CHAPTER 15
WHEREIN IT IS TOLD AND KNOWN WHO THE KNIGHT OF THE MIRRORS AND HIS
SQUIRE WERE
Don Quixote went off satisfied, elated, and vain-glorious in the highest
degree at having won a victory over such a valiant knight as he fancied him
of the Mirrors to be, and one from whose knightly word he expected to
learn whether the enchantment of his lady still continued; inasmuch as the
said vanquished knight was bound, under the penalty of ceasing to be one,
to return and render him an account of what took place between him and
her. But Don Quixote was of one mind, he of the Mirrors of another, for he
just then had no thought of anything but finding some village where he
could plaster himself, as has been said already. The history goes on to say,
then, that when the bachelor Samson Carrasco recommended Don Quixote
to resume his knight-errantry which he had laid aside, it was in consequence
of having been previously in conclave with the curate and the barber on the
means to be adopted to induce Don Quixote to stay at home in peace and
quiet without worrying himself with his ill-starred adventures; at which
consultation it was decided by the unanimous vote of all, and on the special
advice of Carrasco, that Don Quixote should be allowed to go, as it seemed
impossible to restrain him, and that Samson should sally forth to meet him
as a knight-errant, and do battle with him, for there would be no difficulty
about a cause, and vanquish him, that being looked upon as an easy matter;
and that it should be agreed and settled that the vanquished was to be at the
mercy of the victor. Then, Don Quixote being vanquished, the bachelor
knight was to command him to return to his village and his house, and not
quit it for two years, or until he received further orders from him; all which
it was clear Don Quixote would unhesitatingly obey, rather than contravene
or fail to observe the laws of chivalry; and during the period of his seclu-
sion he might perhaps forget his folly, or there might be an opportunity of
discovering some ready remedy for his madness. Carrasco undertook the
task, and Tom Cecial, a gossip and neighbour of Sancho Panza’s, a lively,
feather-headed fellow, offered himself as his squire. Carrasco armed himself
in the fashion described, and Tom Cecial, that he might not be known by his
gossip when they met, fitted on over his own natural nose the false mas-
querade one that has been mentioned; and so they followed the same route
Don Quixote took, and almost came up with him in time to be present at the
adventure of the cart of Death and finally encountered them in the grove,
where all that the sagacious reader has been reading about took place; and
had it not been for the extraordinary fancies of Don Quixote, and his con-
viction that the bachelor was not the bachelor, senor bachelor would have
been incapacitated for ever from taking his degree of licentiate, all through
not finding nests where he thought to find birds.
Tom Cecial, seeing how ill they had succeeded, and what a sorry end
their expedition had come to, said to the bachelor, “Sure enough, Senor
Samson Carrasco, we are served right; it is easy enough to plan and set
about an enterprise, but it is often a difficult matter to come well out of it.
Don Quixote a madman, and we sane; he goes off laughing, safe, and
sound, and you are left sore and sorry! I’d like to know now which is the
madder, he who is so because he cannot help it, or he who is so of his own
choice?”
To which Samson replied, “The difference between the two sorts of mad-
men is, that he who is so will he nil he, will be one always, while he who is
so of his own accord can leave off being one whenever he likes.”
“In that case,” said Tom Cecial, “I was a madman of my own accord
when I volunteered to become your squire, and, of my own accord, I’ll leave
off being one and go home.”
“That’s your affair,” returned Samson, “but to suppose that I am going
home until I have given Don Quixote a thrashing is absurd; and it is not any
wish that he may recover his senses that will make me hunt him out now,
but a wish for the sore pain I am in with my ribs won’t let me entertain more
charitable thoughts.”
Thus discoursing, the pair proceeded until they reached a town where it
was their good luck to find a bone-setter, with whose help the unfortunate
Samson was cured. Tom Cecial left him and went home, while he stayed
behind meditating vengeance; and the history will return to him again at the
proper time, so as not to omit making merry with Don Quixote now.
