“Mine, however,” replied Don Quixote, “is neither impossible nor absurd, but the easiest, the most reasonable, the readiest and most expeditious that could suggest itself to any projector’s mind.”

“You take a long time to tell it, Señor Don Quixote,” said the curate.

“I don’t choose to tell it here, now,” said Don Quixote, “and have it reach the ears of the lords of the council tomorrow morning, and some other carry off the thanks and rewards of my trouble.”

“For my part,” said the barber, “I give my word here and before God that I will not repeat what your worship says, to King, Rook, 440 or earthly man⁠—an oath I learned from the ballad of the curate, who, in the prelude, told the king of the thief who had robbed him of the hundred gold crowns and his pacing mule.” 441