en Don Quixote arrived, he received a welcome
that surpassed anything he had ever read or dreamt of.

The staircases and the galleries of the court were lined with
servants, who greeted him with the exclamation: "Welcome, flower and
cream of knight-errantry!" At the same time they cast pellets with
scented water over him.

Sancho was taken aback at the sight of all this glory. He had followed
the Duchess, but once in the castle, the absence of his Dapple made
him feel worried. So he turned to one of the duennas, a dignified
woman, named Dona Rodriguez de Grijalba, and asked her whether she
would not favor him by going outside and seeing that his poor little
Dapple was well taken care of. Dona Rodriguez was greatly incensed at
his ordering a duenna of the ducal household to do things of that
sort, and called him a garlic-stuffed scoundrel. Don Quixote,
overhearing their conversation, reprimanded his misbehaving servant,
and Sancho blamed it all on his love for his donkey.

After this, Don Quixote was escorted into a hall the walls of which
were covered with cloth of gold and rich tapestries, and here he was
stripped of his armor by six fair damsels. These maidens could
scarcely control their laughter when they saw him stand there, thin,
emaciated, tall and bony, dressed in his chamois doublet and
tight-fitting breeches. They begged him to permit them to put a clean
shirt on him, but that he refused with many assurances of his modesty,
asking them instead to give it to Sancho. The two were taken to a
room, where Don Quixote, alone with his squire, undressed and put on
the shirt, while he gave Sancho admonitions galore, as to how to
behave, begging him never again to have any quarrels with any
duennas, for that only tended to lessen the respect for the master,
who was always judged by his squire's behavior and actions.

Then Don Quixote returned to the hall, where he was attired in a rich
baldric and a scarlet mantle, with a sword and a gorgeous montera of
green satin. As he passed through the halls and chambers on his way to
the state dining room, he was escorted by the seneschal and twelve
pages; and the sides of each room, as well as the aisles, were lined
with servants in pompous liveries.

Only four covers were laid. Besides Don Quixote and his noble hosts
the confessor of the ducal household, a cold and austere churchman,
occupied a seat at the heavily laden table, to which our knight was
ushered ceremoniously