ote be mad, crazy, cracked, and Sancho his
squire knows it, and notwithstanding serves and follows him, and goes
trusting to his empty promises, there can be no doubt he must be still
madder and sillier than his master; and that being so, it will be cast
in your teeth, senora Duchess, if you give the said Sancho an island
to govern; for how will he who does not know how to govern himself
know how to govern others?'"

"My God, senora," said Sancho, "but that doubt comes timely; but your
Grace may say it out, and speak plainly, or as you like; for I know
what you say is true, and if I were wise I should have left my master
long ago: but this was my fate, this was my bad luck; I can't help it,
I must follow him; we're from the same village, I have eaten his
bread, I'm fond of him, I'm grateful, he gave me his ass-colts, and
above all I'm faithful; so it's quite impossible for anything to
separate us except the pick-axe and shovel. And if your Highness does
not like to give me the government you promised, God made me without
it and maybe your not giving it to me will be all the better for my
conscience; for fool as I am, I know the proverb 'To her hurt the ant
got wings,' and it may be that Sancho the squire will get to heaven
sooner than Sancho the governor. 'They make as good bread here as in
France'; and 'By night all cats are gray'; and 'A hard case enough
his, who hasn't broken his fast at two in the afternoon'; and 'There's
no stomach a hand's-breadth bigger than another'; and the same can be
filled 'with straw or hay,' as the saying is; and 'The little birds of
the field have God for their purveyor and caterer'; and 'Four yards of
Cuenca frieze keep one warmer than four of Segovia broadcloth'; and
'When we quit this world and are put underground, the prince travels
by as narrow a path as the journeyman'; and 'The Pope's body does not
take up more feet of earth than the sacristan's,' for all that the one
is higher than the other; for when we go to our graves we all pack
ourselves up and make ourselves small, or rather they pack us up and
make us small in spite of us, and then--good-night to us. And I say
once more, if your ladyship does not like to give me the island
because I'm a fool, like a wise man I will take care to give myself no
trouble about it; I have heard say that 'Behind the cross there's the
devil,' and that 'All that glitters is not gold,' and that from among
the oxen and the plows and the yokes, Wamba