Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes - PDF
Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

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IN WHICH THE NARRATIVE OF OUR KNIGHT’S MISHAP IS CONTINUED

Finding, then, that, in fact he could not move, he thought himself of hav-
ing recourse to his usual remedy, which was to think of some passage in his
books, and his craze brought to his mind that about Baldwin and the Mar-
quis of Mantua, when Carloto left him wounded on the mountain side, a
story known by heart by the children, not forgotten by the young men, and
lauded and even believed by the old folk; and for all that not a whit truer
than the miracles of Mahomet. This seemed to him to fit exactly the case in
which he found himself, so, making a show of severe suffering, he began to
roll on the ground and with feeble breath repeat the very words which the
wounded knight of the wood is said to have uttered:

Where art thou, lady mine, that thou My sorrow dost not rue? Thou canst
not know it, lady mine, Or else thou art untrue.

And so he went on with the ballad as far as the lines:
O noble Marquis of Mantua, My Uncle and liege lord!
As chance would have it, when he had got to this line there happened to

come by a peasant from his own village, a neighbour of his, who had been
with a load of wheat to the mill, and he, seeing the man stretched there,
came up to him and asked him who he was and what was the matter with
him that he complained so dolefully.

Don Quixote was firmly persuaded that this was the Marquis of Mantua,
his uncle, so the only answer he made was to go on with his ballad, in
which he told the tale of his misfortune, and of the loves of the Emperor’s
son and his wife all exactly as the ballad sings it.

The peasant stood amazed at hearing such nonsense, and relieving him of
the visor, already battered to pieces by blows, he wiped his face, which was

covered with dust, and as soon as he had done so he recognised him and
said, “Senor Quixada” (for so he appears to have been called when he was
in his senses and had not yet changed from a quiet country gentleman into a
knight-errant), “who has brought your worship to this pass?” But to all
questions the other only went on with his ballad.

Seeing this, the good man removed as well as he could his breastplate
and backpiece to see if he had any wound, but he could perceive no blood
nor any mark whatever. He then contrived to raise him from the ground, and
with no little difficulty hoisted him upon his ass, which seemed to him to be
the easiest mount for him; and collecting the arms, even to the splinters of
the lance, he tied them on Rocinante, and leading him by the bridle and the
ass by the halter he took the road for the village, very sad to hear what ab-
surd stuff Don Quixote was talking.

Nor was Don Quixote less so, for what with blows and bruises he could
not sit upright on the ass, and from time to time he sent up sighs to heaven,
so that once more he drove the peasant to ask what ailed him. And it could
have been only the devil himself that put into his head tales to match his
own adventures, for now, forgetting Baldwin, he bethought himself of the
Moor Abindarraez, when the Alcaide of Antequera, Rodrigo de Narvaez,
took him prisoner and carried him away to his castle; so that when the peas-
ant again asked him how he was and what ailed him, he gave him for reply
the same words and phrases that the captive Abindarraez gave to Rodrigo
de Narvaez, just as he had read the story in the “Diana” of Jorge de Mon-
temayor where it is written, applying it to his own case so aptly that the
peasant went along cursing his fate that he had to listen to such a lot of non-
sense; from which, however, he came to the conclusion that his neighbour
was mad, and so made all haste to reach the village to escape the weari-
someness of this harangue of Don Quixote’s; who, at the end of it, said,
“Senor Don Rodrigo de Narvaez, your worship must know that this fair
Xarifa I have mentioned is now the lovely Dulcinea del Toboso, for whom I
have done, am doing, and will do the most famous deeds of chivalry that in
this world have been seen, are to be seen, or ever shall be seen.”

To this the peasant answered, “Senorโ€”sinner that I am!โ€”cannot your
worship see that I am not Don Rodrigo de Narvaez nor the Marquis of Man-
tua, but Pedro Alonso your neighbour, and that your worship is neither
Baldwin nor Abindarraez, but the worthy gentleman Senor Quixada?”

