'Yes, indeed,' said the slave, 'there is nothing worse than to sing in anguish.'
'I do not understand it,' said Don Quixote, 'but I have heard say that he who sings scares away sorrow.'
But one of the guards interrupted him and said: 'Sir Knight, among these wretches "to sing in anguish" means to confess on the rack. They put this poor wretch to the torture, and he confessed that he was a stealer of beasts. And because he has confessed he is condemned to the galleys for six years. And he is sad and pensive because the other thieves maltreat, abuse, and despise him. For, as they say, a nay has as many letters as a yea, and it is good luck for a criminal when there are no witnesses and proofs, and his fate depends on his own tongue, and in my opinion there is much reason in that.'
'I think so likewise,' said Don Quixote, and he passed on to where the third slave stood, and put to him the same question as to the others.
The man replied very coolly, saying: 'I go to the galleys because I wanted ten ducats.'
'I will give thee twenty with all my heart to free thee from that misfortune,' said Don Quixote.
'That,' replied the Slave, 'would be like one that hath money in the midst of the sea, and yet is dying of hunger because he can get no meat to buy with it. If I had had the twenty ducats your Worship offers me at the right time, I would have greased the lawyer's pen with them, and so sharpened the advocate's wit, that instead of being trailed along here like a greyhound, I should now have been walking about in the market-place of Toledo. But patience. What must be must be!'
Don Quixote went from one to another, receiving different answers, until he came to the last, who was a man about thirty years old, of very comely looks, except that he had a squint. He was differently tied from the rest, for he wore a chain to his leg, so long that it wound round his whole body. He had besides round his neck two iron rings, from one of which two wires came down to his waist, on which were fastened two manacles. These held his hands fast locked with a great hanging lock, so that he could neither put his hand to his mouth nor bend down his head to his hands.
Don Quixote asked why he was so loaded with iron more than the rest.