WHEREIN IS RELATED WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE ON HIS WAY TO SEE HIS LADY

DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO

"Blessed be Allah the all-powerful!" says Hamete Benengeli on beginning

this eighth chapter; "blessed be Allah!" he repeats three times; and he

says he utters these thanksgivings at seeing that he has now got Don

Quixote and Sancho fairly afield, and that the readers of his delightful

history may reckon that the achievements and humours of Don Quixote and

his squire are now about to begin; and he urges them to forget the former

chivalries of the ingenious gentleman and to fix their eyes on those that

are to come, which now begin on the road to El Toboso, as the others

began on the plains of Montiel; nor is it much that he asks in

consideration of all he promises, and so he goes on to say:

Don Quixote and Sancho were left alone, and the moment Samson took his

departure, Rocinante began to neigh, and Dapple to sigh, which, by both

knight and squire, was accepted as a good sign and a very happy omen;

though, if the truth is to be told, the sighs and brays of Dapple were

louder than the neighings of the hack, from which Sancho inferred that

his good fortune was to exceed and overtop that of his master, building,

perhaps, upon some judicial astrology that he may have known, though the

history says nothing about it; all that can be said is, that when he

stumbled or fell, he was heard to say he wished he had not come out, for

by stumbling or falling there was nothing to be got but a damaged shoe or

a broken rib; and, fool as he was, he was not much astray in this.

Said Don Quixote, "Sancho, my friend, night is drawing on upon us as we

go, and more darkly than will allow us to reach El Toboso by daylight;

for there I am resolved to go before I engage in another adventure, and

there I shall obtain the blessing and generous permission of the peerless

Dulcinea, with which permission I expect and feel assured that I shall

conclude and bring to a happy termination every perilous adventure; for

nothing in life makes knights-errant more valorous than finding

themselves favoured by their ladies."

"So I believe," replied Sancho; "but I think it will be difficult for

your worship to speak with her or see her, at any rate where you will be

able to receive her blessing; unless, indeed, she throws it over the wall

of the yard where I saw her the time before, when I took her the letter

that told of the follies and mad things your worship was doing in the

heart of Sierra Morena."




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