ersons of
quality and ladies of the castle, were disarming him, he said to them,
with infinite grace: "Never before was knight so honored by ladies as
Don Quixote, after his departure from his native village! damsels
attended upon him; princesses took charge of his steed! O
Rosinante,--for that, ladies, is the name of my horse, and Don Quixote
de la Mancha my own; although it was not my intention to have discovered
myself until deeds performed in your service should have proclaimed me;
but impelled to make so just an application of that ancient romance of
Lanzarote to my present situation, I have thus prematurely disclosed my
name: yet the time shall come when your ladyships may command, and I
obey; when the valor of my arm shall make manifest the desire I have to
serve you." The girls, unaccustomed to such rhetorical flourishes, made
no reply, but asked whether he would please to eat anything. "I shall
willingly take some food," answered Don Quixote, "for I apprehend it
would be of much service to me." That day happened to be Friday, and
there was nothing in the house but some fish of that kind which in
Castile is called Abadexo; in Andalusia, Bacallao; in some parts,
Curadillo: and in others, Truchuela. They asked if his worship would
like some truchuela, for they had no other fish to offer him. "If there
be many troutlings," replied Don Quixote, "they will supply the place of
one trout; for it is the same to me whether I receive eight single rials
or one piece-of-eight. Moreover, these troutlings may be preferable, as
veal is better than beef, and kid superior to goat. Be that as it may,
let it come immediately, for the toil and weight of arms cannot be
sustained by the body unless the interior be supplied with aliments."
For the benefit of the cool air, they placed the table at the door of
the inn, and the landlord produced some of his ill-soaked and
worse-cooked bacallao, with bread as foul and black as the knight's
armor. But it was a spectacle highly risible to see him eat; for his
hands being engaged in holding his helmet on and raising the beaver, he
could not feed himself, therefore one of the ladies performed that
office for him; but to drink would have been utterly impossible had not
the innkeeper bored a reed, and placing one end into his mouth at the
other poured in the wine; and all this he patiently endured rather than
cut the lacings of his helmet.

THE PLEASANT METHOD DON QUIXOTE TOOK TO BE
DUBB