"Lies before me, base clown!" said Don Quixote. "By the sun that shines

on us I have a mind to run you through with this lance. Pay him at once

without another word; if not, by the God that rules us I will make an end

of you, and annihilate you on the spot; release him instantly."

The farmer hung his head, and without a word untied his servant, of whom

Don Quixote asked how much his master owed him.

He replied, nine months at seven reals a month. Don Quixote added it up,

found that it came to sixty-three reals, and told the farmer to pay it

down immediately, if he did not want to die for it.

The trembling clown replied that as he lived and by the oath he had sworn

(though he had not sworn any) it was not so much; for there were to be

taken into account and deducted three pairs of shoes he had given him,

and a real for two blood-lettings when he was sick.

"All that is very well," said Don Quixote; "but let the shoes and the

blood-lettings stand as a setoff against the blows you have given him

without any cause; for if he spoiled the leather of the shoes you paid

for, you have damaged that of his body, and if the barber took blood from

him when he was sick, you have drawn it when he was sound; so on that

score he owes you nothing."

"The difficulty is, Sir Knight, that I have no money here; let Andres

come home with me, and I will pay him all, real by real."

"I go with him!" said the youth. "Nay, God forbid! No, senor, not for the

world; for once alone with me, he would ray me like a Saint Bartholomew."

"He will do nothing of the kind," said Don Quixote; "I have only to

command, and he will obey me; and as he has sworn to me by the order of

knighthood which he has received, I leave him free, and I guarantee the

payment."

"Consider what you are saying, senor," said the youth; "this master of

mine is not a knight, nor has he received any order of knighthood; for he

is Juan Haldudo the Rich, of Quintanar."

"That matters little," replied Don Quixote; "there may be Haldudos

knights; moreover, everyone is the son of his works."

"That is true," said Andres; "but this master of mine--of what works is

he the son, when he refuses me the wages of my sweat and labour?"

"I do not refuse, brother Andres," said the farmer, "be good enough to

come along with me, and I swear by all the orders of knighthood there are

in the world to pay you as I have agreed, real by real, and perfumed."




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