At the conclusion of this speech he began to drink, but finding it was only water he would not taste it, and called for wine, which Maritornes very kindly fetched for him, and likewise paid for it out of her own purse.
As soon as Sancho had finished drinking, he stuck his heels into his Ass, and the Inn gate being thrown wide open he rode out, highly pleased at having paid for nothing, even at the price of a tossing. The Innkeeper, however, had kept his wallet, but Sancho was so distracted when he departed that he never missed it.
When Sancho reached his Master, he was almost too jaded and faint to ride his beast. Don Quixote, seeing him in this plight, said to him: 'Now I am certain that yon Castle or Inn is without doubt enchanted, for those who made sport with thee so cruelly, what else could they be but phantoms, and beings of another world? And I am the more sure of this, because when I was by the wall of the Inn yard I was not able to mount it, or to alight from Rozinante, and therefore I must have been enchanted. For if I could have moved, I would have avenged thee in a way to make those scoundrels remember the jest for ever, even although to do it I should have had to disobey the rules of Knighthood.'
'So would I also have avenged myself,' said Sancho, 'Knight or no Knight, but I could not. And yet I believe that those who amused themselves with me were no phantoms or enchanted beings, but men of flesh and bones as we are, for one was called Pedro, and another Tenorio, and the Innkeeper called a third Juan. But what I make out of all this, is that those adventures which we go in search of, will bring us at last so many misadventures that we shall not know our right foot from our left. And the best thing for us to do, in my humble opinion, is to return us again to our village and look after our own affairs, and not go jumping, as the saying is, "out of the frying-pan into the fire."'
'How little dost thou know of Knighthood, friend Sancho,' replied Don Quixote. 'Peace, and have patience, for a day will come when thou shalt see with thine own eyes how fine a thing it is to follow this calling. What pleasure can equal that of winning a battle or triumphing over an enemy?'
'I cannot tell,' answered Sancho; 'but this I know, that since we are Knights Errant, we have never won any battle, unless it was that with the Biscayan, and even then your Worship lost half an ear. And ever after that time it has been nothing but cudgels and more cudgels, blows and more blows,—I getting the tossing in the blanket to boot. And all this happens to me from enchanted people on whom I cannot take vengeance.'
'That grieves me,' replied Don Quixote; 'but who knows what may happen? Fortune may bring me a sword like that of Amadis, which did not only cut like a razor, but there was no armour however strong or enchanted which could stand before it.'
'It will be like my luck,' said Sancho, 'that when your Worship finds such a sword it will, like the Balsam, be of use only to those who are Knights, whilst poor Squires will still have to sup sorrow.'
'Fear not that, Sancho,' replied his Master; and he rode ahead, his mind full of adventures, followed at a little distance by his unhappy Squire.