (which Sancho unfortunately did not understand), and all his
other virtues, and suddenly he bellowed out that they were fools to
take offense at hearing some one bray. Then he became reminiscent and
related how he as a boy used to like to go about braying, and told how
envious every one in his village was because of his great gift in that
direction. "Wait a bit and listen!" said he. "I'll show you!" And
before his master had a chance to stop him, he had pinched his nose
and brayed--had brayed such a bray that all the valleys and dales gave
echo.
When some of the men heard the braying they thought he had come there
to mock them, and they set upon him with such fury and force that Don
Quixote, though he did his best to defend him, had to spur Rocinante
into retreat, in order to save his own life. But Sancho was both
stoned and pummeled into insensibility, and then he was put on his
donkey and tied there; and when he came to, he had to put his trust in
Dapple, who was forced to smell his way back to Rocinante.
The braying troops remained in the field until evening, but since no
opposing army appeared, they returned to their village after dark.