WHICH TREATS OF THE STRANGE AND DELIGHTFUL ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL THE

CURATE AND THE BARBER IN THE SAME SIERRA

Happy and fortunate were the times when that most daring knight Don

Quixote of La Mancha was sent into the world; for by reason of his having

formed a resolution so honourable as that of seeking to revive and

restore to the world the long-lost and almost defunct order of

knight-errantry, we now enjoy in this age of ours, so poor in light

entertainment, not only the charm of his veracious history, but also of

the tales and episodes contained in it which are, in a measure, no less

pleasing, ingenious, and truthful, than the history itself; which,

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resuming its thread, carded, spun, and wound, relates that just as the

curate was going to offer consolation to Cardenio, he was interrupted by

a voice that fell upon his ear saying in plaintive tones:

"O God! is it possible I have found a place that may serve as a secret

grave for the weary load of this body that I support so unwillingly? If

the solitude these mountains promise deceives me not, it is so; ah! woe

is me! how much more grateful to my mind will be the society of these

rocks and brakes that permit me to complain of my misfortune to Heaven,

than that of any human being, for there is none on earth to look to for

counsel in doubt, comfort in sorrow, or relief in distress!"

All this was heard distinctly by the curate and those with him, and as it

seemed to them to be uttered close by, as indeed it was, they got up to

look for the speaker, and before they had gone twenty paces they

discovered behind a rock, seated at the foot of an ash tree, a youth in

the dress of a peasant, whose face they were unable at the moment to see

as he was leaning forward, bathing his feet in the brook that flowed

past. They approached so silently that he did not perceive them, being

fully occupied in bathing his feet, which were so fair that they looked

like two pieces of shining crystal brought forth among the other stones

of the brook. The whiteness and beauty of these feet struck them with

surprise, for they did not seem to have been made to crush clods or to

follow the plough and the oxen as their owner's dress suggested; and so,

finding they had not been noticed, the curate, who was in front, made a

sign to the other two to conceal themselves behind some fragments of rock

that lay there; which they did, observing closely what the youth was

about. He had on a loose double-skirted dark brown jacket bound tight to

his body with a white cloth; he wore besides breeches and gaiters of

brown cloth, and on his head a brown montera; and he had the gaiters

turned up as far as the middle of the leg, which verily seemed to be of

pure alabaster.




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