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By Root 794 0

Quixote’s thoughts when those stitches tore, but he was consoled at seeing that Sancho had left him a pair of high traveling boots that he intended to wear the next day. Finally he lay down, pensive and melancholy, not only because he missed Sancho, but on account of the irreparable disaster of his stockings, which he would have stitched up, even with silk thread of another color, one of the greatest indications of poverty that a gentleman can give in the course of his wearisome penury. He put out the candles, it was hot and he could not sleep, he got out of bed and opened slightly a jalousied window that overlooked a beautiful garden, and when he opened it he perceived and heard people walking and talking in the garden. He began to listen attentively. Those below him spoke loudly enough for him to hear these words:

“Do not urge me, O Emerencia, to sing, for you know that since the moment the stranger entered this castle and my eyes looked upon him, I can no longer sing but only weep, and besides, my lady is more a light sleeper than a heavy one, and I would not want her to find us here for all the riches in the world. And even if she slept and did not awaken, my song would be in vain if this second Aeneas, who has come to my realm only to scorn me and abandon me, should sleep and not awaken.”

“Do not be concerned about that, Altisidora my friend,” was the reply, “for undoubtedly the duchess and all those in the house are asleep, except for the lord of your heart and the inspiration of your soul, for just now I heard the jalousied window in his room being opened, and no doubt he must be awake; sing, my suffering friend, softly and quietly to the sound of your harp, and if the duchess hears us, we can blame the heat.”

“Oh, Emerencia, that isn’t the point!” responded Altisidora. “It’s just that I wouldn’t want to reveal my heart in my song or be judged a capricious and frivolous maiden by those who do not know the power and might of love. But come what may, an embarrassed face is better than a wounded heart.”

And then he heard the sound of a harp played very softly. When he heard this, Don Quixote was dumbfounded, because at that instant he remembered an infinite number of adventures similar to this one, with windows, jalousies, gardens, music, amorous compliments, and swoons, which he had read in his delusive books of chivalry. Then he imagined that a maiden of the duchess was in love with him, and that modesty compelled her to keep her desires secret; he feared he might surrender and resolved not to allow himself to be vanquished, and commending himself with all his heart and soul to his lady Dulcinea of Toboso, he decided to listen to the music; to let it be known that he was there, he gave a mock sneeze, which brought no small delight to the maidens, whose sole desire was that Don Quixote should hear them. When she had tuned and adjusted the harp, Altisidora began to sing this ballad:

O you, who lie in your bed,

between sheets of Holland linen,

soundly and deeply asleep all night

long until the morning,

O brave knight, the most courageous

ever born in great La Mancha,

more modest, more chaste, more blessed

than the fine gold of Arabia!

Hear this melancholy maiden,

so wellborn and so ill-fated:

in the light of your two suns

she feels her soul burst into flames.

You go in search of adventures

but find the sorrows of others,

inflicting wounds, yet refusing

the remedy that can cure them.

O tell me, most valiant youth,

—may God make your wishes prosper—

if Libyan sands were your home,

or the craggy peaks of Jaca;

if you suckled a serpent’s milk

or by chance you had for nurses

the harshness of the wild forest

and the horrors of the mountains.

Well may the fair Dulcinea,

a maiden plump and sturdy,

boast of subduing a tiger,

and vanquishing a fierce beast,

winning her fame along rivers

from Henares to Jarama,

from Tajo to Manzanares,

from Pisuerga to Arlanza.

If I could change places with her,

I would give my very best,

my most gaily colored skirt

adorned with trimmings of gold.

O, if