Page:The History of the Valorous and Wity Knight-Errant, Don-Quixote of the Mancha.djvu/159

Book III. so will I likewise do, and let us see how doth Rozinante; for me thinks that the least part of this Mishap hath not fallen to his Lot. You ought not to marvel at that, quoth Sancho seeing he is likewise a Knight-Errant; that whereat I wonder is, that mine Ass remains there without Payment, where we are come away without Ribs. Fortune leaves always one Door open in Disasters, quoth Don Quixote, whereby to remedy them. I say it, because that little Beast may supply Rozinante's want, by carrying me from hence unto some Castle, wherein I may be cured of my Wounds. Nor do I hold this kind of riding dishonourable, for I remember to have read, that the good old Silenus, Tutor of the merry God of Laughter, when he enter'd into the City of the hundred Gates, rode very fairly mounted on a goodly Ass. It is like, quoth Sancho, that he rode as you say, upon an Ass, but there is great difference betwixt riding and being cast athwart upon one like a Sack of Rubbish. To this, Don Quixote answered, The Wounds that are received in Battel do rather give Honour, than deprive Men of it; wherefore, Friend Pancha, do not reply any more unto me, but as I have said, arise as well as thou canst, and lay me as thou pleasest upon thy Beast, and let us depart from hence before the Night overtake us in these Desarts. Yet I have heard you say, quoth Pancha, that it was an ordinary Custom of Knights-Errant to sleep in Downs and Desarts the most of the Year, and that so to do they hold for very good Hap. That is, said Don Quixote, when they have none other Shift, or when they are in Love; and this is so true, as there hath been a Knight that hath 'dwelt on a Rock exposed to the Sun, and the Shadow, and other Annoyances of Heaven, for the space of two Years, without his Lady's knowledge, and Amadis was one of that kind when calling himself Beltinebros, he dwelt in the Poor Rock: Nor do I know punctually eight Years, or eight Months, for I do not remember the History well; let it suffice that there he dwelt doing of Penance for some Disgust, which I know not; that his Lady Oriana did him: But leaving that apart, Sancho, dispatch, and away, before