With these words, and not waiting to hear a reply, she turned and passed

into the thickest part of a wood that was hard by, leaving all who were

there lost in admiration as much of her good sense as of her beauty.

Some--those wounded by the irresistible shafts launched by her bright

eyes--made as though they would follow her, heedless of the frank

declaration they had heard; seeing which, and deeming this a fitting

occasion for the exercise of his chivalry in aid of distressed damsels,

Don Quixote, laying his hand on the hilt of his sword, exclaimed in a

loud and distinct voice:

"Let no one, whatever his rank or condition, dare to follow the beautiful

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Marcela, under pain of incurring my fierce indignation. She has shown by

clear and satisfactory arguments that little or no fault is to be found

with her for the death of Chrysostom, and also how far she is from

yielding to the wishes of any of her lovers, for which reason, instead of

being followed and persecuted, she should in justice be honoured and

esteemed by all the good people of the world, for she shows that she is

the only woman in it that holds to such a virtuous resolution."

Whether it was because of the threats of Don Quixote, or because Ambrosio

told them to fulfil their duty to their good friend, none of the

shepherds moved or stirred from the spot until, having finished the grave

and burned Chrysostom's papers, they laid his body in it, not without

many tears from those who stood by. They closed the grave with a heavy

stone until a slab was ready which Ambrosio said he meant to have

prepared, with an epitaph which was to be to this effect:

Beneath the stone before your eyes

The body of a lover lies;

In life he was a shepherd swain,

In death a victim to disdain.

Ungrateful, cruel, coy, and fair,

Was she that drove him to despair,

And Love hath made her his ally

For spreading wide his tyranny.

They then strewed upon the grave a profusion of flowers and branches, and

all expressing their condolence with his friend ambrosio, took their

Vivaldo and his companion did the same; and Don Quixote bade farewell to

his hosts and to the travellers, who pressed him to come with them to

Seville, as being such a convenient place for finding adventures, for

they presented themselves in every street and round every corner oftener

than anywhere else. Don Quixote thanked them for their advice and for the

disposition they showed to do him a favour, and said that for the present

he would not, and must not go to Seville until he had cleared all these

mountains of highwaymen and robbers, of whom report said they were full.

Seeing his good intention, the travellers were unwilling to press him

further, and once more bidding him farewell, they left him and pursued

their journey, in the course of which they did not fail to discuss the

story of Marcela and Chrysostom as well as the madness of Don Quixote.

He, on his part, resolved to go in quest of the shepherdess Marcela, and

make offer to her of all the service he could render her; but things did

not fall out with him as he expected, according to what is related in the

course of this veracious history, of which the Second Part ends here.




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