ke Don Quixote uneasy, for it struck him that, as
Malambruno[467-1] was so long about sending it, either he himself was
not the knight for whom the adventure was reserved, or else Malambruno
did not dare to meet him in single combat. But lo! suddenly there came
into the garden four wild-men all clad in green ivy bearing on their
shoulders a great wooden horse. They placed it on its feet on the
ground, and one of the wild-men said, "Let the knight who has heart for
it mount this machine."

Here Sancho exclaimed, "I don't mount, for neither have I the heart nor
am I a knight."

"And let the squire, if he has one," continued the wild-man, "take his
seat on the croup, and let him trust the valiant Malambruno; for by no
sword save his, nor by the malice of any other, shall he be assailed.
It is but to turn this peg the horse has in his neck, and he will bear
them through the air to where Malambruno awaits them; but lest the vast
elevation of their course should make them giddy, their eyes must be
covered until the horse neighs, which will be the sign of their having
completed their journey."

With these words, leaving Clavileno behind them, they retired with easy
dignity the way they came. As soon as the Distressed One[468-2] saw the
horse, almost in tears she exclaimed to Don Quixote, "Valiant knight,
the promise of Malambruno has proved trustworthy; the horse has come,
our beards are growing, and by every hair in them we all of us implore
thee to shave and shear us, as it is only mounting him with thy squire
and making a happy beginning with your new journey."

"That I will, Senora Countess Trifaldi," said Don Quixote, "most gladly
and with right good will, without stopping to take a cushion or put on
my spurs, so as not to lose time, such is my desire to see you,
senora, and all these duennas shaved clean."

"That I won't," said Sancho, "with good will or bad will or any way at
all; and if this shaving can't be done without my mounting on the croup,
my master had better look out for another squire to go with him, and
these ladies for some other way of making their faces smooth; I'm no
witch to have a taste for traveling through the air. What would my
islanders say when they heard their governor was going strolling about
on the winds?"[468-3]

"Friend Sancho," said the duke at this, "the island that I have promised
you is not a moving one, or one that will run away; it has roots so
deeply buried in the bowels of the