In this plight3 they travelled, man and beast hanging their heads with fatigue4, when they saw on the road, coming towards them, a great multitude of lights, bobbing up and down, as if all the stars of heaven were shifting their places. Neither Don Quixote nor Sancho felt much at their ease at this strange spectacle, and both pulled up their beasts, and waited trembling. Even Don Quixote feared he knew not what, and the hair stood up on his head, in spite of his valour, as he said to Sancho:
‘There lies before me, Sancho, a great and perilous5 adventure, and one in which I must bear a stout6 heart.’
‘It seems to be an adventure of phantoms7,’ whispered Sancho fearfully, ‘which never was to my liking8.’
‘Whatever phantoms they be,’ answered the knight, ‘they shall not touch a hair of your head,’ replied Don Quixote soothingly9. ‘If they mocked at you in the inn, it was for reason that I could not leap the fence. But here, where the ground is open, I can lay about me as I will.’
‘And what if they bewitch you, as they did that other time?’ asked the squire. ‘How much will the open ground profit you then’?
‘Trust to me,’ replied Don Quixote, ‘for my experience is greater than yours’; and Sancho said no more.
They stood a little on one side watching the lights approaching, and soon they saw a host of men clad in white riding along the road. The squire’s teeth chattered10 at the sight of them, and his terror increased when he was able to make out that the moving stars were flaming torches which men in white shirts carried in their hands, and that behind them followed a litter draped in black. After the litter came six other men dressed in black and mounted on mules12. And Sancho had no doubt that he saw before him shadows from the next world.
Though Don Quixote’s heart quailed14 for a moment at the strangeness of the vision, he soon recalled his valour. In an instant his fancy had changed the litter into a bier, and the occupant into a knight who had been done to death by foul15 means, and whom he was bound in honour to avenge16. So he moved forward to the middle of the road, and cried in a loud voice:
‘Proud knights17, whoever you may be, stand and give me account of yourselves, and tell me who it is that lies in that bier. For either you have done an ill deed to some man, or else a wrong has been done to you.’
‘Pardon me, fair sir,’ answered the foremost of the white-shirted men, ‘but we are in haste, and the inn is far. We have no time for parleying.’
This reply only confirmed Don Quixote’s worst suspicions.
‘Stop, or you are a dead man,’ cried he in tones of thunder. ‘Tell me who you are and whither you are going, or else I will fight you all’; and with that he seized the mule13 by the bridle18. The mule, not being used to such rough treatment, reared herself up on her hind11 legs, so that her rider slipped off her back. At this sight one of the other men ran to his aid, calling the knight all the ill names he could think of, which so inflamed19 the anger of Don Quixote that he laid about him with his spear on every side. Even Rozinante seemed to have gotten a new spirit as well as a new body, for he turned him about so nimbly that soon the plain was covered with flying white men, still holding the bobbing torches. The mourners who rode behind did not escape so easily, for their long skirts and cloaks hindered them from moving, and Don Quixote struck and beat them just as he would, till they took him to be a giant or enchanter rather than a man.
Sancho, as was his custom, bore no part in the fray20, but stood by and said to himself: ‘Had ever any man such a master!’
When Don Quixote’s rage was somewhat abated21, he paused and gazed about him. Then, seeing a burning torch lying on the ground, and a figure near it, he went up, and perceived by the light that it was the man whom he had first attacked.
‘Yield, or I will slay22 you!’ he shouted, and the man answered grimly:
‘I seem to have “yielded” as much as can be required of me, as my leg is broken. If you are indeed a Christian23 knight, I pray you of your nobility to spare my life, as I am a member of the Holy Church.’
‘Who brought you here, then?’ asked Don Quixote.
‘Who? My ill fortune,’ replied he. ‘I and the eleven priests who have fled with the torches set forth24 as escort to the body of the gentleman that lies in the litter, bearing it to its tomb in the city of Segovia, where he was born.’
‘And who killed him?’ said Don Quixote, who never imagined that any man could die naturally.
‘He died by reason of a most pestilent fever,’ answered the wounded man.
‘Then,’ replied Don Quixote, ‘I am delivered from the duty of avenging25 his death, which would otherwise have fallen to me. For in case you are ignorant, I would have you know that I am the knight Don Quixote de la Mancha, and it is my place to wander through the world, helping26 those that suffer wrongs and punishing those who inflict27 them.’
‘As to helping those who suffer wrongs,’ replied the churchman, ‘for my part I can see nothing but that it is you and no other who have inflicted28 the wrong upon me. For whereas I was whole before, you have given me a thrust which has broken my leg, and I shall remain injured for ever.’
‘You and your friends the priests,’ answered Don Quixote, in no wise abashed29 by this remark, ‘have wrought30 the evil yourselves by coming in such wise, and by night, that no man could think but that you were ill creatures from another world.’
‘Then, if you repent31 you of the wrong that you have done me,’ said the man, ‘I pray you, worshipful knight, to deliver my leg from the bondage32 of this ass33, who has my leg fastened between the stirrup and the saddle.’
The kind heart of Don Quixote was shocked at his thoughtlessness, and he answered quickly:
‘You should have told me of your pain before, or I might have talked on till to-morrow’; and he called to Sancho Panza, who was busily robbing the mule that carried the provisions. Hearing his master’s voice, Sancho left off with an ill grace, and, placing the bag of food on his own donkey, went to see what his master wanted.
Between them both they set the mule on its feet, and the man on its saddle. Don Quixote then put the torch in his hand and bade him ride after his companions, and not to forget to ask their pardon in his name for the wrong he had unconsciously done them.
‘And,’ added the squire, ‘if your friends should ask the name of this gentleman, who now craves34 their forgiveness, tell them that it is the famous Don Quixote, the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance35!’
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1
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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7
phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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8
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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9
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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10
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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quailed
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| 害怕，发抖，畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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17
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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18
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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19
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fray
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| v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗 | |
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21
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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22
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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25
avenging
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| adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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31
repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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32
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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34
craves
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| 渴望，热望( crave的第三人称单数 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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35
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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