inding another
hundred crowns like those we have spent, though it grieves me to part
from you and my children; and if Heaven would be pleased to give me
bread, dryshod and at home, without dragging me over crags and
cross-paths, it is plain that my joy would be better grounded, since it
is now mingled with sorrow for leaving you; so that I was right in
saying that I should be glad if it pleased Heaven I were not so Well
pleased."

"Look you, Sancho," replied Teresa, "ever since you have been a
knight-errant man you talk in such a roundabout manner that nobody can
understand you."

"It is enough, wife," said Sancho, "that God understands me, for He is
the understander of all things; and so much for that. And do you hear,
wife, it behooves you to take special care of Dapple for these three or
four days to come, that he may be in a condition to bear arms; so double
his allowance, and get the pack-saddle in order and the rest of his
tackling, for we are not going to a wedding, but to roam about the world
and to give and take with giants, fiery dragons, and goblins, and to
hear hissings, roarings, bellowings, and bleatings, all which would be
but flowers of lavender if we had not to do with Yangueses and enchanted
Moors."

"I believe, indeed, husband," replied Teresa, "that your squires-errant
do not eat their bread for nothing, and therefore I shall not fail to
beseech Heaven to deliver you speedily from so much evil hap."

"I tell you, wife," answered Sancho, "that did I not expect, ere long,
to see myself governor of an island, I vow I should drop down dead upon
the spot."

"Not so, good husband," quoth Teresa, "let the hen live, though it be
with the pip. Do you live, and the devil take all the governments in the
world! Without a government you came into the world, without a
government you have lived till now, and without it you can be carried to
your grave whenever it shall please God. How many folks are there in the
world that have no government! and yet they live and are reckoned among
the people. The best sauce in the world is hunger, and as that is never
wanting to the poor, they always eat with a relish. But if, perchance,
Sancho, you should get a government, do not forget me and your children.
Consider that your son Sancho is just fifteen years old, and it is fit
he should go to school if his uncle the abbot means to breed him up to
the church. Consider, also, that Mary Sancha, your daughter, will not
break