BUT hardly had day begun to show itself through the balconies of theeast, when five of the six goatherds came to rouse Don Quixote andtell him that if he was still of a mind to go and see the famousburial of Chrysostom they would bear him company. Don Quixote, whodesired nothing better, rose and ordered Sancho to saddle and pannelat once, which he did with all despatch, and with the same they allset out forthwith. They had not gone a quarter of a league when at themeeting of two paths they saw coming towards them some six shepherdsdressed in black sheepskins and with their heads crowned with garlandsof cypress and bitter oleander. Each of them carried a stout hollystaff in his hand, and along with them there came two men of qualityon horseback in handsome travelling dress, with three servants on footaccompanying them. Courteous salutations were exchanged on meeting,and inquiring one of the other which way each party was going, theylearned that all were bound for the scene of the burial, so theywent on all together.
One of those on horseback addressing his companion said to him,"It seems to me, Senor Vivaldo, that we may reckon as well spent thedelay we shall incur in seeing this remarkable funeral, for remarkableit cannot but be judging by the strange things these shepherds havetold us, of both the dead shepherd and homicide shepherdess."
"So I think too," replied Vivaldo, "and I would delay not to say aday, but four, for the sake of seeing it."
Don Quixote asked them what it was they had heard of Marcela andChrysostom. The traveller answered that the same morning they hadmet these shepherds, and seeing them dressed in this mournfulfashion they had asked them the reason of their appearing in such aguise; which one of them gave, describing the strange behaviour andbeauty of a shepherdess called Marcela, and the loves of many whocourted her, together with the death of that Chrysostom to whoseburial they were going. In short, he repeated all that Pedro hadrelated to Don Quixote.
This conversation dropped, and another was commenced by him whowas called Vivaldo asking Don Quixote what was the reason that led himto go armed in that fashion in a country so peaceful. To which DonQuixote replied, "The pursuit of my calling does not allow or permitme to go in any other fashion; easy life, enjoyment, and repose wereinvented for soft courtiers, but toil, unrest, and arms wereinvented and made for those alone whom the world calls knights-errant,of whom I, though unworthy, am the least of all."
The instant they heard this all set him down as mad, and thebetter to settle the point and discover what kind of madness hiswas, Vivaldo proceeded to ask him what knights-errant meant.
"Have not your worships," replied Don Quixote, "read the annalsand histories of England, in which are recorded the famous deeds ofKing Arthur, whom we in our popular Castilian invariably call KingArtus, with regard to whom it is an ancient tradition, and commonlyreceived all over that kingdom of Great Britain, that this king didnot die, but was changed by magic art into a raven, and that inprocess of time he is to return to reign and recover his kingdom andsceptre; for which reason it cannot be proved that from that time tothis any Englishman ever killed a raven? Well, then, in the time ofthis good king that famous order of chivalry of the Knights of theRound Table was instituted, and the amour of Don Lancelot of theLake with the Queen Guinevere occurred, precisely as is there related,the go-between and confidante therein being the highly honourable dameQuintanona, whence came that ballad so well known and widely spread inour Spain-
O never surely was there knight
So served by hand of dame,
As served was he Sir Lancelot hight
When he from Britain came-with all the sweet and delectable course of his achievements in loveand war. Handed down from that time, then, this order of chivalry wenton extending and spreading itself over many and various parts of theworld; and in it, famous and renowned for their deeds, were the mightyAmadis of Gaul with all his sons and descendants to the fifthgeneration, and the valiant Felixmarte of Hircania, and the neversufficiently praised Tirante el Blanco, and in our own days almostwe have seen and heard and talked with the invincible knight DonBelianis of Greece. This, then, sirs, is to be a knight-errant, andwhat I have spoken of is the order of his chivalry, of which, as Ihave already said, I, though a sinner, have made profession, andwhat the aforesaid knights professed that same do I profess, and soI go through these solitudes and wilds seeking adventures, resolved insoul to oppose my arm and person to the most perilous that fortune mayoffer me in aid of the weak and needy."
