There was a madman in Seville who took to one of the drollestabsurdities and vagaries that ever madman in the world gave way to. Itwas this: he made a tube of reed sharp at one end, and catching adog in the street, or wherever it might be, he with his foot heldone of its legs fast, and with his hand lifted up the other, and asbest he could fixed the tube where, by blowing, he made the dog asround as a ball; then holding it in this position, he gave it a coupleof slaps on the belly, and let it go, saying to the bystanders （andthere were always plenty of them）： "Do your worships think, now,that it is an easy thing to blow up a dog?"- Does your worship thinknow, that it is an easy thing to write a book?
And if this story does not suit him, you may, dear reader, tellhim this one, which is likewise of a madman and a dog.
In Cordova there was another madman, whose way it was to carry apiece of marble slab or a stone, not of the lightest, on his head, andwhen he came upon any unwary dog he used to draw close to him andlet the weight fall right on top of him; on which the dog in a rage,barking and howling, would run three streets without stopping. It sohappened, however, that one of the dogs he discharged his load uponwas a cap-maker's dog, of which his master was very fond. The stonecame down hitting it on the head, the dog raised a yell at the blow,the master saw the affair and was wroth, and snatching up ameasuring-yard rushed out at the madman and did not leave a sound bonein his body, and at every stroke he gave him he said, "You dog, youthief! my lurcher! Don't you see, you brute, that my dog is alurcher?" and so, repeating the word "lurcher" again and again, hesent the madman away beaten to a jelly. The madman took the lessonto heart, and vanished, and for more than a month never once showedhimself in public; but after that he came out again with his old trickand a heavier load than ever. He came up to where there was a dog, andexamining it very carefully without venturing to let the stone fall,he said: "This is a lurcher; ware!" In short, all the dogs he cameacross, be they mastiffs or terriers, he said were lurchers; and hedischarged no more stones. Maybe it will be the same with thishistorian; that he will not venture another time to discharge theweight of his wit in books, which, being bad, are harder thanstones. Tell him, too, that I do not care a farthing for the threat heholds out to me of depriving me of my profit by means of his book;for, to borrow from the famous interlude of "The Perendenga," I say inanswer to him, "Long life to my lord the Veintiquatro, and Christ bewith us all." Long life to the great Conde de Lemos, whose Christiancharity and well-known generosity support me against all the strokesof my curst fortune; and long life to the supreme benevolence of HisEminence of Toledo, Don Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas; and whatmatter if there be no printing-presses in the world, or if theyprint more books against me than there are letters in the verses ofMingo Revulgo! These two princes, unsought by any adulation orflattery of mine, of their own goodness alone, have taken it upon themto show me kindness and protect me, and in this I consider myselfhappier and richer than if Fortune had raised me to her greatestheight in the ordinary way. The poor man may retain honour, but notthe vicious; poverty may cast a cloud over nobility, but cannot hideit altogether; and as virtue of itself sheds a certain light, eventhough it be through the straits and chinks of penury, it wins theesteem of lofty and noble spirits, and in consequence theirprotection. Thou needst say no more to him, nor will I say anythingmore to thee, save to tell thee to bear in mind that this SecondPart of "Don Quixote" which I offer thee is cut by the samecraftsman and from the same cloth as the First, and that in it Ipresent thee Don Quixote continued, and at length dead and buried,so that no one may dare to bring forward any further evidenceagainst him, for that already produced is sufficient; and sufficeit, too, that some reputable person should have given an account ofall these shrewd lunacies of his without going into the matteragain; for abundance, even of good things, prevents them from beingvalued; and scarcity, even in the case of what is bad, confers acertain value. I was forgetting to tell thee that thou mayest expectthe "Persiles," which I am now finishing, and also the Second Partof "Galatea."
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