body became ensnared in their skirts
and gowns and long white shirts, and fell head over heels wherever
they happened to be, in ditch or field. Moans, groans, and prayers
were intermingled, and they all were convinced that the procession had
been interrupted by the devil himself, come to carry away the body of
the dead man.

When the battle had ceased, Don Quixote approached the man who was flung
by his mule, to make him his prisoner. The poor man declared that Don
Quixote had made a grave mistake; that the dead man was not a king and
had not fallen in battle, but a gentleman who had died from fever; and he
himself was a poor servant of the Holy Church who could harm no one. On
hearing this confession Don Quixote made a slight apology for having
mistaken him in the dark for something evil, if not for the very devil,
explaining that since it was his sworn duty to right all wrongs, he had
only set out to do so. But the worthy ecclesiastic was not easily
appeased, and before making his departure, he unceremoniously
excommunicated his attacker in flowing and flourishing Latin.

Sancho, moved by a desire to alleviate the sting of the outburst,
called out after him: "If the gentleman should wish to know who was
the hero who served them thus, your worship may tell them he is the
famous Don Quixote of La Mancha, otherwise called the Knight of the
Rueful Countenance."

Don Quixote asked his squire why he called him thus; and Sancho
replied that the loss of his teeth had given his master a face so
sorry looking that he could find no milder name to describe its
ugliness. Don Quixote laughed at the compliment; nevertheless he
decided to adopt Sancho's meaning name, and also to have his own
rueful face commemorated on his shield at the first opportunity.

After this conversation Sancho persuaded his master to continue their
journey; although Don Quixote was eager to view the bones of the
deceased man, and Sancho had some difficulty in preventing him from
doing so.

Sancho had made his coat into a sack and filled it with the provisions
of the clergy; and so, when they arrived in a valley where they found
an abundance of grass, they ate all the meals they had been missing.
Their repast would have been complete had they had some wine; but they
did not have even water.

CHAPTER XX

OF THE UNEXAMPLED AND UNHEARD-OF ADVENTURE WHICH WAS ACHIEVED
BY THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA WITH LESS PERIL THAN
ANY EVER ACHIEVED