Don Quixote by Cervantes Miguel de

Author:Cervantes, Miguel de [Cervantes, Miguel de]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Insignia Publishing
Published: 2012-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

Fourth Part

Of the Ingenious Gentleman

Don Quixote of La Mancha

Chapter XXVIII

Wherein is related the new and agreeable adventure that befell the priest

and the barber on the same mountain

Most happy and fortunate were those times when that most audacious knight, Don Quixote of La Mancha, sallied forth into the world, since, by reason of his honorable resolution to resuscitate and restore the lost and well-nigh deceased order of knight-errantry to the world, we can now enjoy in this our own age, so lacking in merry entertainment, not only the sweetness of his true history, but also the tales and digressions contained therein, which are no less real, pleasing and artful than the very history itself.

Continuing then with the twisting, spinning and winding thread of the narration, the history relates that, as the priest began to bethink himself of some words that might console Cardenio, he was stopped by a voice that reached his ears, crying in mournful accents in this manner:

“O, God! Is it possible that I have at last found a place that may serve as an unseen sepulcher for the heavy burden of this body which I so unwillingly bear? It may be, if the solitude which these mountains promise does not deceive me. Ah, unfortunate that I am, how much more agreeable companions for my purpose will I find these crags and thickets than any mortal being, since they will allow me to communicate my miseries to Heaven, for there is no one on the face of the earth from whom I can expect counsel for my doubts, relief for my complaints, nor remedy for my misfortunes!”

The priest and those who were with him heard and understood all these words clearly. They conjectured that the voice came from somewhere near unto them, and so they arose and went to search out the speaker. They had not gone twenty paces when, behind a rock, they beheld a youth attired like a peasant seated at the foot of an ash tree. They could not discern his face, for it was inclined as he bathed his feet in a stream that glided by. So silently did they draw near that he did not hear them, for he was so intent on washing his feet, which were such that they appeared to be nothing less than two pieces of white crystal among the other stones in the stream. The onlookers were amazed by the whiteness and beauty of the feet, and it appeared to them that these feet were not made to tread on mounds of dirt nor walk behind the plow and oxen, contrary to their owner’s apparel. And thus, seeing that they had not been observed, the priest, who had gone ahead, made signs to the others to crouch down and hide themselves behind some rocks, which they all did, noting what the youth did with great attention.

The youth was clad in a gray jerkin, wrapped tightly about the waist with a white fabric. He also wore breeches and leggings of gray cloth and, on his head, a gray cloth cap.

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