to ridicule the curate, and went on to describe his heroes,
saying that his faith was so strong that he could almost swear he had
seen Amadis of Gaul and some of the others he worshiped. Then he embarked
on a description of these knights, giving the color of their eyes, of
their beards and hair, their height, complexion, all according to his own
crazy imagination. Much of what he said seemed so amusing to his two
friends that they nearly went into hysterics from laughter. His mind's
image of Roland was particularly laughable, for he saw him as a
bow-legged, swarthy-complexioned gentleman with a hairy body, courteous
and well-bred.

On hearing Roland so pictured, the curate remarked it was no wonder
that he was jilted by the fair lady Angelica. To this Don Quixote
retorted that lady Angelica was a giddy and frivolous damsel with
desires that smacked of wantonness. He only regretted that Roland had
not been a poet that he might have libeled her in poetry for all
eternity.

Here the knight was interrupted by the sound of loud talking in the
courtyard, intermingled with screams, and when he and the curate came
running they saw the two women struggling to keep a man from entering
the house.

CHAPTER II

WHICH TREATS OF THE NOTABLE ALTERCATION WHICH SANCHO PANZA
HAD WITH DON QUIXOTE'S NIECE AND HIS HOUSEKEEPER, TOGETHER
WITH OTHER DROLL MATTERS

The man turned out to be no other than Sancho, who wanted to see his
master. But the housekeeper and the niece were bent on not admitting
him, for they considered Sancho the arch enticer and felt that he was
to blame for Don Quixote's expeditions into the country. When Sancho
heard himself thus accused, he defended himself with accusations
against Don Quixote, who, he said, had been the one to hypnotize him;
and then he added that he had come to find out about his island.

As soon as Don Quixote recognized his squire, he quickly took him
inside, being afraid that he would tell the women all the little
details of the knight's adventures, such as the galley-slave episode
and others not tending to reflect honor on his shield. Whereupon the
barber and the curate left, both of them in despair of their friend's
ever being cured. The curate remarked that it would not surprise him
to learn before many moons that Don Quixote and Sancho had set off
again on another sally. They were curious to know what the master and
the servant might be discussing at that very moment. However,