By these words of his the travellers were able to satisfy themselvesof Don Quixote's being out of his senses and of the form of madnessthat overmastered him, at which they felt the same astonishment thatall felt on first becoming acquainted with it; and Vivaldo, who wasa person of great shrewdness and of a lively temperament, in orderto beguile the short journey which they said was required to reach themountain, the scene of the burial, sought to give him an opportunityof going on with his absurdities. So he said to him, "It seems tome, Senor Knight-errant, that your worship has made choice of one ofthe most austere professions in the world, and I imagine even thatof the Carthusian monks is not so austere."
"As austere it may perhaps be," replied our Don Quixote, "but sonecessary for the world I am very much inclined to doubt. For, ifthe truth is to be told, the soldier who executes what his captainorders does no less than the captain himself who gives the order. Mymeaning, is, that churchmen in peace and quiet pray to Heaven forthe welfare of the world, but we soldiers and knights carry intoeffect what they pray for, defending it with the might of our arms andthe edge of our swords, not under shelter but in the open air, atarget for the intolerable rays of the sun in summer and thepiercing frosts of winter. Thus are we God's ministers on earth andthe arms by which his justice is done therein. And as the businessof war and all that relates and belongs to it cannot be conductedwithout exceeding great sweat, toil, and exertion, it follows thatthose who make it their profession have undoubtedly more labour thanthose who in tranquil peace and quiet are engaged in praying to God tohelp the weak. I do not mean to say, nor does it enter into mythoughts, that the knight-errant's calling is as good as that of themonk in his cell; I would merely infer from what I endure myselfthat it is beyond a doubt a more laborious and a more belabouredone, a hungrier and thirstier, a wretcheder, raggeder, and lousier;for there is no reason to doubt that the knights-errant of yoreendured much hardship in the course of their lives. And if some ofthem by the might of their arms did rise to be emperors, in faith itcost them dear in the matter of blood and sweat; and if those whoattained to that rank had not had magicians and sages to help themthey would have been completely baulked in their ambition anddisappointed in their hopes."
"That is my own opinion," replied the traveller; "but one thingamong many others seems to me very wrong in knights-errant, and thatis that when they find themselves about to engage in some mighty andperilous adventure in which there is manifest danger of losing theirlives, they never at the moment of engaging in it think ofcommending themselves to God, as is the duty of every good Christianin like peril; instead of which they commend themselves to theirladies with as much devotion as if these were their gods, a thingwhich seems to me to savour somewhat of heathenism."
"Sir," answered Don Quixote, "that cannot be on any account omitted,and the knight-errant would be disgraced who acted otherwise: for itis usual and customary in knight-errantry that the knight-errant,who on engaging in any great feat of arms has his lady before him,should turn his eyes towards her softly and lovingly, as though withthem entreating her to favour and protect him in the hazardous venturehe is about to undertake, and even though no one hear him, he is boundto say certain words between his teeth, commending himself to her withall his heart, and of this we have innumerable instances in thehistories. Nor is it to be supposed from this that they are to omitcommending themselves to God, for there will be time and opportunityfor doing so while they are engaged in their task."
"For all that," answered the traveller, "I feel some doubt still,because often I have read how words will arise between twoknights-errant, and from one thing to another it comes about thattheir anger kindles and they wheel their horses round and take agood stretch of field, and then without any more ado at the top oftheir speed they come to the charge, and in mid-career they are wontto commend themselves to their ladies; and what commonly comes ofthe encounter is that one falls over the haunches of his horse piercedthrough and through by his antagonist's lance, and as for the other,it is only by holding on to the mane of his horse that he can helpfalling to the ground; but I know not how the dead man had time tocommend himself to God in the course of such rapid work as this; itwould have been better if those words which he spent in commendinghimself to his lady in the midst of his career had been devoted to hisduty and obligation as a Christian. Moreover, it is my belief that allknights-errant have not ladies to commend themselves to, for theyare not all in love."
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