"In truth," replied he on the mare, "I would not pass you so hastily but

for fear that horse might turn restive in the company of my mare."

"You may safely hold in your mare, senor," said Sancho in reply to this,

"for our horse is the most virtuous and well-behaved horse in the world;

he never does anything wrong on such occasions, and the only time he

misbehaved, my master and I suffered for it sevenfold; I say again your

worship may pull up if you like; for if she was offered to him between

two plates the horse would not hanker after her."

The traveller drew rein, amazed at the trim and features of Don Quixote,

who rode without his helmet, which Sancho carried like a valise in front

of Dapple's pack-saddle; and if the man in green examined Don Quixote

closely, still more closely did Don Quixote examine the man in green, who

struck him as being a man of intelligence. In appearance he was about

fifty years of age, with but few grey hairs, an aquiline cast of

features, and an expression between grave and gay; and his dress and

accoutrements showed him to be a man of good condition. What he in green

thought of Don Quixote of La Mancha was that a man of that sort and shape

he had never yet seen; he marvelled at the length of his hair, his lofty

stature, the lankness and sallowness of his countenance, his armour, his

bearing and his gravity--a figure and picture such as had not been seen

in those regions for many a long day.

Don Quixote saw very plainly the attention with which the traveller was

regarding him, and read his curiosity in his astonishment; and courteous

as he was and ready to please everybody, before the other could ask him

any question he anticipated him by saying, "The appearance I present to

your worship being so strange and so out of the common, I should not be

surprised if it filled you with wonder; but you will cease to wonder when

I tell you, as I do, that I am one of those knights who, as people say,

go seeking adventures. I have left my home, I have mortgaged my estate, I

have given up my comforts, and committed myself to the arms of Fortune,

to bear me whithersoever she may please. My desire was to bring to life

again knight-errantry, now dead, and for some time past, stumbling here,

falling there, now coming down headlong, now raising myself up again, I

have carried out a great portion of my design, succouring widows,

protecting maidens, and giving aid to wives, orphans, and minors, the

proper and natural duty of knights-errant; and, therefore, because of my

many valiant and Christian achievements, I have been already found worthy

to make my way in print to well-nigh all, or most, of the nations of the

earth. Thirty thousand volumes of my history have been printed, and it is

on the high-road to be printed thirty thousand thousands of times, if

heaven does not put a stop to it. In short, to sum up all in a few words,

or in a single one, I may tell you I am Don Quixote of La Mancha,

otherwise called 'The Knight of the Rueful Countenance;' for though

self-praise is degrading, I must perforce sound my own sometimes, that is

to say, when there is no one at hand to do it for me. So that, gentle

sir, neither this horse, nor this lance, nor this shield, nor this

squire, nor all these arms put together, nor the sallowness of my

countenance, nor my gaunt leanness, will henceforth astonish you, now

that you know who I am and what profession I follow."




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