e, he was startled to find that he could not move, and
seeing all these strangely conjured-up figures before him, it struck
him they must be phantoms of the enchanted castle. He was absolutely
helpless, and the men had no difficulty in stuffing him into the cage.
The bars were nailed on securely, and the cage was then carried out of
the inn and placed in the ox-cart.

While the procession slowly proceeded from the inn to the ox-cart, the
men supporting the cage on their shoulders, the barber chanted strange
words in a weird and hollow voice. The barber took it upon himself to
become the prophet of the occasion, and he proclaimed to the Knight of
the Rueful Countenance that he ought not to consider his present
imprisonment an affliction. It was in a way a sort of penance, he
said, through which he would be humbled to be in readiness for a still
greater, sweeter imprisonment, the bond of matrimony. This prediction
would come true, he avowed, when the fierce Manchegan lion and the
tender Tobosan dove met again. They would be joined in one, and the
offspring of this union would be of such stuff as to set the world
aflame.

When Don Quixote heard these words, he was stirred into an exalted
emotion. Had he not been well bound it would have been expressed by
kneeling. He raised his eyes toward Heaven and thanked the Lord for
having sent this prophet to him in this needy moment. He prayed that
he should not be left to perish in the cage, and also implored of the
prophet not to let his faithful Sancho Panza abandon him, saying that
if by chance the promise of the island should not come true, he had
made provision for him in his will. Sancho was much moved by what his
encaged and enchanted master had said, and he bent down and kissed
his hands--he had to kiss both since they were tied together. By that
time the procession had arrived at the ox-cart, and all was ready for
the departure.

CHAPTER XLVII

OF THE STRANGE MANNER IN WHICH DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA WAS
CARRIED AWAY ENCHANTED, TOGETHER WITH OTHER REMARKABLE
INCIDENTS

Don Quixote was greatly perplexed and, indeed, somewhat impatient with
the slow speed of the cart carrying away this enchanted knight. The
cart had rolled only a few paces and then stopped; there was nothing
exciting or heroic in being carried off in such a way! Never had he
read anywhere of so ridiculously slow and tame a proceeding. And on an
ox-cart! However, times had changed, and he realiz