is forbidden me, I
shoved my handkerchief a little above my nose and looked down, and, as
it seemed, spied the earth no bigger than a mustard seed; and the men
walking to and fro upon it not much larger than hazelnuts; by which
you may see how high we had got!"--"Have a care what you say, my
friend," said the duchess; "for if the men were bigger than hazelnuts,
and the earth no bigger than a mustard seed, one man must cover the
whole earth."--"Like enough," answered Sancho; "but for all that, do
you see, I saw it with a kind of a side look upon one part of
it."--"Look you, Sancho," replied the duchess, "nothing can be wholly
seen by a partial view of it."--"Well, well, madam," quoth Sancho, "I
do not understand your views; I only know that as we flew by
enchantment, so, by enchantment, I might see the whole earth, and all
the men, which way soever I looked. If you do not believe this, you
will not believe me either when I tell you that when I looked between
my brows, I saw myself so near heaven, that between me and it there
was not a span and a half. And, forsooth, it is a huge place! and we
happened to travel that road where the seven she-goats are; and, faith
and troth, I had such a mind to play with them (having been once a
goatherd myself) that I should have burst, had I not done it. What do
I do then but slip down very soberly from Clavileno without telling a
soul, and played and leaped about for three-quarters of an hour, with
the pretty nanny-goats, who are like so many marigolds or
gilly-flowers; and Clavileno stirred not one step all the
while."--"And while Sancho employed himself with the goats," asked the
duke, "how was Don Quixote employed?"--"Truly," answered the knight,
"I am sensible all things were altered from their natural course;
therefore, what Sancho says seems no marvel to me. But, for my own
part, I saw nothing either above or below, neither heaven nor earth,
sea nor shore. I perceived, indeed, we passed through the region of
the air, and even touched that of fire, but that we went beyond it is
incredible; for, the fiery region lying between the sphere of the moon
and the upper region of the air, it was impossible for us to reach
that heaven where are the seven goats, as Sancho says, without being
consumed; and, therefore, since we were not singed, Sancho either lies
or dreams."--"I neither lie nor dream," replied Sancho; "do but ask me
the marks of these goats, and by them you will see whether I