hat no heat ensued and
nothing else happened, his worries ceased. In the next moment his and
his master's attention was attracted by low, sweet sounds of music and
singing that seemed to vibrate from underneath the catafalque; and
then there appeared a youth with a harp, and he sang a song that dealt
with the cruelty of Don Quixote toward the fair Altisidora, who now
was dead from a broken heart.

When he had sung of her charms, one of the two who seemed like kings
rose from his seat and spoke. He, Minos, who sat in judgment with
Rhadamanthus, now begged the latter to stand up and announce what must
be done in order to affect the resuscitation and restoration of the
damsel Altisidora. As soon as he had declaimed all he had to say, he
sat down, and in the next moment Rhadamanthus rose and decreed that
all the officials gather quickly and attach the person of Sancho
Panza, as through him alone Altisidora's restoration could be
effected, he said, by his receiving twenty-four smacks in the face,
twelve pinches and six pin-thrusts in the back and arms.

Nobody but Sancho objected to the King's proclamation; but Sancho was
emphatic enough for a multitude. "Body of me!" he replied unhesitatingly.
"What has mauling my face got to with the resurrection of this damsel?
The old woman takes kindly to my persecution; they enchant Dulcinea, and
whip me in order to disenchant her. Altisidora dies of ailments God was
pleased to send her, and to bring her to life they must give me
four-and-twenty smacks, and prick holes in my body with pins, and raise
weals on my arms with pinches! Try those jokes on a brother-in-law; I am
an old dog, and its no use with me."

But Rhadamanthus was bent in carrying out his threat. He gave a sign
to one of the attendants, and in the next moment a procession of
duennas started toward Sancho with raised hands. Sancho saw them
coming against him, he grew frantic, and began to bellow like a bull,
crying out: "I might let myself be handled by all the world; but allow
duennas to touch me? Not a bit of it! Scratch my face, as my master
was served in this very castle; run me through the body with burnished
daggers; pinch my arms with red-hot pincers; I shall bear all in
patience to serve these gentlefolk; but I will not let duennas touch
me, though the devil himself should carry me off!"

Here Don Quixote thought it was time for him to add his plea to that
of the King, and he began to reason with Sancho. At l