Don Quixote_ Translation by Edith Grossman (HarperCollins) - Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra [418]
To which Sancho said:
“My gray’s the one for a smooth and even gait, though he doesn’t go through the air; but on land I’d put him up against all the trotters in the world.”
Everyone laughed, and the Dolorous One continued:
“And this horse, if in fact Malambruno wants to end our misfortune, will be in our presence before the night is half an hour old, because he indicated to me that the sign he would give to let me know I had found the knight I was looking for would be to send me the horse, conveniently and speedily, wherever the knight might be.”
“And how many can fit on this horse?” asked Sancho.
The Dolorous One responded:
“Two people: one in the saddle and the other on the hindquarters, and for the most part these two people are knight and squire, when there is no abducted maiden.”
“I’d like to know, Señora Dolorous,” said Sancho, “what the horse’s name is.”
“His name,” responded the Dolorous One, “is not that of Bellerophon’s horse, named Pegasus, or that of Alexander the Great, called Bucephalus, or that of the furious Orlando, dubbed Brillador, much less Bayarte, who belonged to Reinaldos de Montalbán, or Frontino, who was Ruggiero’s steed, or Bootes or Pirithous, which, they say, were the names of the horses of the Sun, and his name is not Orelia, like the horse on which the unfortunate Rodrigo, last king of the Visigoths, entered the battle in which he lost his life and his kingdom.”
“I’ll wager,” said Sancho, “that since they didn’t give him any of those famous names of well-known horses, they didn’t give him the name of my master’s, Rocinante, which would suit him better than all those others you’ve mentioned.”
“That is true,” responded the bearded countess, “but the name he has fits him, because he is called Clavileño the Fleet,3 a good name for him because it shows that he’s made of wood, and has a peg on his forehead, and moves very quickly; and so, as far as his name is concerned, he can certainly compete with the famous Rocinante.”
“I don’t dislike the name,” replied Sancho, “but what kind of halter or bridle do you use to control him?”
“I’ve already told you,” responded Countess Trifaldi, “that it’s done with the peg, and by turning it one way or the other, the rider can make him go wherever he wants, either through the air, or else skimming and almost sweeping along the ground, or following the middle course, which is what one hopes for and must have in all well-regulated actions.”
“I’d like to see him,” responded Sancho, “but thinking that I’ll climb up on him, either in the saddle or on his hindquarters, is asking the elm tree for pears. I can barely stay on my donkey, and that’s on a packsaddle softer than silk, and now they want me to sit on hindquarters made of wood, without even a pillow or cushion! By God, I don’t plan to bruise myself for the sake of removing anybody’s beard: let each person find a way to be shaved, for I don’t intend to go with my master on such a long journey. Besides, I don’t have anything to do with shaving these beards the way I have something to do with disenchanting Señora Dulcinea.”
“Yes, you do, my friend,” responded Countess Trifaldi, “so much so that without your presence I understand we won’t do anything.”
“That’s not the king’s justice!” said Sancho. “What do squires have to do with the adventures of their masters? Don’t they get the fame when they’re successful while we get all the work? Good God! If the histories only said: ‘Such-and-such a knight concluded such-and-such an adventure, but with the help of so-and-so his squire, and without him it would have been impossible….’ But all they write is: ‘Don Paralipomenón of the Three Stars concluded the adventure of the six monsters,’ and they never mention his squire, who was present for everything, just as if he weren’t in the world at all! And so, my lords and ladies, I say again that my master can