Don Quixote_ Translation by Edith Grossman (HarperCollins) - Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra [291]
“I don’t understand you, my husband,” replied Teresa, “so do what you want and don’t give me any more headaches with your long speeches and fine words. And if you’re revolved to do what you say—”
“Resolved is what you should say, Teresa,” said Sancho, “not revolved.”
“Don’t start an argument with me, Sancho,” responded Teresa. “I talk as God wills, and let’s stick to the subject; I say that if you’re determined to have a governorship, you should take your son, Sanchico, along so you can teach him how to be a governor; it’s a good thing for sons to inherit and learn the trades of their fathers.”
“As soon as I have the governorship,” said Sancho, “I’ll send for him posthaste, and I’ll send you some money; I’ll have plenty, because there are always plenty of people who lend money to governors when they don’t have any; and be sure to dress him so that you hide what he is and he looks like what he’ll become.”
“You just send the money,” said Teresa, “and I’ll dress him up as nice as you please.”
“So then we agree,” said Sancho, “that our daughter will be a countess.”
“The day I see her a countess,” responded Teresa, “will be the day I’ll have to bury her; but again I say that you should do whatever you want; women are born with the obligation to obey their husbands even if they’re fools.”
And at this she began to cry as piteously as if she already saw Sanchica dead and buried. Sancho consoled her, saying that even if he had to make her a countess, he would delay it as long as he could. This ended their conversation, and Sancho returned to see Don Quixote and arrange for their departure.
CHAPTER VI
Regarding what transpired between Don Quixote and his niece and housekeeper, which is one of the most important chapters in the entire history
While Sancho Panza and his wife, Teresa Cascajo, were having the incongruous talk that has just been related, Don Quixote’s niece and housekeeper were not idle; a thousand indications had led them to infer that their uncle and master wished to leave for the third time and return to the practice of what was, to their minds, his calamitous chivalry, and they attempted by all means possible to dissuade him from so wicked a thought, but it was all preaching in the desert and hammering on cold iron. Even so, in one of the many exchanges they had with him, the housekeeper said:
“The truth is, Señor, that if your grace doesn’t keep your feet firmly on the ground, and stay quietly in your house, and stop wandering around the mountains and the valleys like a soul in torment looking for things that are called adventures but that I call misfortunes, then I’ll have to cry and complain to God and the king and ask them for a remedy.”
To which Don Quixote responded:
“Housekeeper, I do not know how God will respond to your complaints, or His Majesty, either; I know only that if I were king, I should excuse myself from responding to the countless importunate requests presented to me each day; one of the greatest burdens borne by kings, among so many others, is the obligation to listen to all petitions and respond to all of them; consequently, I should not want my affairs to trouble him in any way.”
To which the housekeeper said:
“Tell us, Señor, aren’t there knights in His Majesty’s court?”
“Yes,” responded Don Quixote, “quite a few, and it is fitting that there should be, as an adornment to the greatness of princes and to display the stateliness of kings.”
“Well, then, couldn’t your grace,” she replied, “be one of those who stay put to serve their king and lord in court?”
“Look, my friend,” responded Don Quixote, “not all knights can be courtiers,