ages. He touched upon the tombs of
some who had become saints, when suddenly Sancho shot this question to
him out of a clear sky: "Tell me, which is the greater work, to bring
a dead man to life or to kill a giant?"

Don Quixote was dumfounded by his squire's suddenness, but replied:
"The answer is easy. It is a greater work to bring to life a dead
man."

"Now I have got you!" Sancho exclaimed. Then he divulged his longing,
which he wanted his master to share, to become a saint; viewing a
saint's life from all sides, he had come to the conclusion that it was
a much more peaceful life than that of a roving knight errant, who had
to be up at all hours and out in all sorts of weather.

But his master answered laconically: "We cannot all be friars." And
then he went on to say that the number of knights errant in the world,
deserving that name, was a very small one; that, as a matter of truth,
knight-errantry, was a religion. But Sancho, stubborn as usual,
insisted that there were more friars in heaven than knights errant. In
this way they passed that night and the following day, without any
trace of excitement or adventure.

Finally, at daybreak on the second day, they approached the great
city of El Toboso; and Sancho's worries increased as they came closer
to the place where the heart of the peerless Dulcinea was beating--for
what was he going to say or do when his master wanted to meet his
beloved one? Don Quixote decided to await dusk before entering the
city, and they spent the day resting in the shade of some oak-trees
outside the town.

CHAPTER IX

WHEREIN IS RELATED WHAT WILL BE SEEN THERE

It was midnight when they rode into El Toboso. It was a very dark
night, so Sancho could not be blamed for not finding the house in the
darkness. They were greeted by a multitude of noises: barking dogs,
braying asses, mewing cats, and grunting pigs; noises that seemed like
an ill omen to Don Quixote. He suddenly turned to Sancho and said:
"Sancho, my son, lead on to the place of Dulcinea. It may be that we
shall find her awake."

"Body of the sun! What palace am I to lead to, when what I saw Her
Highness in was only a very little house?" exclaimed the squire.

"Most likely she had then withdrawn into some small apartment of her
palace," said Don Quixote, "to amuse herself with her damsels, as
great ladies and princesses are accustomed to do."

Here Sancho told his master to have it his own way, but asked him