“I know who I am,” replied Don Quixote, “and I know that I may be not
only those I have named, but all the Twelve Peers of France and even all the
Nine Worthies, since my achievements surpass all that they have done all
together and each of them on his own account.”

With this talk and more of the same kind they reached the village just as
night was beginning to fall, but the peasant waited until it was a little later
that the belaboured gentleman might not be seen riding in such a miserable
trim. When it was what seemed to him the proper time he entered the vil-
lage and went to Don Quixote’s house, which he found all in confusion, and
there were the curate and the village barber, who were great friends of Don
Quixote, and his housekeeper was saying to them in a loud voice, “What
does your worship think can have befallen my master, Senor Licentiate Pero
Perez?” for so the curate was called; “it is three days now since anything
has been seen of him, or the hack, or the buckler, lance, or armour. Miser-
able me! I am certain of it, and it is as true as that I was born to die, that
these accursed books of chivalry he has, and has got into the way of reading
so constantly, have upset his reason; for now I remember having often heard
him saying to himself that he would turn knight-errant and go all over the
world in quest of adventures. To the devil and Barabbas with such books,
that have brought to ruin in this way the finest understanding there was in
all La Mancha!”

The niece said the same, and, more: “You must know, Master
Nicholas”โ€”for that was the name of the barberโ€””it was often my uncle’s
way to stay two days and nights together poring over these unholy books of
misventures, after which he would fling the book away and snatch up his
sword and fall to slashing the walls; and when he was tired out he would
say he had killed four giants like four towers; and the sweat that flowed
from him when he was weary he said was the blood of the wounds he had
received in battle; and then he would drink a great jug of cold water and be-
come calm and quiet, saying that this water was a most precious potion
which the sage Esquife, a great magician and friend of his, had brought
him. But I take all the blame upon myself for never having told your wor-
ships of my uncle’s vagaries, that you might put a stop to them before things
had come to this pass, and burn all these accursed booksโ€”for he has a great
numberโ€”that richly deserve to be burned like heretics.”

“So say I too,” said the curate, “and by my faith to-morrow shall not pass
without public judgment upon them, and may they be condemned to the

flames lest they lead those that read to behave as my good friend seems to
have behaved.”

All this the peasant heard, and from it he understood at last what was the
matter with his neighbour, so he began calling aloud, “Open, your worships,
to Senor Baldwin and to Senor the Marquis of Mantua, who comes badly
wounded, and to Senor Abindarraez, the Moor, whom the valiant Rodrigo
de Narvaez, the Alcaide of Antequera, brings captive.”

At these words they all hurried out, and when they recognised their
friend, master, and uncle, who had not yet dismounted from the ass because
he could not, they ran to embrace him.

“Hold!” said he, “for I am badly wounded through my horse’s fault; carry
me to bed, and if possible send for the wise Urganda to cure and see to my
wounds.”

“See there! plague on it!” cried the housekeeper at this: “did not my heart
tell the truth as to which foot my master went lame of? To bed with your
worship at once, and we will contrive to cure you here without fetching that
Hurgada. A curse I say once more, and a hundred times more, on those
books of chivalry that have brought your worship to such a pass.”

They carried him to bed at once, and after searching for his wounds could
find none, but he said they were all bruises from having had a severe fall
with his horse Rocinante when in combat with ten giants, the biggest and
the boldest to be found on earth.

“So, so!” said the curate, “are there giants in the dance? By the sign of the
Cross I will burn them to-morrow before the day over.”

They put a host of questions to Don Quixote, but his only answer to all
wasโ€”give him something to eat, and leave him to sleep, for that was what
he needed most. They did so, and the curate questioned the peasant at great
length as to how he had found Don Quixote. He told him, and the nonsense
he had talked when found and on the way home, all which made the licenti-
ate the more eager to do what he did the next day, which was to summon his
friend the barber, Master Nicholas, and go with him to Don Quixote’s
house.

Table of Contents

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Part 1 - Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Part 2 - Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47