'Thou shalt see them at home,' said Sancho, 'therefore rest satisfied. For when we travel once again to seek adventures, thou shalt see me shortly afterwards an Earl or Governor of an Island, one of the best in the world.'
'I pray that it may be so,' replied his wife; 'but what means that Island, for I understand not the word?'
'Honey is not made for the ass's mouth,' said Sancho, 'but thou shalt know all in good time. Do not busy thyself, Joan, to know all things in a sudden. It is enough that I will tell thee all the truth, and therefore close thy mouth. I will only say this much unto thee as yet, that there is nothing in the world so pleasant as for an honest man to be the Squire of a Knight that seeks adventures.'
Now, if I were to tell you that Don Quixote got quite well and lived quietly at home after all these adventures, and never went abroad again, I should tell you what is not true. For some day, and I hope at no great distance of time, you may read what the great Cervantes has written, not only of the adventures of which I have told you the story, but of the second part of Don Quixote's adventures, some of which are even more wonderful than the first. There you will learn how Sancho Panza became at last Governor of an Island for a short space, and may read of the great wisdom and shrewdness with which he ruled.
All these good things will be yours to read some day, as they have been mine and are every one's. For, like all the really great stories of the world, this of Don Quixote belongs to no nation or people, but is the property of each and all of us, given us freely to enjoy it how and where we will. And from the humour and wisdom of such books we may become brighter and better ourselves. So that when I wish that you may be able to love and honour all such books, and to read this one as Cervantes wrote it, and with the care it deserves to be read, it is the best wish I can give you. And, indeed, to wish you the gift of understanding it, is the same thing as wishing you a happy life.