Page:Don Quixote (Cervantes, Ormsby) Volume 2.djvu/46

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24
DON QUIXOTE.

was who stole Sancho's Dapple; for it is not stated there, but only to be inferred from what is set down, that he was stolen, and a little farther on we see Sancho mounted on the same ass, without any re-appearance of it.[1] They say, too, that he forgot to state what Sancho did with those hundred crowns that he found in the valise in the Sierra Morena, as he never alludes to them again, and there are many who would be glad to know what he did with them, or what he spent them on, for it is one of the serious omissions of the work."[2]

"Señor Samson, I am not in a humor now for going into accounts or explanations," said Sancho; "for there's a sinking of the stomach come over me, and unless I doctor it with a couple of sups of the old stuff it will put me on the thorn of Santa Lucia.[3] I have it at home, and my old woman is waiting for me; after dinner I'll come back, and will answer you and all the world every question you may choose to ask, as well about the loss of the ass as about the spending of the hundred crowns;" and without another word or waiting for a reply he made off home.

Don Quixote begged and entreated the bachelor to stay and do penance with him.[4] The bachelor accepted the invitation and remained, a couple of young pigeons were added to the ordinary fare, at dinner they talked chivalry, Carrasco fell in with his host's humor, the banquet came to an end, they took their afternoon sleep, Sancho returned, and the previous conversation was resumed.

  1. This passage has somewhat puzzled those who were unaware of the difference in text between the first and the subsequent editions. Cervantes is here speaking of the first edition, in which (as has been already pointed out, chapter xxiii., Part I.) no account of the theft of the ass is given. From this we gather that Cervantes himself had nothing to do with the attempt made in the second edition to rectify the blunder, for had it been his own work he certainly would not have ignored it as be does here.
  2. He is here ridiculing what he considers the hypercriticism of those readers who make a fuss about such trivial slips.
  3. A slang phrase for being weak for want of food.
  4. Equivalent to our phrase, "stay and take pot-luck."